Local Sips

Dallas brewery expands into white-hot hard seltzer market

Dallas' Deep Ellum Brewing Company has been turning out innovative brews since 2011, when it became the city's first craft brewery. It has since expanded with an off-site small-batch brewery and taproom in Fort Worth called the Funkytown Fermatorium.

When it comes to what Dallas (and beyond) is drinking, DEBC has been bold, fearless, and unapologetic from the start.

Now it's made the leap into hard seltzer, the most popular drink of the moment, with the release of Blind Lemon. Like everything Deep Ellum Brewing does, it's made to stand out — and here's how:

The story behind the name
The moniker is in tribute to blues legend "Blind Lemon" Jefferson, who began his career in the 1920s playing guitar and singing on the streets of Deep Ellum neighborhood. He went on to become one of the biggest-selling down-home blues artists in American history. He was known for his unusual vocal range and loud volume, and in homage to the original Blind Lemon, this hard seltzer bubbles over loudly with lemony flavor.

Natural ingredients
It starts with natural lemon flavors, then continues with only one gram of carbs and zero grams of sugar per 12 ounce serving. Oh, and it's only 100 calories, with 5 percent alcohol by volume.

How it's made
Crafted with a process similar to DEBC's other brands, Blind Lemon makes use of cane sugar instead of the usual malted barley that is in a typical beer. When yeast is added, the result is an unusually spritzy and light brew, great on its own or even better as a cocktail base.

Drink up, do good
DEBC has partnered with many amazing local organizations including Foundation45, Deep Ellum Community Association, Deep Ellum Foundation, and Paws in the City, to name a few. Now you can feel even better about supporting this Texas brand.

How to get it
Blind Lemon is available both on draft and in 12-pack cans. While you're at it, be sure to load up on Dallas Blonde, Deep Ellum IPA, the Mexican-style lager Neato Bandito, and Easy Peasy, a session IPA brewed with lemon and tangerine peel.

Deep Ellum Brewing Company now has hard seltzer: Blind Lemon.

Deep Ellum Brewing Blind Lemon hard seltzer

Photo by Ashley Gongora

Deep Ellum Brewing Company now has hard seltzer: Blind Lemon.

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the ranch rides again

Houston hospitality 'dream team' saddles up for World Cup pop-up restaurant

Courtesy of Berg Hospitality

Army Sadeghi, Ben Berg, and Brian Ching are teaming up to open The Ranch Presents Pitch Live.

Two Houston hospitality veterans are teaming up with one of the city’s soccer legends to throw an epic party during the FIFA World Cup. The Ranch Presents Pitch Live will be a 35,000-square-foot pop-up venue that mixes Texas hospitality with top-notch food, drinks, and entertainment.

Located in the former Warehouse Live space (813 St. Emanuel St.), The Ranch Presents Pitch Live unites Berg Hospitality founder Ben Berg (B&B Butchers, Prime 131, The Annie Cafe, etc.) with Army Sadeghi (Melrose, Clarkwood, 1111) and Dynamo legend Brian Ching, co-founder of popular soccer bar Pitch 25 that has a location in EaDo and will soon open in Katy. Houston investor Rick Perez is also involved with the project. Together, they’ll operate a venue for 39 days — June 11 through July 19 — that puts an international spin on The Ranch, Berg Hospitality’s restaurant at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo that operated from 2022-2025.

Berg tells CultureMap that the project began when Houston’s FIFA World Cup Host Committee approached Ching about utilizing the Warehouse Live space during the tournament. Ching reached out to Berg to oversee the food and beverage operations. Berg recruited Sadeghi for his experience in nightclubs and lounges.

“I’m a sadomasochist,” Berg jokes about his penchant for taking on too many projects at once.

“Brian is the face of it and runs an awesome bar,” Berg says. “Bring in the nightlife side with people who are tops at that. My team is tops at putting on a big pop-up, and we have the structure to get this thing open. It’s kind of a dream team.”

“Hosting games in Houston is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to put on something great,” Sadeghi adds. “This concept isn’t just screens and beer buckets. It operates like a global fan destination centered around matches . . . We’re programming the emotional center of the World Cup, and we’re super excited.”

The space is being divided into three sections: a main stage with multiple bars and casual dining; a more premium, VIP-style area with more elevated food and drinks; and a private VVIP lounge with its own entrance and more premium service. Berg notes that they expect the venue will be popular with corporate clients who can host events there.

Details on the food menu are still being finalized. This version of The Ranch won’t have the same full service, fine dining-style experience that the Rodeo offered, but Berg noted that many of its most popular dishes will be available. It will also serve some barbecue. Restaurants related to the countries in that day's matches will be invited to pop-up within the pop-up.

All of the World Cup matches will be shown throughout the venue on multiple screens, including a massive outdoor viewing area. In between games, the venue will host performances by DJs and musicians in a variety of genres. At night, patrons will have the option of splurging on VIP tables with bottle service.

Sadeghi thinks Houston’s diversity makes it an ideal place to host World Cup matches and visitors.

“We have South American, European, African, Mexican, they’re all very passionate about soccer,” he says. “Instead of building something generic, we want to build something that reflects Houston culturally. The goal is global energy through a Houston lens.”

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