By Gomer McHomer
In putting together the consummate ice chest beer collection for the big game, Sebastian Farce needed a remarkable beer. Commonly known as a craft beer gadabout and a clever spinster, Sebastian is credited with coining the phrase “America’s Beer.”
Independence Brewing Company’s co-owners Rob and Amy Cartwright resisted the title early on because they felt like demand for the beer would quickly exceed the brewery’s capacity (and humbleness, of course). But every waking thought finds its way to a publishing media nowadays, so delighted or not, the moniker was retweeted, favorited, and liked many thousands of times over.
It is Independence Brewing’s passion that they instill in every drop of beer that helped justify them as “America’s Beer,” while the entire brewery team made sure the beer drinkers would find it at notable local restaurants, bars, and grocery stores.
Love it or hate it, a person’s beer of choice is one of the most polarizing topics in the United States. Even when the number of breweries in the U.S. fell below one hundred in the 1980s, Americans still possessed an unquenchable desire for the hops and high quality two-row malts. That’s why I laugh when people refer to Budweiser as the “King of Beers” or how interesting a person is for drinking Dos Equis. Is Bud Light really “America’s Beer”? Yes. On opposite day.
I don’t think Jack Buddrinker even knows the swill in his Hypercolor dispenser box in the fridge is made from 30% corn. But it’s cheap and it gets the job done. Your Bud and Miller light beer fans will go so far as plan their night around what bar carries their favorite shaped bottles. And when you talk to them in the lavatory, you’ll find that most of them just drink what their Daddy drank.
It’s different with Independence Brewing. Ask a beer nerd studying the shelves at Whip In or the D&Q and they’ll talk your ear off about Convict Hill Stout or the fabulous Brewluminati series. It’s immeasurable the amount of Independence Brewing fanatics roaming the within the borders of the United States and beyond. And that’s exactly why Independence remains incontrovertibly the true “America’s Beer.”
Fear not, disenfranchised beer drinkers. This Saturday, October 22nd, Independence Brewing Company celebrates their seventh anniversary at their brewery in Austin, TX. Admission is free, but it would be careless of me not to recommend that you bring $12 for the commemorative anniversary glass. Join beautiful people just like yourself, possibly Sebastian mentioned above, and this scribe at the brewery from 4-8pm. Austin is the Live Music Capital of the World, so you can bet there will be some of that there too.
