It's time to spotlight another local brewery and this time, it's brand new to the game Free Range Brewing.
Free Range opened within the last couple of months, after a long and arduous process to acquire the necessary materials, approvals, and permits, chronicled here by Creative Loafing's Jeff Hahne. The article goes fairly in depth about just how difficult it is to open a brewery, between laws that make the potential owners jump through hoops and inspections that contradict approved proposals. Chris Goulet, President of Birdsong Brewing (who we wrote about here) weighed in on some of the problems he faced when they were moving into the new facility. The article really made it clear that beer making is no easy task, and it definitely gave me a greater appreciation for the breweries that are up and operating in town and made me want to support them.
When we visited Free Range, they had a wide variety of beers. They offered them in small glasses and half pints, with only a few available in a pint. We had a flight while we were there and were particularly impressed by the oyster stout.
The taproom itself is in an old warehouse on N. Davidson, also home to Time Out Youth and Different Roads Home. It has a lot of natural light and an area where kids can play with games and puzzles, while their parents relax. On a Saturday afternoon, the place was fairly full of families. The kids were having a great time, and they remained fairly quiet. The taproom has ample seating at both the bar and at booth-styled tables along the wall. The chairs are upcycled school bus seats.
We had a chance to speak with Jeff Alexander, one of the founders of the brewery (the other is his brother, Jason). They seem to have a wild imagination and I look forward to what will come from them in the future.
Free Range does not yet have a website, I'm sure they're more focused on getting their brews right at this time, but you can find them on Facebook.
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