SAN ANTONIO – Many businesses have taken a big hit due to COVID-19 so, why not cheer up with a cold one?
Local brewers are celebrating the start of the San Antonio Beer Run, which aims to increase sales and create community.
Ahead of COVID-19, breweries across San Antonio had been ramping up equipment for bigger production in time for the nation’s largest gathering in their industry. The Craft Brewers Conference was estimated to bring in about 15,000 people to San Antonio in April of 2020.
“We were looking forward to the education programs that were aligned with this conference, (to meet) brewers that were going to be coming in, the advertising, the marketing and just the spotlight of San Antonio breweries that shine a light on the craft that we all created,” Erica Teague, owner of Cactus Land Brewing said. “It didn’t happen, and it’s a deep wound.”
The conference was cancelled due to the pandemic, leaving brewers like Teague with extra equipment and ingredients for beer. She knew she had to get to work to keep beer and cash flowing.
“That’s where the SA Beer Run came about,” Teague said.
Teague worked closely with Tanner Freeman, art director and owner of the design firm DeuxSouth.
“It’s about getting our patrons out, discovering breweries, hoping (to save) our craft scene in the works, but ultimately letting it be fun,” she said.
The beer run doesn’t actually involve any physical activity other than getting in your car and putting it in drive.
“If you grew up in like a smaller town in Texas, it might have been a dry county and maybe had to cross, like, a city or county line to go get beer,” Freeman said.
Participating breweries include Cactus Land, Dorcol, Künstler, Freetail, Tusculum and Roadmap. Each can or bottle has a unique design created by Freeman.
Freeman said his art is a way to give back to the industry that in the past has provided him many job opportunities.
Freeman and Teague hope the SA Beer Run will get the community excited to grab a beer to go and explore new breweries.
“I think when you support craft breweries, you support so much more than just the person who is, you know, buying the hops and the grain and the brewing equipment,” Freeman said. “You’re supporting their front of house staff. You’re supporting their breweries. You’re supporting, you know, local graphic designers.”
The event runs until Oct. 31.
For more information on SA Beer Run, visit Cactus Land Brewing’s Instagram page here.