Harrison Holmes has been brewing beer with his dad since he was about 10. Of course, he says, he wasn’t drinking then.

Now 29, Harrison and his dad, Brian Holmes, have traded in the Home Depot buckets and garage brewing setup for metal tanks and a fully operational brewery and restaurant, Float the River Brewing in Liberty Hill.
Harrison Holmes and hid dad, Brian Holmes, now operate out of the fully functional brewery and restaurant Float the River Brewing in Liberty Hill. The large metal tanks show just how far they've come from brewing in Home Depot buckets in their garage. (Sam Schaffer/Community impact)
Harrison Holmes and hid dad, Brian Holmes, now operate out of the fully functional brewery and restaurant Float the River Brewing in Liberty Hill. The large metal tanks show just how far they've come from brewing in Home Depot buckets in their garage. (Sam Schaffer/Community impact)


The full story

Float the River Brewing opened in 2019 and was originally called Hell or High Water Brewing, said Joseph Roberts, the brewery’s general manager. The name change was made official on Jan. 8.

The brewery is owned by a group of local entrepreneurs, and Brian is the majority owner and master brewer. Most of the beers brewed in the facility are his recipe, but he’d been a homebrewer for decades prior to opening Float the River.


Harrison, Float the River’s head brewer and brewery operations manager, said he would help his dad brew beer on weekends growing up.

In the garage, they would talk about running a brewery in the future, Harrison said, noting it was more his dad’s dream at first, but he grew to love it.

Harrison said it can be hard to stand out as a brewery, because most beer is brewed in similar equipment with similar ingredients, so the differences lie in the margins.

“I would call it more of an art than it is work,” Harrison said. “It’s really really fun.”


What you need to know

Float the River is also a restaurant with its own kitchen and a full bar. Staff places a high importance on fresh ingredients and house-made food, including making their own BBQ and marinara sauces, Roberts said.

“We’re big on doing our own stuff,” Roberts said.
The Fat Boy Special is an overwhelming compilation of 1/2 pound smash burgers and house-pulled pork. When paired with the brewery's best-selling Float the River Kolsch, it provides a sound foundation for an evening of rest and relaxation. (Sam Schaffer/Community Impact)
The Fat Boy Special is an overwhelming compilation of 1/2 pound smash burgers and house-pulled pork. When paired with the brewery's best-selling Float the River Kolsch, it provides a sound foundation for an evening of rest and relaxation. (Sam Schaffer/Community Impact)


The restaurant recently shifted to focusing more on high-quality pub food, Roberts said, championing the fish and chips and half pound smash burgers.


“We’re kind of leaning into the whole burger thing,” he said, noting that burgers have become their number one seller since they switched to a new smash burger recipe earlier this year.

The brewery’s top selling beer is the Float the River Kolsch, and it has a range of IPAs, including a black IPA. The restaurant also has an Irish Red, Roberts said.

What else?

The restaurant has a happy hour from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. It includes half off appetizers and $5 Float the River beers, $5 wines and $5 house margaritas, Roberts said.