Long before he was pouring beer for half of North Texas, Kevin Carr was a guy with a day job in software and a homebrew setup that kept getting more serious. He’s a Dallas native who spent about 25 years starting businesses in financial services, internet technology and manufacturing. One of those was a legal software company that had him traveling constantly, and it was on those trips that he fell for craft beer. He homebrewed for more than 15 years before deciding the hobby deserved a building.
That building was a 14,000-square-foot space on Inspiration Drive in the Design District, just off Stemmons. Community Beer Co. sent out its first beer in January 2013, and Dallas has been drinking it ever since.
Carr didn’t build it alone. His founding brewmaster was Jamie Fulton, a name Fort Worth beer drinkers knew from his days at the Covey Restaurant and Brewery. The two designed the operation around quality control: a custom four-vessel, 30-barrel brewhouse and an on-site lab, with an assistant brewer who held a microbiology degree. From day one, Community has grown all of its own yeast in-house. Today it runs a custom propagation system that lets it use different yeast strains across the lineup, picking the one that suits each style instead of forcing one house strain onto everything.
The obsessiveness paid off fast. In October 2013, nine months after the first keg went out, Community’s Public Ale won gold in the Extra Special Bitter category at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver, against nearly 5,000 entries from around the country. It was the only medal Dallas brought home that year. Public Ale is built on 100 percent Maris Otter malt with a blend of English, German and American hops and that house-grown yeast, and it’s still one of the most underrated beers in the city.
The beer that pays the bills is Mosaic IPA. It’s named for the Mosaic hop, which gives it big tropical and floral aroma, but the brewery is quick to point out that the name also stands for the mix of people who make up a community. It was built for balance, with enough malt backbone to keep the bitterness in check, and that’s why it shows up everywhere from Rangers games to steakhouses. The brewery’s own suggested pairings include Friday nights (and every other night), steak dinners, and Jimi Hendrix’s “Highway Chile.” Hard to argue.
Mosaic has since grown into a family. There’s a West Coast Mosaic IPA, a Mosaic Pale Ale and a Mosaic Session. The core lineup also includes Texas Lager, the Bock, Honey Citrus Blonde, Citra Slice, the hazy Recreational Grade Haze and Kush, a dank hazy double IPA. On the dark end sits Legion, a Russian imperial stout. Fall and the State Fair bring out the dessert beers, Funnel Cake Ale and Snickerdoodle Ale. Community has also leaned hard into non-alcoholic beer, with Nada IPA and Texas Free, a non-alcoholic lite beer, years before most Texas breweries took the category seriously.
By the time the pandemic hit in 2020, Community had become the third-largest independent craft brewery in Texas. It had also outgrown Inspiration Drive. What followed was the hardest stretch in the company’s history, with a major relocation pushed through permitting delays and a shutdown at the same time. The new home opened in 2021 at 3110 Commonwealth Drive, along Stemmons as part of the Pegasus Park development. It’s 70,000 square feet, and calling it a brewery undersells it.
Inside, there’s a two-story taproom with plenty of windows and natural light, expanded production space, event rooms, and an outdoor biergarten that fills with dogs on any decent weekend. The brewery also distills now, under the Society Spirits name. It has also added The Unity Listening Room, an intimate music venue inside the building for songwriter showcases and live shows where the audience sits close to the stage.
The food came last. The Community Kitchen opened in the fall of 2022, months after the taproom. It launched under chef Jenn Dahlen, a veteran of kitchens in Denton, Lewisville and Fort Worth. The menu rotates seasonally and splits the difference between American pub food and German beer hall cooking, and a lot of it is made with the brewery’s own beer.
Start with the Giant German Pretzel, served with a mustard made with Legion stout and a beer cheese made with Mosaic IPA. The Schnitz is the sandwich people come back for, a fried pork schnitzel on a pumpernickel bun from Dallas’ own Signature Baking Company, piled with red kraut. The Bavarian Burger gets beer-braised onions, grainy mustard, gouda and bacon. There’s a Mac & Beer Cheese, and vegans aren’t an afterthought, with options like a BBQ Jackfruit Sandwich. Sunday brunch runs from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., and the kitchen takes reservations, which helps with big groups.
CraveDFW took a closer look at the kitchen and taproom pairing earlier this year. The short version is that the food has become a reason to stay longer than you planned.
The name was never just branding. Carr named the company for the idea that a business can do real good for the place it lives, and the brewery’s motto is “Beer for the Greater Good.” That’s also the name of its nonprofit arm, The Greater Good, which supports local charities, artists and musicians. The building hosts trivia nights, group cycling rides and pet adoption events. Coming up on Halloween, it’s hosting a Howl-O-Ween party at the brewery’s adoption container from noon to 5 p.m. on October 31.
Thirteen years in, Community is still independent and still owned by the homebrewer who started it. Its beer is still on tap all over the State Fair every fall. Plenty of Dallas breweries have come along since 2013, and a fair number have disappeared. Community kept its focus on making good beer and giving people a place to drink it together, and that has turned out to be a pretty durable plan.
Community Beer Co. is at 3110 Commonwealth Drive in Dallas. The taproom and kitchen are open Wednesday and Thursday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., and Sunday from 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., with brunch until 2 p.m. They’re closed Monday and Tuesday. Call 214-751-7921 or visit communitybeer.com for the current tap list and events.
