Hello and happy Friday!
We're now one week out from Halloween, so get your pumpkin ales and scary movies in while you can. If you run out of time and have too many Pumkings, Great Pumpkins, or Oktoberfests laying around you know who to call (hint: it's not Ghostbusters).
In this week's issue:
Experience the paranormal first hand, but with beer
Dogfish Head keeps the music collab train rolling
A military veteran on a whole new kind of mission
[ 01 // THE FLIGHT ]
Our faves from this week
🐶 Ruh roh Raggy! Albuquerque's Tractor Brewing is taking us back to Spooky Island for a Scooby-Doo-filled Halloween bash.
☑️ It’s time to vote again! Seattle’s Stoup Brewing hosts a “Dunk for Democracy” dunk tank fundraiser to support Indivisible.org.
🍚 Now's your chance to get a taste of Korean history as Chicago's Yido Brews is making makgeolli, Korea's oldest alcoholic drink.
👻 Ever wanted to be the star of your own personal Paranormal Activity? Ok us either, but we're game for paranormal presentations at Bube's Brewery.
🖤 Calling all beer-drinking rock-and-roll lovers! Dogfish Head teamed up with Joan Jett for their limited Jett Black Lager.
[ 02 // THE PINT ]
A Green Beret's brewery in Military City
“Veterans love beer” says David Holland, owner of Longtab Brewing in San Antonio, Texas. As a retired Green Beret, he opened his brewery in retirement as sort of an homage to his time spent in the Special Forces.
Apparently, Special Forces has the longest of the special skills tabs in the military, hence their nickname “Longtabbers.” Holland likes that the name makes people stop and ask what it means. Apparently they ask a lot.
The beer itself started with a gift. While Holland’s wife was going through chemo, she bought him a homebrew kit, and that hobby eventually turned into a business.
The location of Longtab is perfect too. It sits on the northwest side of town near Joint Base San Antonio (JBSA), where nearly 75,000 people work directly, including more than 33,000 on active duty. That doesn’t even count the veterans who have retired in and around the city.
Coming from a military family, we know just how important the sense of comradery is. Especially for soldiers returning home, or veterans looking for a sense of community in their retirement.
That’s what Holland built Longtab around. It’s a taproom, coffee bar, and small production brewery under one roof in a room that feels a lot like a Special Forces team room.
Every beer on the menu has a tie to the military. Holland says if you drew a family tree off the taps, every branch would connect, all the way back to the OSS, the World War II spy agency whose members went on to found the Special Forces in 1952.
What stood out most to us is how seriously Holland takes the experience. He gives his staff a budget to eat at nice restaurants around town and study everything, from how they’re greeted at the door to the plates the food comes on.
His view is that a little brewpub in a warehouse can offer the same level of service as the best restaurants in San Antonio.
Longtab also gives back through its beer. They have brewed 14+ beers honoring fallen Green Berets, and Holland works directly with each family to choose the name, the style, and the charity that receives a share of the proceeds.
Longtab is the only brewery officially recognized by the City of San Antonio’s Military and Veteran Affairs Office to brew a beer called Military City. It also happens to be one of their best sellers.
If you find yourself in San Antonio, we hope you’ll stop in! Order a Military City, take in the history on the walls, and let us know how it was.