Wet your whistle at the craft beer fest. Rotary’s June event will showcase local hospitality, Texas craft beers

The first Fredericksburg Craft Beer Festival will be take place for its second year on Saturday, June 10, 2023. The Rotary Club of Fredericksburg hosts the event that highlights our brewing past and helps that club fund its charitable giving. The main beneficiary for the 2023 festival is The Good Samaritan Center, a charitable clinic meeting critical health needs for Gillespie County residents.

04/26/2023 01:27 PM (update 07/21/2023 01:27 PM)

Jim Morris’ humorous shirt summed up the feeling of the nearly 1,000 attendees at last year’s event. – Photo by Robynn Dodd

The event will begin with a craft beer competition awards dinner at Altstadt on Friday, June 9. Those VIPs attending can also get a tour of that astounding operation. Altstadt also is a major sponsor.

The festival itself will be held all day at Marktplatz, the site of many a good time in Fredericksburg. There, craft beer fans can get tastes from many Texas craft brewers, take part in a stein hoist, enjoy some fine food concessions and food-pairing demonstrations, and great musical entertainment. (And, yes, there will also be some wine available for non-beer drinkers.)

For craft beer fans, there will be representatives from producers large and small to visit with and learn some tricks of the trade. There will also be a home brew section for those who like to cauldron their own concoctions.

Sponsorships are still available at a variety of levels. Get ready to sip in the sun in Fredericksburg on June 9-10 at one of the newest attractions in our town. (Disclosure: Fredericksburg Publishing Company is a sponsor.)

A representative from Twisted X Brewery in Dripping Springs shares his passion with visitors at the first Fredericksburg Craft Beer Festival. – Photo by Robynn Dodd

Fredericksburg’s history with beer goes way back, with a brewery being established in the early days of the Nimitz Hotel. Others remember sidling up to the bar at the old White Elephant Saloon and ordering beers. The prevalent German culture has always had sips of suds as part of the Gemütlichkeit, or friendliness, it extends to locals and visitors, alike.

Fredericksburg has two industry bookends, as well. Fredericksburg Brewing Company on East Main Street was at the forefront of the craft beer revolution. And the newest addition, Altstadt Brewery, is a Scripps family facility that is already drawing huge numbers of visitors itself.