Armillary Brewing is new to the neighborhood, but they’ve been around the block when it comes to beer.
Jeff Lockhart has been brewing beer for 28 years. After being given the choice to walk away and retire, he and his wife chose to go in on a space off Old Farm Road and open their very own brewery.
“I wanted to open my own brewery since, well, since I learned you can brew,” Lockhart says.
Lockhart has brewed for the likes of Ouray Brewing, Red Leg and Cerberus, and he helped to open Deuces Wild. He has also won awards in the past for his work, the most notable of which was a Great American Beer Festival medal for his Scotch ale.
Throughout his long brewing career, Lockhart would sometimes take steps away and work in aviation. His love was always lagers and ales, but sometimes he “needed to make money more than beer.”
Since opening in May, Armillary has received a warm welcome in the Austin Bluffs neighborhood, according to Jeff’s wife and co-owner, Kristin. That’s exactly what they were looking for.
“We wanted to be a community brewery, so we searched and searched for the right location,” she says.
With support from the community, Lockhart has already sold out of his signature Irish Red. While he is working on the next batch of that, you can try some of the other best sellers, like the blueberry hefeweizen or the Imperial Porter, which was aged inside of red wine barrels to give it an oak-like finish.
Lockhart may add seltzers, slushies and other beverages to the menu to give the community more options, but for now he is content sticking to a more traditional flavor.
“I don’t want to make beers that taste like chips and salsa. I want to make beers that taste like beers,” he says.
4810 Old Farm Dr.
