PHOTO GALLERY — Nederland brewery serves up 2 award-winning beers
Published 12:38 am Wednesday, February 16, 2022
Randy Edwards, sales with Buckstin Brewing Co., holds a glass of a freshly poured beer. (Mary Meaux/The News)
A scene inside Buckstin Brewing Co. (Mary Meaux/The News)
Birra D'Oro Italian Pilsner (Mary Meaux/The News)
Randy Edwards pours a glass of beer. (Mary Meaux/The News)
Randy Edwards pours a glass of beer at Buckstin on Boston Avenue. (Mary Meaux/The News)
Justin Buchanan-Lopez takes a break from the brewing process at Buckstin Brewing Co. on Tuesday. (Mary Meaux/The News)
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NEDERLAND — Nederland’s very own brewery continues to make a name for itself, this time earning medals in a Texas craft beer contest.
Buckstin Brewing Co., 1211 Boston Ave., Nederland, pulled in a bronze medal for Birra D’Oro, an Italian pilsner, and a silver medal for Chugboat Island, a Belgian dubbel.
Randy Edwards, who heads up sales, said this was the inaugural event for the Texas Craft Brewers Cup, held Saturday in Austin. The competition was stiff with 131 competing breweries and 755 beer entries judged.
Buckstin has medals and ribbons from other competitions, including the 2020 US. Open Beer Championship, earning gold for The Mute Saison and silver for Easy Breezy Blonde.
This year’s medal hasn’t arrived but will be in the shape of a bolo-style tie.
Justin Buchanan-Lopez, who owns the tavern with wife Gabriuelle Blanco, said the Italian pilsner was new for them.
“There was a lot of research and a there’s a lot of background I do when I’m creating a recipe,” Buchanan-Lopez said. “We’ve never brewed something like this before, and we were happy with the way it came out and super excited for it to be recognized like that at its first attendance.”
The Buckstin brand of beer is making appearances in local grocery stores.
Edwards said they started distribution at the beginning of September, beginning first with restaurants and bars.
“Now we’re currently at four H.E.B’s and four Market Basket’s, soon to be seven and five Express Marts and we have an agreement with a couple of independent liquor stores as well,” Edwards said.
Buchanan-Lopez marvels at how some people still don’t know about their business.
“It’s crazy to us that it’s only been two years but we still get people in here that had no idea we’re open, that there’s a brewery in Nederland,” he said. “And we are as family friendly as it gets. We like to consider ourselves a pizza restaurant as much as we are a brewery.”
The brewery isn’t housed in a huge facility. The tavern/eatery is on Boston Avenue and features the brewing essentials in the back of the building with the tavern/eatery in the front.
“As you can see, our facility is not massive,” he said. “We pretty much work around the clock, as soon as the tank empties we fill it back up.”
Right now the plan is to continue to fill orders, keep their beer in the stores and continue to create new beers.
“We’d like to, for the most part, brew traditional 2-style beers. If you get a Belgium dubbel from us, we want it to taste like you had a traditional Belgium dubbel made in Belgium,” he said.
Buchanan-Lopez doesn’t mind putting in the research for his brews. He will read any book he can, search YouTube, Goggle or a go to a forum.
And where it was 5-galllon batches at home that if not right could be poured out, a batch at the brewery can be 225 gallons or the dubbel batches are about 450 gallons of beer.
Plus they brew three to four days a week.
For more information, call 409-519-8091.
