Houston has become a hotbed for hopheads, and the latest craft brewery to ease into the market is Town in City Brewing Co., the brain child of former oil and gas chemist, Justin Engle, and his partner, Steve Macalello.
After introducing their beers at White Linen Night last August (to a receptive public) and closing on a property that same week (on a neglected stretch of West Cavalcade between Blockbuster and Asia Market), the pair felt they were on a fast track to be open by this January.
Engle quit his day job and began working full time to make the brewery a reality, enduring months of federal and state paperwork, site planning and brew testing.
The idea, Engle tells CultureMap, has always been to make Town in City a bike-friendly neighborhood establishment, with a small tasting room, a nearly 1,300-square-foot gated garden and an indoor tasting room adjacent to the brewing warehouse.
Engle quit his day job and began working full time to make the brewery a reality, enduring months of federal and state paperwork, site planning and brew testing.
Most recently, a 15-foot street setback compromise with the city's Planning and Development Department — less than the 25-foot that city standards call — has allowed him to move forward. All that's left is a variance request.
"[The Planning and Development Department is] working with the applicant to better understand the reasons for the variance request and helping them articulate these reasons in a way that meets the conditions outlined in the Code," Brian Crimmins, the department's chief of staff, emails CultureMap.
Engle will present architectural plans and a variance request on March 14 to the city's Planning Commission, in whose hands the decision rests.
Town in City Brewing Co. purchased a lot along West Cavalcade last August.
