Brewing news

What’s brewing in San Antonio: Vista Brewing and Growler Exchange launch new locations

Driftwood, Texas-based Vista Brewing Co. recently opened its new San Antonio location on the East Side.

Courtesy Vista Brewing Co.

Editor's Note: With a new craft beer spot popping up in San Antonio seemingly every month, it's a lot of work to track all things beer in Alamo City. Here's our roundup of everything that's brewing in San Antonio.

A second Growler Exchange
The Growler Exchange, a popular craft beer bar that sells a variety of beers to-go, opened a second shop in a small retail center at 914 E. Elmira St. on the edge of downtown, in early November.

Although it's bigger than the original pub on Broadway close to Alamo Heights, the new Growler Exchange is similar in other ways, including indoor and outdoor seating, several television sets, more than 30 taps, and fresh-baked pizzas.

Vista Brewing San Antonio’s new home
Vista Brewing Co.'s relocated San Antonio taproom and cafe is up and running at 125 Lamar St., just a few yards from Artisan Distillery and Craft Bar, and Burleson Yard Beer Garden.

Grand opening activities were held the week before Thanksgiving for Vista Brewing San Antonio, which vacated its original West Side spot for larger digs on the East Side.

The new storefront features a sizable bar with a range of Vista’s beers, as well as Texas wines and non-alcoholic beverages.

The bar is separate from a dining room where visitors can enjoy food and drinks at their own table. The food menu includes shareable dishes, soups, salads, sandwiches, entrees such as stuffed meatloaf, and brunch served 10 am to 2 pm daily.

Vista Brewing San Antonio also offers outdoor seating and live music, and is available for private events.

Expanding Second Pitch
Second Pitch Beer Co. (11935 Starcrest Dr.) held a “grand re-reopening” November 18 to celebrate its expansion.

The owners renovated and added 1,000 square feet of adjacent space, turning the area into a second taproom, which includes TV sets, seating, and special events such as trivia games.

Medals for 28 Songs
Boerne’s newest brewpub, 28 Songs Brewhouse and Kitchen, received two medals while participating in the 13th Denver International Beer Competition.

According to the owners, 28 Songs submitted three brews mainly with hopes of getting some feedback from the juried panel.

But in the end, 28 Songs was awarded a silver medal in the International Pale Lager category for its De La Calle Mexican Lager. The brewpub’s Oktoberfest received a bronze medal in the Märzen competition.

Three other Texas breweries — San Antonio’s Alamo Beer Co., New Label Brewing in Katy, and Hound Song Brewing in Columbus — won a total of 19 medals at the Denver event.

Photo courtesy of Vista Brewing Co.

Driftwood, Texas-based Vista Brewing Co. opened its San Antonio taproom in a new location on the East Side.

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NYT loves AUS

Pastry chef from San Antonio makes New York Times Best Bakeries list

Comadre Panadería/Instagram

Comadre Panadería is known for nostalgic Mexican bakes with feminine flair.

The New York Times has once again shined its spotlight on Austin’s culinary scene. It included Comadre Panadería, an Austin bakery by San Antonio native Mariela Camacho, on its new list of the 22 of the Best Bakeries Across the U.S. Right Now.

Interim food critic Priya Krishna praises pastry chef Camacho’s pastries that include conchas and her signature pink cake. “Despite their saccharine appearances, not one of the desserts is overly cloying, and even the coffee drinks (Texas pecan horchata! Cranberry vanilla agua fresca!) strike the playful tone of the pastries,” she writes.

Comadre Panadería has been widely recognized, including by this publication; Camacho, who is now based in Ausitn, won Pastry Chef of the Year in the 2023 CultureMap Austin Tastemaker Awards. She also earned a 2024 James Beard Award semifinalist nomination for Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker.

Camacho and Comadre as a whole are both invested in using baked goods to make a more equitable world, from the bakery's early days as a fundraiser for disaster relief, to a current insistence on charging enough to support ethical and organic foods, and paying staff enough to keep up with rising costs in Austin.

Although Camacho was born in San Antonio and started her baking career there, she also spent a significant time in Seattle, Washington, where Comadre started as a pop-up. According to Austin Monthly, she then moved back to San Antonio, and then to Austin. But no matter where she is, the Mexican cooking traditions of her ancestors take precedent.

Mariela Camacho of Comadre Panaderia in Austin Mariela Camacho, Comadre Panaderia. Courtesy photo

The Times also recognized Houston's Koffeteria. Krishna hails the bakery for pastry chef-owner Vanarin Kuch’s creative fare that includes dishes such as beef pho kolaches, Chinese sausage breakfast tacos, and butter mochi.

“Some of Mr. Kuch’s offerings are rooted in his Cambodian American identity — he makes cornbread with the coconutty, scallion-forward flavors of Cambodian street corn — while others are odes to Houston’s multicultural makeup. But most of the fun of Koffeteria is having no idea what Mr. Kuch will do next, and eagerly awaiting his next innovation,” Krishna writes.

Open since 2019, Koffeteria has been riding high this year. It earned a James Beard Award semifinalist nomination for Outstanding Bakery and a CultureMap Houston Tastemaker Award for Pastry Chef of the Year.

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Comadre Panadería and Koffeteria are the only Texas establishments to make the Times’ list. Only California and New York City, which each have three representatives, earn more recognition.

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