Day 400: Free Tail Brewing and a Greek Mythology Lesson

Texas Beer Week continues with a trip to San Antonio and Freetail Brewing Company. I'm not sure how Freetail landed on our radar when planning our trip to Austin, but I am certainly glad it did.

Freetail is named for the bats that seem to be all over the Austin, San Antonio area. Luckily for me, the several million bats who make their home under the South Congress Bridge in Austin were on their winter sabatical and nowhere to be found while I was visiting. While I value the role that bats play in the ecosystem, I have no desire to see them up close and en masse as I had to remind Mr. Blog Named Brew repeatedly on this trip.

Freetail opened up in 2009 with the goal of bringing better beer to the San Antonio area. I can assure you--based on my personal experience--they are more than meeting that goal. I started out with one of two sours they had on draft that day.  

Ananke = Delicious

The Ananke is an American wild ale or a sour beer. It poured a dark straw color with a very small, almost nonexistent head. It smells of lemons and a bit of wood or resin. The flavor is extremely tart...lemon, resinous. There's lots of woody flavor to it that lends a very interesting element. This is a great example of a sour beer. 

In case you were wondering who or what Ananke is, I've learned she is the Greek goddess of inevitability, compulsion and necessity. Together with Khronos, they are responsible for splitting the primal egg of solid matter into its constituent parts, earth, heaven and sea and so brought about the creation of the ordered universe. And that's your Greek mythology lesson for the day!

Beer stats

Style: American wild ale

ABV: 5.8%

IBUs: 10

Rating: Excellent 

Thanks to the encouragement of our waitress, who really knew her beer, I sampled four more offerings.

From left to right are: La Rubia blonde ale; Tadarida Oscura black IPA; Shoppe's smoked; and, La Muerta imperial stout. I didn't take any notes on these although I can recall that the Shoppe's smoked was quite unusual. Given its low ABV and IBUs, I thought it would be more of a table beer or perhaps a berlinerweisse. It's also worth noting that the beer board did not mention smoke at all in my defense. It actually tasted more like a rauchbier. Our waitress told me it was an acquired taste--evidently I acquired it pretty quickly because I thoroughly enjoyed it. 

Previously reviewed from Freetail Brewing

Gary's review of the other sour that was on during our visit to Freetail, the Woodicus