Cranky Britches Has No Frills, Just Great Beer

Last fall, we took a trip to Oregon and toured brewery after brewery along the entire state’s coastline. What we couldn’t get over was the amount of money that was spent on nearly every single brewery we tried. Millions of dollars turned these breweries into magnificent cathedrals full of beer and, most of the time, top level cuisine. However, there were many cases where the presentation was the draw and the beer ended up being sub-par.

Fast forward four months and we took our first trip out to Cranky Britches Brewing in Dickinson, which creates the opposite effect. While the presentation of the brewery is no frills and simple, what’s being served is why they’ve been making a name for themselves in Galveston County for about a month now. After having their anniversary party on February 18th, owner Bill Arning told us that his initial fear was either having nobody show up or having too many people show up, which could have caused them to turn people away. Fortunately, they had about 90 people (out of a stated capacity of 100) show up, so they’ve started to get their name out in the public. Plus, it left him with a decent stock of beer that was available for our visit this past weekend.

The space is the former home of Galactic Coast Brewing, which never served customers with a taproom. Part of the constraint had to do with size as the square footage is just big enough to fit the brewhouse, a cold room, and space for extra kegs. Bill has outfitted the place with a bathroom for customers and a small bar that sits right at the edge of the bay door to serve. Due to that small indoor space, it’s best to bring a comfortable outdoor chair to relax and enjoy the beer. Plus, the selection of tunes is some great old school metal – Judas Priest, Dio, Ozzy, etc. The “no frills” atmosphere lends itself to getting to know the other visitors and just talking beer with whoever is there.

We got a chance to sit and talk beer with Bill for several hours on Saturday and he stated that his original intent was to put big, high ABV beers out and not worry too much about having a large choice of sessionable beers for people visiting. However, he was convinced into doing some easy drinking beers to keep people coming back for more and drinking multiple beers during each visit. Hence, the reason why Asmodeus Amber Ale is one of his top sellers. In addition to the amber, there was also a simple SMaSH (single malt, single hop) APA on tap for the “Basic Britches” choices. The bigger “Britches Be Crazy” choices were two stouts and Bill’s famous peanut butter porter.

Since I have tried Damn Skippy Peanut Butter Porter when I’ve visited Beers Looking At You and ran into Bill there, I wanted to see what the rest of the beers had to offer. The Asmodeus Amber Ale is a spicy amber ale with a bit of a hoppy profile that adds to the sweet flavor it already has. The use of Saaz hops to give it a slight spicy finish made this beer one of the most pleasurable amber ales I’ve enjoyed.

The SMaSHing Your Dreams American Pale Ale was my wife’s favorite beer of the day. The Eureka hops used in the SMaSH made the beer have a grapefruit aroma and gave it a citrus taste with a bit of a resin finish. It was by far the most hoppy offering he had available at the time (but we are looking forward to the re-release of Andromeda IPA soon).

The two stouts I enjoyed used the same base beer, so we’ll discuss them in tandem. Hades Imperial Stout had the rich roasted malt and chocolate flavor indicative of the style. I also tasted a dark fruit flavor (maybe figs?) in the beer, but the beer was very pleasurable. As a 9 ounce pour, I would like to try it again to see what other flavors are released, especially as the beer warms. The other stout I tried was the Fleur de Lait Chicory Coffee Stout. Fleur de Lait uses the same base beer as Hades, so the same roasted malt and chocolate notes are there, but the beer has much more of a kick, similar to coffee from Cafe du Monde. It was one of the better coffee beers I’ve enjoyed as most are much too overpowering. This one has the perfect blend of added coffee, while not drowning out the beer taste.

Overall, Cranky Britches is our type of craft beer haven. A place where the care and attention to beer quality supersedes everything else. I’ll take a place dedicated to putting out the best product over a multi-milliion dollar facility that puts out an average product any day.

Follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to get the details on when they open or any events they have going on. Finding the brewery location is a bit tricky, so use these directions when trying to get there: From League City Parkway (Highway 96), head south on Tuscan Lakes Blvd. That will turn into Dickinson Ave (FM 1266) and you will turn left when you see Gordon’s Classic Cars and Uncle Fester’s Dynamic Solutions. We are in the back row of that complex, on the right. Parking is very limited, so we encourage you to carpool or use a rideshare service (Uber or Lyft).