North Texas Daily

Edward Balusek / Visuals Editor

The sound of nails being hammered into two-by-fours and screws being drilled into sheet rock echo throughout the 5,000-square-foot building that will house Denton’s first brewery.

Audacity Brew House on Shady Oaks Drive will have a three-day “limited” grand opening on Oct. 24, unveiling a different beer each night. Limited means the beer that is showcased each of the three days will only be available for that day.

The brewery firmly planted its business model in the community well before a shovel hit dirt on May 1, when UNT alum Scott Lindsey and co-owner and brew master Doug Smith took over the building.

“We really, really want to focus on being a part of the city that we’re in,” Lindsey said. “We’re completely focused about Denton.”

Co-Owner Scott Lindsey inspects the ongoing construction inside of Audacity Brew House. Denton’s first brewery is located at 1012 Shady Oaks Drive.

After Lindsey’s plans with a different partner fell through, Smith, a brew master with eight years of experience, met Lindsey through dating his current roommate, Brittany Russell, who is also a UNT alumna.

“[Doug] started hanging out at the house and I thought, man, the whole reason I can’t do what I want to do is because I don’t have a brew master, and there he is sitting on my couch,” Lindsey said.

The brewery will not only serve as a beer factory that plans to have 12 constantly changing beers on tap, but also a fully functional bar complete with a 2,000-square-foot patio furnished by Denton Sustainable Creations, a company that revitalizes materials into useable products.

 Co-Owner Doug Smith explains the brewing process while propped up by a mash tun. A mash tun converts the starch in malt and other grains into sugars.

Smith and Lindsey picked Denton because it was a small, college town close to a big city that doesn’t have a brewery yet, and it didn’t hurt Lindsey’s case that it was his hometown, too.

“They both [Lindsey and Russell] worked on me, they both told me how great a place [Denton] is and how great the people are,” Smith said “ And they were right.”

Smith said he could tell that Dentonites were thirsty for a craft brewery by looking at the other bars in town.

Lindsey credits John Williams, owner of Oak Street Draft House & Cocktail Parlor and Eastside Denton, for jump-starting the craft beer industry in Denton and wants to be a part of the Denton craft beer scene.

“Those two places do very well, not only from a business standpoint but from a cultural standpoint, for Denton,” Lindsey said. “Those are just cool places that you associate with Denton, and that’s what we want to do.”

Tap room supervisor and event planner Andie Sterling will grow crops from Texas like pumpkins, mulberry, grapes and other edibles in a garden to be brewed with the beers. The garden can be seen driving past the west side of the building into the parking lot.

Hops, the ingredient that gives beer a bitter and tangy flavor, can also be seen growing on vines on the front of the big green brewery.

Lindsey expects to have beer in kegs in two weeks and said that he would begin to sell it to as many Denton bars as possible, including Williams’ popular patio bars.

From the Audacity logo painted by a local artist on the front of the building to the furniture built by a local material repurposing company, it’s no secret that Lindsey and Smith plan to root themselves in Denton culture and community.

“This is our home,” Smith said. “I’m really excited about making this home for a lot of other people as well.”

A vine of hops grows outside the main entrance of Audacity Brew House. Hops are the ingredient in beer that gives it a bitter and tangy taste.

Featured Image: A keg from Denton’s first brewery Audacity Brew House. Co-Owner Doug Smith said it will take three weeks to six months to brew any particular beer and plans to have 12 beers available at all times. Photos by Edward Balusek