Dine & Dash: Celestial sips and spicy bites 🍽
Armillary Brewing Company opens in experienced hands; Tacos Revolution is a newer, sincere Mexican spot up north; and church-attached Roasted Coffee Co. leads with cold foam, dark-roast lattes
Armillary Brewing Company
Armillary opened on April 21 off Austin Bluffs Parkway, not far from Phelan Gardens. The name, brewer and co-owner Jeff Lockhart tells me, was inspired by a video game he was playing named Starfield. There’s a quest in the game that requires the player to build an armillary sphere, historically used as an astronomy tool. (The brewery was originally going to be called Constellation Brewing Co., but he and his wife and co-owner Kristin ran into a conflict with an existing entity and opted to change it.)
Jeff’s brew resumé runs deep, with around 25 total years in the industry. As outlined by Springs Magazine: “He has served as head brewer or brew master at Dueces Wild Brewing (DWB Craft Beer), Cerberus Brewing Company, Red Leg Brewing, Shamrock Brewing Company in Pueblo, Royal Gorge Brewing Company in Cañon City, and Ouray Brewery.”
Most notably, he’s won both of the top coveted beer awards: A GABF medal (Gold for a Scotch Ale at Dueces Wild in 2019) and two World Beer Cup medals (both Bronzes while at Red Leg Brewing, in 2014 and 2016). Suffice to say, he more than knows what he’s doing, so although Armillary’s new, it’s not a rookie exactly.
We drop in to try a tasting paddle and take a quick tour of the brewery with Jeff. Impressively considering his time commitment here, he still holds a day job as an aerospace inspector. He’s assembled a 7-barrel brewhouse and calls in helpers to brew.
From 12 taps in the small front tasting room, four will remain flagships and the rest will rotate between Armillary seasonals and occasional guest taps. Jeff says he always brews traditional styles, “back to basics,” and prefers not to make many big beers, “because with high-ABV beers you can’t sit and have two or three” without getting shnockered (my word, not his). His favorite beers to make, he says, are porters and stouts, though he’ll run the gamut, as evidenced on the opening menu, which has three hoppy beers and two “fruity/tart” brews.
We try the Blueberry Tart, Rye Pale Ale, Sessionable IPA (at 4.8-percent ABV) and Chixulub Impactor IPL, a Fossil Craft Beer collaboration. The first, made with blueberry purée, lands mildly sour and dry, with kombucha-level acidity that’s refreshing. The rye, brewed with 30 percent rye malts, displays expected spice qualities with balancing tropical hop notes.
The West Coast-style Sessionable IPA indeed sips on the highly bitter side, “hopped to the gills with Galaxy and Comet hops,” explains the menu. But for all the punch on the palate, it drinks light. My favorite of the batch is the collaboration IPL though, which bears a complex aftertaste that lingers and unfolds through lemony citrus then residual strawberry aromas. Lockhart says the Lemondrop hops are responsible for the citrus factor (obviously), but the Belma hops deliver the unusual and dynamic strawberry flavor perception.
By the time you read this, some of these brews may have tapped out and changed up, but expect something equally enjoyable in their place.
Tacos Revolution
Farther up Austin Bluffs toward at Dublin Boulevard you’ll find Tacos Revolution in a Safeway shopping center, opened four months ago by co-owners Adrian Colin, his sister Arandení Colín and her husband Luis Macias, who also operates the Zapatas Mexican Taco Shop about 10 minutes away on Dublin Boulevard.
Adrian tells me they’re awaiting a liquor license still, and that the family cooks Jalisco-style. The wide menu covers everything from tortas, tacos and breakfast burritos to quesadillas, bowls and salads and seafood and meat plates (and more). While we await our to-go order I chat him up, and he shares a sample of their birria soup with me — wow, super good.
We order sopes with pastor; chicken tamales with rice and beans; and four tacos: tripa (beef intestine), lengua (beef tongue), buche (pork stomach) and the Taco Revolution (with asada, beans and nopal, which are prickly pear cactus strips).
We fill ramekins at the salsa bar, and take chocoflan and guava cheesecake home as well.
The sopes’ thick corn masa base delights texturally, requiring a butter knife to cut bites more easily. (Plastic to-go ware struggles, if you’re stuck with it.) The faintly sweet and tendor pastor meat pops the plate with fixings of shredded lettuce, beans, mild Ranchero cheese and sour cream drizzle. Milder tomatillo and salsa rojo pair better than the much hotter chile de árbol and habanero salsas, which delight (and burn us out a bit) on the tacos.
By now you probably know what you’re in for if you order the less-Gringo lengua, tripa and buche options. Served simply with cilantro, diced onion and lime, street-cart style, each holds highlights inherent to their respective meatiness. The tripe and buche are both rich and chewy and the lengua’s succulent, tasting deeply beefy with spice accents. The more complex Taco Revolution sports a nice contrast between the beans and nopales (naturally slimy but hydrating) and tender carne asada.
The chicken tamales come smothered in a vibrant, medium-spicy red chile sauce. They’re big, thick and fluffier than many dense styles. We really enjoy them with side servings of basic Mexican rice and refried beans.
I’m glad we don’t skip on dessert once we finally fork into the chocoflan and guava cheesecake at home later. The first is homemade, with a moist cake layer and custardy top. I like that it’s not over-sweet or synthetic tasting, like too many versions on the market.
Adrian tells me they do buy the cheesecake, but he stands by its quality. I don’t disagree. He’s thoughtfully sent us with a frozen piece to thaw on the drive home, and by the time we cut into it it’s perfectly cold (like colder than normal but not icy). I love the texture of the tacky guava layer on top and the cheesecake’s more firm and not gummy (again, a problem with lesser versions out there). Overall the flavor tastes pure and tropical with a creamy and graham crackery conclusion. All good stuff.
Roasted Coffee Co.
Roasted Coffee Co. launched on April 18 near Village 7 Road and N. Carefree Circle. (across the parking lot from Las Palmitas Mexican Restaurant). It’s attached to Breathe Reformed Baptist Church, a Calvinistic and Evangelical Christian worship house. Roasted owner Jordan Smyers is one of the pastors at Breathe, and tells me he just wants “to serve the community.”
Smyers spent six-and-a-half years living in Northern Italy while he was in the Air Force, which informs his love of coffee culture. His idea behind Roasted, he says, was to utilize this extra church space “more than just twice a week.”
His wife makes homemade sweets like scones and muffins, plus cinnamon rolls on Saturdays. He buys beans from a local, small-batch roaster named One Drop Coffee Co., who counts other churches among clients, he says. They only serve organic coffees.
We order all four seasonal drinks: a Blueberry Muffin Latte, Cookie Crumb Latte, Salted Honey Latte (in a to-go mug, hence why it’s not pictured) and Cup of Dirt Latte. They’re beautifully presented in heavy, decorative glassware. They’re well-balanced considering their sweetness, with darker-roast profiles, which makes sense given the Italian inspiration. The highlights are the cold foam toppers: blueberry on the iced maple drink, chocolate on the Cup of Dirt (which has a gummy bug on the bottom), and marshmallow on the Cookie Crumb, which is a vanilla iced mocha, like the Cup of Dirt.
They’re all quality sippers (at $6.50 to $7), which could easily attract secular sippers in the area who may not mind or even pay much attention to the religious decor, including prominent portraits of key reformers. Other items we didn’t try: traditional coffee drinks, Italian sodas, and tea drinks like a house-made chai or matcha latte.
Extended viewing…I filmed a good interview with Armillary before they opened(and were still Constellation): https://youtu.be/CFhIaG7Rnyk?si=TjuTJLVNoNHNQtBX