Drink Up

Hometown San Antonio beer scores major award at the 'Olympics of Beer'

Second Pitch is truly a hometown beer.

Photo courtesy of Silver Eagle Beverages

For the second year in a row, San Antonio's Second Pitch Beer Company and its Hometown Lager returned victorious from the World Beer Cup with a silver medal.

Widely regarded as the “Olympics of Beer,” the 2023 World Beer Cup featured 10,213 entries from 2,376 breweries in 51 countries, and winners in 103 beer style categories were selected by an international panel of 272 beer judges from 26 countries.

Second Pitch took silver in the American-Style Amber Lager category for its Hometown Lager, which is also called a California Common.

This beer style originated in San Francisco, the hometown of Second Pitch founder Jim Hansen. Also called a “steam beer,” the style is known for being malt-forward and easy to drink.

That same Hometown Lager also recently scored back-to-back gold medal wins in the U.S. Open Beer Championship.

Hansen and his wife Samantha opened Second Pitch in August 2020, staking out 11935 Starcrest Dr. for the 15 barrel brewing system brewery and friendly taproom that often hosts events like trivia, Bring Your Own Vinyl Sundays, and "Singo" music Bingo. To help combat the Texas heat, even more indoor seating is being added this summer.

"We want San Antonio to be a beer destination," says Jim. "We are constantly searching for the best, most appropriate ingredients for each style of beer we make. This includes wheat malt from Germany for our German Hefeweizen or hops from Yakima Valley in Washington for our West Coast IPA. We take pride in knowing exactly what is in our pint glasses."

You can also find cans of Hometown Lager in HEBs all around San Antonio, and on draft in local bars and restaurants by using the beer locator.

“The World Beer Cup brings together the finest brewers and beers from around the globe and celebrates creativity, craftsmanship, and passion for great beer," says competition director Chris Williams. “Receiving a World Beer Cup award is a testament to quality and innovation, and we commend this year’s winners for setting the bar higher than ever.”

beer drinks promoted

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 Austin, 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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