It’s Saturday, and Frederick “Fritz” Rahr is hosting his weekly party. Hundreds of Fort Worth locals fill an old warehouse tucked into the alleys of the hospital district of Fort Worth, all of them sipping on ice-cold beers brewed fresh from the warehouse in which they are standing.
All the while, Fritz, as he is known by all of his friends, mans the taps, sells glasses and plays host to the friends and strangers who are taking advantage of his $5 three-beers and a glass weekly special.
“It’s the least expensive form of advertising,” Fritz says of his Saturday open-door policy.
And he’s right. The infamous Rahr Saturdays, which bring together an array of personalities, from beer-nuts to college kids, have turned his boutique brewery into a Texas treasure.
“We’re in almost ever major Texas city,” Fritz said.
History
While Rahr has become a Fort Worth destination, it was born before the city in which it resides.
In 1847 a man by the name of Wilhelm "William" Rahr made his journey to the United States. Leaving Rhineland, Germany, for the “land of opportunity,” Wilhelm trekked to Wisconsin and began brewing beer in fine German fashion.
The brewery held little notoriety, but it was a true family business. When Wilhelm Rahr died, his three sons took over, adding “and sons” to the Rahr name and putting their own stamp on the company.
The younger Rahrs took a step away from brewing their own tastes and focused on malting, which is what the company was known by for 150 years.
But in 2004, the great-great grandson of the founder opened up shop in Fort Worth.
A TCU alumnus, the most recent Wilhelm Rahr said Fort Worth was the ideal location to revamp the family’s brewing capabilities.
He knew he wanted to start making beer in Texas and Fort Worth was the perfect spot to do so. “I have a lot of family here we needed family support especially in the beginning for this to survive,” Fritz said.
“Fort Worth is where I went to school, it’s where I met my wife, and I knew I wanted to do it in Texas,” he said.
The Beer
Fritz went back to the basics, using foolproof techniques learned from his German heritage.
Growing up, Fritz spent his summers working at his family’s malting company, which still operates up north.
“I grew up in the beer industry,” Fritz said.
When he looked at creating his own recipes, he knew that the quality and care he learned from his family would not be sacrificed.
“We abide by German purity law,” Fritz said. “This means we use water, hops malt and yeast only. We make sure to use only the finest ingredients.”
Rahr makes sure to use no rice ingredients in any of its brews, something Fritz said is considered second-class.
“We try and make our beer taste more than a standard domestic beer, which is why we use the best ingredients.”
Fritz started with two beers: Blonde Lager and Rahr’s Red Amber Lager.
On Rahr’s Web site, the original blonde is described as a light-bodied lager that is still one of the brewery’s top sellers. The red, the Web site says, has undergone a facelift since its inception, now known as the Texas Red. This beer’s claim to fame is that it is sold at Ranger games in Arlington.
In the seven years since its birth, Fort Worth’s Rahr has produced a slew of brews, among them are favorites Ugly Pug, Stormcloud IPA and Bucking Bock.
But Rahr enthusiasts get most excited about the brewery’s seasonal ales, such as its Summertime Wheat and the Oktoberfest Fall Celebration Lager.
Fritz explained that the Rahr beers stand out because of the more-expensive and back-to-basics ingredients.
Plus a love and that boutique brewery tenderness don’t hurt.
During the startup years in Fort Worth, the beers were bottled completely by volunteers.
Expansion and a greater demand for the products forced Fritz to hire a full-time bottling crew, but volunteers are still a large part of his business.
“The men and women behind taps on Saturdays are all there on their free time,” he said.
“Volunteering is not something we ask people to do, it’s something they started asking us to do,” Fritz said.
It’s the people who love Rahr that have made it what it is today, Fritz said.
The Fans
A typical Rahr-fan’s Saturday starts just after noon. The beer garden in the middle of a metroplex raises its garage doors at 1 p.m. and instantly a crowd pours in.
Long and twisted lines start to form, a band strikes up and a loud din of conversations echoes into the streets.
Friends and strangers take a spot in line for one of the various brews, each with a Rahr and Sons glass in hand. Talk of football, friends and local news makes the wait for a beer feel short, and suddenly, a friendly volunteer is asking, “What’ll it be?” in what is usually a notable Texas twang.
Crowds start to form—the regulars have brought folding chairs and set up shop near a giant fan.
Giant stained-wood tables all in line are instantly covered in bodies, each of course with a drink in hand. Many of the groups proceed to open bags filled with food, which they lay out next to their pints of brew for a Saturday afternoon picnic.
Each person has a different Rahr glass in hand. The regulars have a complete set by now, probably with multiples of all of the different styles Rahr offers. Pint glasses come marked with logos of all the Rahr beers, and in different shapes and sizes. There are regular pint glasses, short and stout ceramic mugs appropriately marked with the “Winter Warmer” logo, beautiful tulip shaped stemware, and tall and skinny wheat beer glasses.
The demographic for Rahr enthusiast is even more diverse than glassware. In fact there is no demographic for Rahr fans, they just have to enjoy a cold beer.
One man makes his way through the lines in a traditional Scottish Kilt with a mustache decades in the making, passing groups of college students in polos and khakis and a mom keeping her children in check with a deck of cards.
People haven’t come to overindulge or drown themselves in excess. They’re here for the quality great tasting beer Rahr and Sons has been serving in Fort Worth for over five years.
The crowd is a testament to how the brewery came about, a family transporting itself into a new land, surrounding itself with the unfamiliar, making its start under the banner of beer.
Because really, it’s the beer that brings the crowd.
Andy Castle said he started going to Saturdays at Rahr when he was in school at TCU.
“It was great to find a place where you can get pretty high quality beer for a cheap price and still hang out in Fort Worth,” Andy said.
Andy is more than your typical college aged beer lover, he’s more like a beer enthusiast or aficionado. A member of beer clubs and rare beer bottle collector Andy said having a place like Rahr, in his adopted home town, gives Fort Worth beer drinkers something to be proud of. “It’s like a beer garden in Fort Worth,” Andy said.
One glance to his left on a Saturday and he is reminded why he showed up. Giant fermentation tanks sit in the warehouse, blending the ingredients that eventually will be poured into his glass.
“The Texas Red is my favorite beer, but I’d never complain if I was handed any of Rahr’s other beers,” Andy said.
Drinking, sitting in a working brewery side-by-side with 50-pound bags of malt and crates of unused unmarked bottles is another one of Andy’s favorite parts about drinking at Rahr. It’s almost like drinking milk on a farm.
“You appreciate what you’re drinking more than usual because you’re sitting in their house, you’re in Rahr’s home,” Andy said.
Fritz loves seeing the people his Saturday events bring.
The brewery has evolved into more than a place where wheat and barley are fermented and bottled. It’s an oasis in the middle of Fort Worth, a weekly picnic for those who have a soft spot for his recipes.
Patrons are happy—they pay $5 for a Rahr and Sons pint glass and three tokens that can be traded in for a beer on tap to fill it.
Fritz is happy—friends bring friends and for next-to-nothing, he has skyrocketed his one-city beer to a state craze.
Increasing in size and notoriety, small time brewing may eventually be a thing of the past for Rahr, although it sort of already is 162 years in the past.
Fritz said he doesn’t know what’s next. His Fort Worth beer turned Metroplex beer turned state beer is already demanding expansion.
Maybe one day, Rahr bottles will be seen at stores in other states, but until then, Fritz is happy to work the taps on Saturdays, serving up his recipes to a few of his thousand or so closest friends.
