I was in San Antonio for a work conference and between the flight, checking into the hotel, and standing in an insufferably long line to check in and get a lanyard for the conference, I was a touch cranky. Alas, there is generally a solution for my crankiness, beer, so I wandered over to the closest brewery I could find – Roadmap Brewing Company. It’s a little less than a mile walk from the main Riverwalk touristy area, but definitely worth the walk.
Roadmap plays up the classic road trip theme. For a microbrewery, it is a good size with a decent amount of seating. It has a industrial feel, with concrete floors and high top tables that are made of wood and black pipe. The stainless steel brewing equipment is right out in the seating area and not in the back room, which I like, but might make for some overpowering smells on brew day. The music was playing at a comfortable volume, mostly a combination of pop punk and rock. I believe there was a food truck parked outside, but I didn’t pay any attention to that, I just wanted a glass of ale.
I ordered a Craven Cottage, which is a classic amber English Pub ale. It was a really solid and tasty version of the style. It’s not usually my go to style of beer, but it’s also a fairly uncommon style for American craft breweries, so of course I was going to try it. It was well-balanced with toasty biscuit and caramel notes, very drinkable. Craven Cottage is definitely the kind of beer that you could have a few. I also had the Minivan Dad, which is a double IPA at 7.9% ABV. I thought it was another well done beer, which was malty enough to hold up to the fairly aggressive hopping. I thought they did a pretty good job of balance on this one, and I definitely enjoyed it.
Hey Gen-Z, Did You Know?
Roadmaps were mapping systems, like Google Maps or Apple Maps, only they were printed on paper. Some of these were for cities or states and would be on large (approximately 3′ x 3′) paper that would be folded up so that it could fit into a glove box. Others would in the form of a road atlas, where a collection of roadmaps would be bound with a spiral binder. You can still find road atlases either shoved under Grandpa’s truck seat or between his WWII books and his Tom Clancy novels in his “study.” If you are lucky enough to find one, it is usually marked up with highlighters and stained with tears. These roadmaps were normally paired with the passenger in the shotgun seat that would relay instructions to the driver. Together this made up the Passenger Seat Navigation system.
Differences between Phone Navigation (PN) systems and Passenger Seat Navigation (PSN) systems:
- While PN systems warn the driver 10 miles before an interstate highway exit, PSN systems let the driver know about their exit 300 feet before the exit, causing the driver to cut off 2 lanes of traffic.
- PN systems can anticipate road construction and route drivers around traffic issues while PSN systems typically just scream “I told you that you should have taken [other route] but noooo you never listen to me.”
- PN systems are typically polite, while PSN systems refer to the driver as “dickhole”
- Unlike PSN systems, PN systems require no human interaction and frees passengers up to nap and eat Munchies.
- PN systems give minute by minute updates on expected arrival times, while PSN systems occasionally blurt out “Ugh, I’m gonna be dead by the time we get there.”
Overall, I really liked Roadmap Brewing Company. The vibe was cool and it definitely seemed like a great place to relax. They had a really nice selection of beer on tap, not only because they had 16 taps, but they also hit quite a few beer styles on the menu. It looked like, based on the collection of cans they had on top of one of their coolers, that they probably rotate out their beers fairly frequently, which should keep their regulars coming back. If I lived in San Antonio, this would definitely be a regular customer at this brewery.
If you would like more information on Roadmap Brewing Company, why not visit their website at https://www.roadmapbrewing.com/?
Newby to Expert Traveler 