September 2019
Ranger Creek ‘brewstillery’ are part of the San Antonio old guard, dating back to 2010. As a big fan of both beer and whiskey, getting both in one place is a good thing in my book, and the Ranger Creek taproom is an excellent place to do this. With a simple but chic interior, spacious, sunny beer garden and high quality brews, it’s a shame that Ranger Creek limit their opening hours to Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Nevertheless, it is certainly worth the trip to their North SA location should you be in town over the weekend, if you’re lucky you may even catch some live music.
Both whiskey and beer are available in tasting flights, with four beers in a flight. Core and seasonal beers are available on draft in the taproom, but Ranger Creek can or bottle the majority of their brews so you can find them around the city and purchase them to-go from the taproom too. I’m a huge fan of their classic San Antonio Hatch Lager – probably my favourite SA lager, which is perfectly light, crisp and clean with a sneaky chilli bite at the end. I would highly recommend stocking up on cans of this in the summer. The Sunday Morning Coming Down is my other top pick of the Ranger Creek core selection – an unusual mix of rich coffee on an English Ale that works surprisingly well. If you get the chance to try any of the Texas Bourbon Barrel Series, get straight in there! The BBA dark boozy heaven of a Russian Imperial Stout, rich red wine-tastic Imperial Red and sweet, fruitcake-chewy Wee Heavy are all total winners. I also cannot recommend the Small Batch Series No. 8 enough – a beautifully balanced bottled barleywine that I promised to share and then instantly regretted not keeping all to myself!
Ranger Creek has a bit of everything – their core range covers all bases well, their limited beers are outstanding, their whiskey is excellent and they know how to make a mean Old Fashioned. Brewery and distillery tours take place on Saturdays if you feel like nosing around, or you can just kick back and try a little of everything – you won’t be disappointed.
Craft Beer Amethyst 