New business is brewing in town
Redbone Magic taps into craft beer market
Texarkana has a burgeoning craft beer market and fans looking for amber-filled glasses and cold brews to sample. Spring 2018 will see the kegs tapped in a new place seeking to quench their thirst.
“Redbone Magic Brewing Co. is going to start with six different varieties of home brew,” said Roger Sheppard, owner. “We intend to expand it to 12. The craft beer scene of Texarkana is rich in opportunity, and that’s what I do: I look for business opportunities and act on what I find.”
Redbone is being established at 1304 Texas Blvd., across from the cemetery, just down the street from the T-Line Bus Station, the former PD Baxter Motor Co. The wide space, stur-
dy construction and proximity to downtown made the location ideal for what Sheppard had in mind.
“We are going to be a production brewery,” he said. “We will produce large amounts of beer we will distribute to restaurants and bars. We will also sell growlers and kegs out of our facility, which will be a tap or testing room.”
Sheppard intends Redbone to be fully tied to the downtown Texarkana revival. He chose Texas Boulevard because it is “the gateway to downtown.” And even though this is a very different business from what was there before, he fully intends to have memorabilia of the prior business at that location.
“We will have all sorts of artifacts from that era,” Sheppard said. “Also, all of our beers will be named for Texarkana businesses, events and points of interest from Texarkana history and culture. For example, we will have an IPA named The Phantom Killer, the Beer That Dreaded Sundown.”
Drawing from eight years in home brewing and an array of experience in studying and teaching science, Sheppard is putting his battery of knowledge to work starting up Redbone.
Issuing instructions rapid fire to his employees as they test batches, it is clear that both love and practical knowledge go into this. With a background in stage magic, he incorporates his experience as a showman into the plans for Redbone.
“It is in the name, Redbone Magic Brewing Company. We are setting up this place to be a center of entertainment,” Sheppard said. “We want Texarkana to be a destination location and all the activity going into standing up downtown is adding to this. Our contribution will be to offer high-quality craft beer in addition to an experience.”
Redbone will feature food as well, such as pizza made in a wood-fired oven. Also, the place will feature entertainment in a covered patio festival area at the back of the place.
“It will be a place where we can have concerts, charity events, and beer lovers can enjoy locally produced craft beer in a pet-friendly environment,” Sheppard said.
In a place named after his father-in-law, Redbone, who “drank a lot of beer,” Sheppard wants Texarkana craft beer enthusiasts to find the same pleasure in a place that hearkens back to Texarkana’s past, while helping to show the way to the future.
“I want to bring value to the marketplace, create things people will enjoy. Craft breweries are a destination. This will be a great destination where people from Texarkana and out of town can enjoy some really great beer,” he said.