You might compare the recent maneuvers of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission and our resident Trump mouthpiece, Governor Greg Abbott, to the traditional Texas two-step: quick-quick-slow-slow has become reopen-reopen-close-close.
Or you might be too annoyed, exhausted, confused, and/or at the point of bankruptcy to think in those terms, particularly after recent back-and-forth has left brewers and drinkers equally in the dark about the state’s long-term plans for COVID-19 restrictions.
The relief and anticipation when patio reopenings were announced on July 17 were soon replaced by seething helplessness as the rules altered again under highly dubious circumstances. Much-needed weekend plans were snatched away by the powers that be, and businesses buckled miserably as they were forced to let staff go just days after re-employing them.
Enter the cool, sparky folks at Infamous Brewing Company, who not only make my favorite ATX West Coast IPA, but who also pride themselves on Sticking It To The Man. Just hours after yet another crippling policy volte-face, they printed protest postcards to give brewery customers an opportunity to vent their ire at the state’s mistreatment of independent breweries (as well as wineries, cideries, and distilleries), and began mailing them straight to the Governor’s office.
Within a week, new adjustments (resulting from multiple sources of pressure) allowed some businesses to partially reopen on July 26, but the endless TABC revisions still continue.
Nevertheless, getting back out to the warm wood chips and cozy Christmas lights of Infamous’ patio felt like a win to be celebrated. The brewery has always been that most precious of drinking spaces—the welcoming local that exudes camaraderie and community spirit, much like my favorite pubs back in London—and I was relieved to find that its ambiance hadn’t changed in the interim. We indulged in socially distanced Texan two-stepping (the good kind) to live country music out of a truck bed in between sips of the brewery’s richly hopped, caramel-gold IPA.
Each postcard that Infamous mails is a stab at saving that culture. Maybe not a gesture to reshape nations, but one significant enough to raise a smile, a fist, and definitely a pint to.
Words + Photoby Ruvani De Silva