Pecan Point Gastropub & Brewery
213 Main St
Texarkana, TX 75501
Phone 903 306-0661
Our Brews Sampled and Favorites
Looking for something to do in Texarkana, TX? We recently visited and taste tested craft beers at one of the Breweries in Texarkana, TX. The brewery is named Pecan Point Ale.
As you may know, I prefer the darker style and my wife leans toward the hazy IPA. We arrived late-afternoon and decided to each order a four-sample flight.
I went with a
Pecan Point Ale,
the La Harpe Cream Ale,
Bells Dairy Milk Stout,
and the Grim Porter.
I thought the cream ale would be a little bit smoother and maybe have some lactose, but I don't think it did and if it did, I couldn't taste it. I could smell the pecans in the Pecan Point Ale, but the flavor was pretty mild. Of the remaining two, my favorite was the Bell's Dairy Milk Stout.
My wife ordered the
Iron Mountain IPA
Swampoodle IPA
along with two guest taps.
Her favorite was the Swampoodle IPA.
When we visited, it was happy hour, and they had a special. When you purchased a flight, you could get an order of duck fat fries for a special low price. We enjoyed the duck fries.
Brewery Ambiance
Pecan Point Brewery is located in a historic building. The section we were sitting in was about 130 years old. It also had a great wooden wrap around bar with probably 12 to 15 seats all the way down. It is not fancy but has a wonderful small-town vibe in the old section of downtown.
The brewery is dog friendly. They even have a dog club that meets there on a regular basis and take up 1/3 to 1/2 of their tables when they come out for the puppy playdate to interact with each other. There was no outside seating but there was ample space inside, and dogs are allowed inside as well.
When I walked around the brewery, I noticed they didn't have large tanks like some of the other breweries. When I was talking with the owner Bill, he stated they brew their beer one barrel at a time. I imagine it's easier to control the quality of each brew since it's a smaller sized batch.
Pecan Point also has a full-service bar, and they develop their own concoctions. The also serve wines. We did not sample any of the wines or concoctions, but they sounded tempting.
Food
Pecan Point Gastropub and Brewery is a full-service restaurant. They've dedicated half of their sitting area to be restaurant focused. On our visit, we sampled the duck fat fries and also another order of Chorizo cheese and fries. Both are very tasty and went great with our beers. After the duck fries, we didn't hesitate to have more fries. As we were leaving there were several families coming in to enjoy dinner, so we take took that as a good sign their remaining menu was good.
Merchandise
Pecan Point Gastropub & Brewery had only one style of t-shirt on display, but we noticed some of the wait staff had different versions of their wearables. they also had pint glasses and growlers for sale.
Brewery Owner Interview
Bill was an interesting guy. He has been in business for 7.5 years. He started as an amateur home brewer for 25 years prior to opening the brewery. He sold his successful magazine editing and publishing business to a customer which is still going strong today. Bill has about 20 people working for him on both the brewery side and kitchen side.
As he is a bit of a history buff, all of his beer names come from historical places around the city of Texarkana. For instance, Swampoodle is the name of a Creek just South of the city and Bell’s Dairy Milk Stout was named after some relatives who started the Bells Dairy a generation ago.
While listening to Bill, you could hear his love for his home city of Texarkana. He enjoys the people and he's enjoying the resurgence and economic growth of the downtown area.
We talked a little bit about how he did during the pandemic, and he explained that some of his creditors postponed mortgage payments or loan payments for a couple of months and that he was able to get a PPP loan. Many of his customers would order takeout two or three times a week. Sounds like he has a wonderful community and loyal customers.
Bill shared the story of this location not being his preferred choice. He had selected another building, but right before he was going to move in there was a fire on the second floor which made the building unrentable. Based on his location, that was a blessing in disguise.
About the Authors
When I first started dating my wife, we enjoyed popular domestic beers. I am sure visiting a craft brewery was her idea. Our taste buds rejoiced as we sampled the various brews. It did not take long before our tastes diverted – the darker ambers, reds, porters, and stouts for me, IPA, Hazy IPA, and pilsners for her.
When we retired, we decided to visit as many of our National Parks across this country. It seemed a natural fit to visit breweries in the many cities we travel through as we drive to the parks.
We currently reside in Fort Worth, Texas. Texas has about 300 micro-breweries, and the Metroplex has over 80. Which means we have a whole lot of day trips ahead of us to visit our local breweries.
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