Boerne beer lovers have yet another reason to look forward to this Thanksgiving weekend and the kickoff of the Dickens on Main celebration. That’s the target date for the opening of the new Hamby’s brewery and restaurant just across Main Street from the Cibolo Creek Brewing Co.
As a brewing operation, Cibolo Creek and Hamby’s will be operated under one brewpub licensed location that just happens to be separated by a state highway. However, each location will have its own brewing system to make distinct beers particular to each concept.
At Hamby’s, you’ll find a lighter German-inspired lager dubbed Hamby Helles, the precursor of which already is being served up occasionally at Cibolo Creek. Also expect a crisp pilsner, a kettle sour and a pale ale. Though it can be a bane to lovers of classic beers, demand for a hard seltzer will likely place a Hamby’s take on the menu.
“In a perfect world, we’d be open by Dickens,” said Ty Wolosin,, co-owner of Cibolo Creek and Hamby’s, along with his brother-in-law, Josh Mazour, and parents-in-law Mick and Sonja Mazour.
The Mazour family has owned the building at 437 S. Main St. for years, and it has been vacant for several years since the flower shop tenant moved to North Main. Josh Mazour, who runs the front of the house at Cibolo Creek, wanted to bring it back to its former use as an old-school hamburger place, but with the addition of house-made craft beer.
Once part of a chain called Hamby’s after the founder, the owners of the building found a relative of the founder, who died in 2007, and received permission to use the name.
Wolsosin said the food menu will include deeply caramelized smash burgers style of hamburger along with chicken and fish sandwiches. Another likely hit, based on its debut as a to-go treat at Cibolo Creek during the COVID-19 shut down of restaurant dining rooms, is a fried chicken box for a quick takeout or to crunch on along with a beer.
Electrical work on the building has begun and next stages are being scheduled for the coming months. While it will be among the last steps, there won’t be any wait on the brewing equipment.
The 3.5-barrel brewing system and fermentation tanks were ordered more than two years ago, but a wait for manufacturing followed by a months-long backup of cargo ships at Pacific ports in the U.S. turned into a lucky delay because the business couldn’t move forward during the height of the pandemic, Wolosin said. The system arrived in March and is on the future Hamby’s property awaiting completion of its new home.
Besides its own signature brews, he said, Hamby’s will carry taps of the two most popular beers from its sister brewery: the flagship Boerne Blonde and Creekside IPA.
The beer-to-go side of the business also will get a boost with a canning line on order for the space available at the Hamby’s building. The Gosling canning line can fill up to 15 cans per minute and make the take-away beer a more consistent quality than can growlers, known as crowlers, filled at the tap and seamed singly by bar staff.
“The cool anticipation is from the people who were around when the original Hamby’s was here,” Wolosin said. “With hamburgers, fried chicken, milkshakes and craft beer in one spot, I think this checks a lot of boxes.”
Travis E. Poling has been writing about Texas beer for 25 years and is co-author of two books on the subject, including “San Antonio Beer: Alamo City History by the Pint.” Email him at [email protected].
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