Bull Creek Brewing – Texas Craft Brewery Profile
Location: 7100 FM3405, Liberty Hill, TX 78642
Bull Creek Brewing Company is located right outside the North Austin city limits, in a small town called Liberty Hill. Bull Creek Brewing Company is a family owned and operated brewery that welcomes the public to try all of their beers and take a tour of their production line.
The People
I had the opportunity to visit with Julia Parma, who happens to be one of the owners and the Brewmaster for the brewery. Julia referred to the brewery as the “brain child” of her husband Greg and her father Erick Matthys(co-owner), who has been homebrewing since 1986. Erick and Greg thought that brewing beer on a commercial scale would be an amazing and challenging adventure. After doing some research of different possible areas for establishment, they selected their location in Liberty Hill and became the first production brewery in Williamson County(WilCo). They are happy that other breweries are also opening in the area, providing a great local selection for craft beer lovers in North Austin, Cedar Park, Leander, Liberty Hill, Georgetown and Round Rock.
The story of their location started back in December of 2012 when they started erecting the building, and after overcoming many challenges and passing many road blocks, they finally brewed on their system in January 2015.
The Beers
In the name of research, I tasted the following Bull Creek Brewing beers!
Bottled Beers:
Longhorn Blonde: This is a light, refreshing and smooth beer with a hint of yeast and sweetness, it is a perfect entry level beer for those who are still reluctant to get too crafty with their beer palate; it has a very pretty light gold color with a medium body at 5.3% ABV and 22 IBU.
Champs Au Sud Saison: Light in color with a mild golden haze and a large foamy head on top, this farmhouse ale is perfect for hot weather, citrusy with a mild tartness that evokes white wine grapes, in other words fruity and dry, highly carbonated with some spicy undertones at a 7.4 % ABV and 25 IBU.
Tommy Raj English Style: A very crisp and refreshing beer with dominant hops but subdued, very well balanced in a beautiful amber color with a crystalline look, it’s in perfect range of taste and strength within the pale ale family at 7.5% ABV and 60 IBU.
Iron Balls Imperial Stout: This is a dark medium body beer that is rich, smoky and peppery, intensely aromatic with abundant notes of coffee and chocolate, delicious by itself or paired with BBQ, brisket or even dessert, as expected, is high in alcohol content at 9% ABV and 45 IBU.
Brewery Only Taps:
Boudice Cranberry Braggot: This particular style is not frequently produced among the Texas Brewers; the basics of the style are usually including honey and malt providing flavors and fermentable extract. To make this beer one step more interesting, cranberries were added to the recipe giving it a sweet and tangy taste that makes it very palatable and refreshing. The batch I tried was fermented twice and the levels of alcohol were not precise but estimated to be at above 9% and 20 IBU.
Aged Licorice Stout: To the nose this beer reminded me of root beer, must be the licorice added to the recipe, but to the palate is nothing like that, dark, smoky light to medium body and with hints of different spices at 9% ABV and 45 IBU.
The Brewery
Julia said that her husband Greg studied up on everything he could about craft brewing, put the brewery together and developed the recipes. “I’m so proud of my husband”, she said, “while he was finishing his Masters in Corporate Finance at St. Edwards University, and working full time as a Corporate Controller, he took the time to teach me how to brew using our equipment. I have since developed my own recipes and have become the Head Brewer.”
Their equipment consists of 15 bbl brew system and have 4 fermenters equaling 60 bbl fermentation capacity. They bottle in house on a 6 filler head machine.
Julia also heads their marketing efforts using social media and putting on events to get the community involved during their Tap Room Hours”. Bull Creek Brewing Company wants to make great beer while supporting the local arts and artisan community.
The Tap Room is in the process of filling up with artwork all made by local artists. The artwork is for sale and all of the profits are given back to the artists. I think it is a great contribution to the community that they make their property available to local vendors on Saturdays during their tap room hours. Artists are welcome to set up a tent and sell their goods to tap room customers. They frequently have local farmers, jewelry makers, vendors with unique handmade items, homemade pet products and all kinds of things. Even the kids are included in fun activities once a month when the brewery holds a crafting event to help spark kids’ interest in the arts. Whether it is paint filled eggs or canvases for “messy masterpieces” while they dry, the kids can play in the bouncey house that they have during these events.
Bull Creek’s bottle labels were done by a local artist Caitlin Zeller, who graduated from the University of Texas with a degree in Illustration. Caitlin receives credits for all of the labels on their packed products as well as on the website.
What are Bull Creek Brewing’s plans for the future?
The brewery is in final talks with a local distributor to get more their beers into the Austin Market. Right now they are only available in bottle six packs and can be found at selected Twin Liquors, Specs and HEB. Currently, their draft beers are brewery only, but they look forward to getting kegs into the market with the distributor.
Julia suggested keeping a lookout on Facebook for any events that they will be having at the brewery during their Saturday’s tap room hours.
The Details:
Location: 7100 FM3405, Liberty Hill, TX 78642
Hours: Open Saturdays 12-5pm and will sometimes extend hours for evening events.
Kid Friendly: Yes
Dog Friendly: Yes
Parking: Plenty
You are welcome to bring your own food but no outside alcohol is permitted.
Brewery can be rented for private events by calling (512) 940-5079 for details and information.
Upcoming Special Events:
Barks and Brews – Saturday April 30th 12-5pm
Trivia Night – Saturday May 7th 7pm-10pm
Movie at the Brewery – Saturday May 21st 8-10pm
Vote for which movie you want to see on the brewery events page on Facebook.
Check out Bull Creek Brewing on Facebook
