Inside of a large, bright green warehouse, the first batches of commercially produced craft beer in Denton are nearing perfection inside of the new Audacity Brew House.
The first fully functional brewery in Denton, Audacity will open Friday after months of construction, permitting and brewing.
Led by Scott Lindsey, a University of North Texas graduate, and Doug Smith, an experienced brewer, the two decided to build a concept brewery a little unconventional for the area. A large patio and tap room will be open six days a week for customers like a bar, and tours will be offered every day.
“This will be a place where you can come every day when you get off work and hang out, and we’ll give tours every day also,” Lindsey said. “We are a production facility, but we’re not a warehouse in the middle of nowhere. We want to be a member of Denton, and a member of the night life scene here.”
They will serve the beer they brew in the back of the building and have board games, and offer a more exciting environment on weekends, with local food trucks and music. The brewery also won’t serve liquor or stay open past 10 p.m., so they don’t attract a rowdy crowd and can remain family friendly, Lindsey said.
“Our goal is to show people that this is going to be a place for everyone to hang out, and I want everyone to feel comfortable here,” he said. “You don’t have to be 21 to walk in the door, so people can bring their kids and a whole family can come out on Saturday, and we’ll have board games and bands playing from all different genres.”
Both Lindsey and Smith were living in Fort Collins, Colorado, when they had the idea to start their own brewery. When Smith was working at Fort Collins Brewery, he and the team worked on building a brand new 30,000-square-foot brewery, so he knew what to expect with the Audacity project.
“Working in the summer in Colorado is a little different than the summer in Texas,” Smith said. “But we knew what we needed to do, and whenever it’s in our control, we’re really good at working our butts off. If it took three straight days here to get things done, we could handle it.”
The duo only ran into minor problems during the construction, like weather delays. The permitting process was also challenging, Lindsey said, because the city of Denton had to create some new permitting for the brewery.
“Denton’s never had a brewery before, so the city didn’t have any experience with the type of equipment we use, so it’s been a learning process for both of us,” Lindsey said.
This week, Lindsey, Smith and their five employees will work to add the finishing touches inside and outside before their grand opening Friday, Oct. 24.
The celebrations will begin at 4 p.m. Friday and continue throughout the weekend, featuring live music and a special brew all three days. The brewery will serve its first six beers each day as well, which are more classic styles like Texas pale ale and an English-style brown porter.
Smith created the recipes and brews after he and Lindsey decided they wanted to showcase a range of beers and styles at the brew house, Lindsey said.
“I think the important thing is to have a wide variety because craft beer has so many options to go with,” Lindsey said. “I think you can put together a really cool taster tray here for someone who’s never even tried a craft beer, and give them a pretty good sampling of variety.”
At Audacity, the recipes won’t be exactly replicated so each beer you drink will be unique, Smith said. He will constantly work to tweak recipes and add new ones, and hopes to offer 25 to 30 different beers every year.
“For the beer enthusiasts, if they’re here every other week, there will be a new beer for them to try,” Smith said.
“Part of that is us staying small and local, it allows us to be very flexible and do a lot of stuff.”
Some of these beers will incorporate local, native plants that the two decided to plant at the brewery to use, like prickly pear and agave.
After the grand opening, some of the Audacity beers will be available at bars in Denton the following week. Right now, they plan to keep it local, and eventually expand their distribution in the DFW region as their production grows.
“We’re starting off just in Denton, then we’ll grow from there, but we are going to self-distribute to as many places in Denton as we can,” Lindsey said.
“We want to be Denton’s brewery, and that’s really important to us. We’re not a Texas brewery or American brewery, we really want to be Denton’s brewery.”
AUDACITY BREW HOUSE
1012 Shady Oaks Dr.
Grand opening weekend hours:
FRIDAY: 4 p.m. to midnight
SATURDAY: 11 a.m. to midnight
SUNDAY: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
