11/14/2025
Yesterday, we got to brew a beer with our friends at Hold Out Brewing for their upcoming Best Fest in December! We’ve been fans of Hold Out and their flawless brewing ex*****on since the day they opened. We’re also fans of their sibling establishment Better Half, under the direction of our friend Matt Stowe. We have huge respect for what owners Matt and Grady Wright have created there (and elsewhere in Austin).
In particular, it was wonderful to brew with Hold Out’s Director of Brewing Brent “Schmitty” Sapstead. The craft beer industry is pretty small in the grand scheme of things, and Schmitty was one of the first people we met back in 2009. At the time, my brother Michael and I were looking for somewhere to learn a little more about pro brewing, and our friends at Real Ale were kind enough to let us shadow them. The Director of Brewing Operations at Real Ale, Tim Schwartz, told us to show up bright and early around 5:30 am for a brew day, and waiting to greet us when we arrived was Schmitty. So for the first production batch of beer we ever witnessed, Schmitty was at the helm. That made it extra special to brew with him sixteen years later at Hold Out. Craft beer is full of stories like this, which is why it’s a special industry.
For the yet-to-be-named beer, Schmitty and I got to connect during harvest out in Yakima and talk hops. We’re pairing some hot-side Rakau and Nelson Hyperboost with our favorite lots of Nelson T90 and Superdelic Cryo cold-side in the context of a clean, well-attenuated Chico yeast fermentation. Check it out at Best Fest soon! Thanks again to Hold Out (and Better Half) for being awesome people and for being the proprietors of true excellence.
