Local Craft Breweries in Waco Metro Area, TX (4)

Opened in June 2015, Bare Arms Brewing is Waco’s first brewpub. It’s a relaxed, welcoming, family-friendly destination owned by Keith Collier and Justin Veach. The brewery has six creations regularly on tap including Creekside American-style lager, Bluecat Ale (a blonde ale), and Java Joule (a coffee stout). They also have a variety of specialty brews, and now offer barrel-aged beers. The name of the brewery comes from the owners’ work philosophy to “simply roll up your sleeves, bare your arms, and go to work” instead of just dreaming to brew one’s beer, or to open a brewpub. With its trailblazing, the brewpub has cemented its place in Waco folk history. Plans are in place for the brewery to can its own beers soon. For now, they welcome special events at their taproom, which has games and AV equipment for their patrons’ enjoyment.

Brotherwell Brewing opened in February 2018 to serve the Central Texas community with “locally crafted beer of the highest quality”. Founded by friends Jacob Martinka and David Stoneking, it aims “to bring Central Texans closer to the brewing experience”. True to its commitment to the community, the brewery regularly hosts events at the taproom. Once a “scrap yard” and a “tire jungle”, the spacious taproom played host to many fundraisers, a Shakespeare play, stand-up comedies, live music, and the Eastside Market. According to its owners, “bringing the community in… elevates the place more than we can by ourselves”. Currently with a 15bbl production capacity, Brotherwell beers currently can be found in other bars in Waco. Plans for the future include canning their own products. They don’t serve food at the taproom, but there are food trucks available on most days.

Dancing Bear Pub in Waco, Texas is a popular pub for locals and out-of-town visitors. They aim to “provide a great spot to converse with friends and family while drinking some great beers, ciders, and wines”. The pub doesn’t brew its own craft beers, but as “Waco’s home for craft beer”, they provide a rotating pub menu of 16 craft beers on tap and over 90 different canned and bottled beers from various craft breweries. Opened to the public in August 2007, they initially started with just serving drinks to bar patrons and providing growler fills. In October 2019, they’ve started to offer gourmet food dishes to accompany the lineup of craft beers. Dancing Bear owner Paxton Dove teamed up with an old friend and chef Brandon Bailey, and both plan to rotate the menu just as the pub does with its drink selection.

Waco Ale Company is a "great place to meet up with friends after work to enjoy a beer or two". "The fact" that you "can grab some beers to go is very convenient". It is also a "nice place to cool off from the Texas heat". Also, "staff is wonderful and very helpful". "This place is gonna be a Waco institution in no time with the care they’re putting into every detail of the brewing process". You "will definitely come back to Waco to try the new beer they are getting ready to serve". So, "check it out you won't regret it".