Founded in 2011, Twisted X Brewing had carved out its place in the Hill Country craft beer scene. But in 2015, president and CEO Hunter Stewart knew they needed a game-changer.
“We had seven beers in the market at the time,” Stewart recalls. “We knew we needed a big hit to take the business to the next level.”
So he gathered Twisted X’s extended family—distributors, salespeople, brewers, and friends—for a paella dinner with plenty of pairings. One idea rose above all others: a hazy IPA.
“When we decided to go with the hazy, we sourced the best hops we could find, anywhere,” Stewart says. “We tossed price out the window and went on a national search. The vision from the start was to create an absolute premium product.”
It took a full year of trial, error, and teamwork before the beer was ready. But when a sales rep coined the name McConauhaze, the project clicked into place. “All of a sudden, it was like, boom, our hazy is McConauhaze. And we’re off and running.”
The team had confidence they had a winning liquid, but that was all they had. Originally, the beer was draft only, with no plans to sell it in cans. “We saw it as a novelty and wanted it to be hard to find. Plus, we couldn’t afford for it to be everywhere anyway,” he jokes.
The beer launched in bars across Austin in January 2020, and it immediately took off. “We had a lot of early success, but three months after launch, everything changed,” he says. “We didn’t even get to execute our activation plans we’d been working on for the last year.”
“The plan to be draft-only was done when COVID hit,” Stewart explains. “We had to pivot to cans, just as the worldwide aluminum shortage hit. With Coca-Cola and PepsiCo buying all the cans they could find, we started adding stickers to the existing cans we had in our facility.”
Stewart points to the people who carried Twisted X forward, even through uncertainty. “The entire brewery team came together to get the project off the ground,” he says. “We moved everyone on the team to full-time and focused on production. That team grinded all the way through COVID.”
Even more than his staff, it was the community that left Stewart humbled. “It means everything. Nobody knew what we were facing. Not just here, but in the world,” he says. “Neighbors bought beer to-go. They came by the taproom and supported us. I’m so thankful for the Dripping Springs community. And I’ll always be grateful to the bars and restaurants that supported us.”
But ask him what matters most, and his answer isn’t sales. It’s service. “The only marketing we do is through philanthropy, and it’s been that way since day one,” he says. “Ninety-five percent of it is hoping you come across our beer at an event that means something to you. It gives us joy to give back to the community.”
That gratitude extends to Texas State University athletics, where McConauhaze is the official beer sponsor. “Most of our team graduated from Texas State, so it was sort of a no-brainer to support the major school here in Hays County,” Stewart says. “Knowing where we started 10 years ago with yard signs, it’s pretty exciting to be up on the jumbo screen.”
For Stewart, success only fuels more reflection. “I’m always looking for the next challenge,” he says. “The success of McConauhaze has allowed us to grow and gain efficiencies. It’s great, but that major commitment to a single beer gives us new challenges. The craft beer world is like living in dog years.”
“We have a lot to be thankful for,” Stewart continues. “A great team, a dedicated staff, and a supportive community. It’s a remarkable story that’s not yet done.”
At the Dripping Springs taproom, guests can expect new hazies, winter porters, and fireside gatherings through the holidays. But at the heart of it all remains the same feeling Stewart had back in 2019: thankfulness.
“McConauhaze started as a beer we thought would be a novelty,” he says. “Today, it’s the reason we’re still here, and the reason we’re grateful for every beer we share.”
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