By Karen Welch — Senior Content Producer
Business partners raised in Canyon will bring their craft beer experience to Southwest 45th Avenue in Amarillo late this year.
Kaleb West and Trever Martin plan to open Pondaseta Brewing Co. in the former York Tire at 7500 S.W. 45th, after successfully navigating city permitting processes in recent weeks.
"We love craft beer, and we've been homebrewing for ages," West said. "We were ready to do sometihng different, each of us, and thought we might as well do what we love."
West had been living in Austin, and traveling for Premier Stainless Systems, installing the company's stainless steel brewing equipment in other taprooms — a gig he still does as he can. And Martin worked in Lubbock for contractor supply source Morrison Supply.
The friends who grew up together have given their brewery full focus for about a year now, West said.
"Pondaseta — the name comes from basically a dirt road just south of Canyon," he said. "It's kind of our call out to our hometown."
West said they considered a full-on brewpub, with a full menu, but they opted to keep the focus on beer by opening a taproom instead.
Pondaseta will brew on-site, and offer its wares to the public, along with a selection of snacks.
"We brew a little bit of everything, " West said. "We'll have four core beers when we open and a bunch of rotation options, as well.
West described the four core brews:
- Pondaseta Premium, a cream ale. "It's our take on a light beer using locally sourced corn and wheat. It has a light, clean flavor — easy to drink."
- A porter — "not super strong, not super bitter, for those who prefer the malt flavors."
- An West Coast-style IPA (India Pale Ale) — "clean, bitter, light, but a little bit of pine and citrus flavors."
- A New England-style IPA — "not bitter at all, but lots of hop flavor, tropical fruit flavors and citrus. This modern trend that's real hazy and cloudy. It tastes like orange juice sometimes, depending on the version."
Construction should soon begin on the taproom itself. A tasting room will be located inside the front door.
"We're going to have 13 beer taps and cold-brew coffee and craft soda," West said.
Two of the vehicle bays will contain brewing equipment at work. The bay between them will be another tasting area where people can observe, and that room will be available for meetings, parties and events, he said.
Pondaseta will be launching a crowdfunding campaign for the purchase of a canning line. You can find information about that at the company's Facebook, Instagram and Twitter feeds.
Plans are to open in the fall "fingers crossed," West said.
Karen Welch is a senior content producer for Panhandle PBS. She can be contacted at Karen.Welch@actx.edu, at @KWelch806 on Twitter and on Facebook. Subscribe to the Panhandle PBS BizHere podcast on iTunes and SoundCloud to hear more business news and interviews.
