For Carter, that commitment lies in creating an all-natural product using original processes that he said have proven successful for thousands of years.
“All beer was brewed by fire,” Carter said. “It was the original way to do it, and I wanted to bring the most natural product I could bring to market. We could get the taste using artificial ingredients, but we use all-natural, and that’s the right way to go.”
Carter opened Shannon Brewing Company in 2014, and it produces about 3,000 barrels per year, he said. Each type of beer is created using a fire-heating process; all-natural, 100% malted barley; and locally sourced spring water.
“They bring us grains, and they don’t sit on the floor or in the brewery more than a week before going in the tank,” Carter said about the beginnings of the 18-day brewing process. “And we’re sitting on a spring that is the oldest documented spring in Texas.”
Many of Shannon Brewing Company’s beers, such as the Chocolate Covered Strawberries created to celebrate Valentine’s Day, are also made using all-natural fruit. The brewery’s latest concoction, Bangowit, is a German-style beer made with blood orange and mango, Carter said.
“All things being equal, give me the all-natural,” Carter said. “It’s like having scratch food. You could have Stouffer’s lasagna, ... but then, you go to a restaurant that does it completely from scratch, and it’s like, ‘Wow.’”
Using an all-natural process and all-natural ingredients presents a logistics challenge. It also costs more to produce. But Carter said he believes those elements provide the best foundation for a quality brew.
The brewery distributes from Amarillo to San Antonio and has a core stable of beers, including the Irish Red and Tejas Light. It also debuts seasonal beers or limited releases around various holidays, such as St. Patrick’s Day, Carter said.
“Trying to come up with new, intriguing and fun-to-drink flavor profiles is not easy,” he said. “You can have an all-natural product, but if it doesn’t taste good, people won’t dig it. The whole industry has gotten innovative, and we are no exception.”
Shannon Brewing Company
818 N. Main St., Keller
817-337-9892
www.shannonbrewing.com
Hours: Wed.-Fri. 4-9 p.m., Sat. noon-9 p.m., Sun. noon-5 p.m., closed Mon.-Tue.
