Two beer purveyors to open on West Side

Tractor, Lava Rock plan new locations

Residents of the West Side will soon have two new watering holes: Tractor Brewing and Lava Rock Brewing.

Tractor will be opening its fourth location, a taproom in a 2,100-square foot building on the southeast corner of Unser and McMahon NW. The taproom will be next to a new Starbucks, which is planning to open in a 2,200-square-foot building within the new shopping development called McMahon Marketplace.

Tractor Brewing, which has a taproom in Nob Hill on Tulane SE and a brewery at 1800 4th NW, has been in the midst of an expansion over the last year. It opened its third location recently at Central and Tramway NE and has a deal in place to begin distributing packaged Tractor beer in West Texas.

McMahon Marketplace does have existing shops but construction for the Tractor Brewing and Starbucks has not yet begun. Developer Doug Peterson said he intends to revise some of the original plans to allow for more parking and smaller building sizes.

Tractor co-owner Skye Devore said the new taproom is tentatively scheduled to open next April.

Devore said she and co-owner David Hargis are excited to move into the West Side, which she feels is an under-served area.

“We had an idea with the Nob Hill location that it would be a neighborhood bar,” said Devore. “But the pre-planned neighborhoods on the West Side are really different, and foot traffic is different, so nobody is out there, except the big chains. But we have people in our taprooms all the time asking why we haven’t moved out to the West Side, so we decided that demand is greater than we thought.”

Lava Rock Brewing is new to the market and also sees the West Side as under-served, according to Peterson, who is developing the shopping center where Lava Rock will open.

The new brewery will be setting up shop in 5,831 square feet on the northeast corner of Unser and Vista Oriente NW. It is planning a full kitchen, brewing facility, dining room and outdoor patio.

Peterson said the new brewery likely will open within a couple of months.

Also in the development will be a drive-through and other shops and restaurants, but so far, no other tenants have signed on. Walgreens anchors the development.