Tap Handle #725: Karbach (Anheuser-Busch) - Yule Shoot Your Eye Out Red Ale

August 12, 2019

Tap Handle #725: Karbach (Anheuser-Busch) - Yule Shoot Your Eye Out Red Ale

Tap size: 11"
Rarity: less than 10 seen
Mounting: 3/8" ferrule on 5/16" anchor bolt

Many thanks to Rachel of Karbach Brewing for helping me to add this tap to the Museum! I'll be the first to admit that while I do enjoy the movie "A Christmas Story", after repeated viewings some of the humor has worn thin. I will also admit that some of it never gets old, no matter how many times it's watched, and some of its catch phrases and imagery are deeply ingrained in pop culture. The hideous yet hilarious "leg lamp" is certainly one of those pop culture icons that is instantly recognizable as having come from the movie. That lamp appears here, with both leg base and lampshade included. It stands on a crate adorned in red and green holiday colors, with the name of the brewery on two faces of the crate and the name of the beer on the other two faces. The name of the beer evokes a sequence in the movie where young Ralphie is not allowed to own a BB gun, as his mother tells him it's because, "you'll shoot your eye out." In a clever play on words, the brewery has tied this phrase even more strongly to the Christmas holiday through the beer's name. While a half dozen or so of these taps have appeared on the secondary market, they have commanded a price around $100 apiece or more.

Click through to read more about Karbach Brewing, their Yule Shoot Your Eye Out Red Ale, and to see more photos of this iconic tap...

Karbach Brewing Company was founded in Houston, Texas in 2011 by Chuck Robertson and Ken Goodman. The partners had a long history in the beer business together, having founded the CR Goodman distributorship in 1983, and Belukus Marketing in 1991, an import business. In 2008 they sold their distributorship to Ben E. Keith Beverages in order to pursue opening a production brewery. They needed a head brewer and a name, and by good fortune Eric Warner, the well-regarded co-founder of Tabernash Brewing and later Flying Dog Brewery's brewmaster and CEO, had recently left Flying Dog when production moved to Maryland. Robertson and Goodman talked him into partnering with them to form Karbach Brewing, named after the German-based name of the street that Belukus Marketing was located on. The building that their import business was in, which they decided would also house the brewery, was located in an old warehouse that required over $1 million in renovations prior to opening in 2011. With four 30-barrel and four 60-barrel fermenting tanks, Karbach initially had a production capacity of about 4,000 barrels annually.

Karbach began operations with three beers: Hopadillo IPA, Weisse Versa, and Sympathy for the Lager. The German influence came from Warner's previous training at the Technical University of Munich at Weihenstephan in Germany. Due to word of mouth, after six months of keg-only distribution, Karbach began to produce 4 year-round canned beers. By 2013, Karbach’s Hopadillo IPA had become the number one selling IPA in the state, a distinction it still holds today. By 2014 stronger-than-expected growth put Karbach on an aggressive timeline to keep pace with demand. They were identified by New Yorker magazine as the second-fastest growing craft brewery in the U.S. that year. The original business plan called for Karbach to produce 9,000 barrels in its third year, but in actuality it produced nearly 30,000 barrels. The owners were forced to move their Belukus Marketing operations to a different location to free up more brewing space. The brewery started with 8 fermenting tanks, but by this time had 50 of them packed into the brewery. They decided to build a new brewery to triple capacity, at a cost of $15 million. The new site was located on a 1.2-acre tract adjacent to the original brewery, and consisted of a 19,000 square foot, two-story facility with a public tap room and kitchen, and space for special events. It also included a brewhouse from German manufacturer Ziemann that was four times as large as the existing one, modern storage areas for grain and yeast, and a laboratory for quality control testing.

Thanks to the most modern technology, the new brewhouse not only increased capacity, but also resulted in higher yields and more flexibility for all beer types. It also allowed for distribution expansion into the Dallas and Austin markets, as well as continuing to support the Houston and San Antonio market. Meanwhile, the standard portfolio grew to 5 varieties, along with 2 strong beers called “bombers” which were offered year round, various seasonals, and experimental beers like barrel-aged, radlers, and even a Champagne-like beer that uses hops that have a white wine character. The in-brewery restaurant was built using wood, brick, concrete and glass, with a cozy, modern dining room that looked into the brewhouse on one side, and a patio on the other. The restaurant served up a variety of dishes including steaks, hamburgers, salads, fish and chips, rock shrimp, and appetizers.

Karbach's phenomenal success, the fruits of which were enjoyed throughout Texas and New Mexico, also caught the eye of brewing giant Anheuser-Busch-InBev, who in 2016 purchased Karbach, adding them to their High End division which also included Chicago’s Goose Island, Colorado’s Breckenridge Brewery, and Seattle’s Elysian Brewing. Goodman and Robertson maintained that the deal was not about cashing in for personal gain, but rather about obtaining resources for expansion, while keeping their operational independence and leaving the beer unchanged. The deal allowed Karbach to set a goal of producing 150,000 barrels of beer by 2019. Karbach has also collaborated with the Houston Astros professional baseball team, creating a beer to be served in Minute Maid Park (where the Astros play their home games), with a portion of sales from every keg and case dedicated to benefiting the Astros Foundation and its community initiatives, which include youth baseball and softball, military support, childhood cancer awareness and efforts to reduce homelessness. The special beer is also available in 6-packs at local grocery and liquor outlets, and on tap at select restaurants, bars and pubs across Texas.

Karbach's Yule Shoot Your Eye Out is a red ale loaded with smooth caramel malt and a citrus twist. Ohhhh fuuudge, it’s a winter seasonal and only available for a limited time! Recommended food pairings are wild game, hearty stews, lamb chops, spice cake, and Christmas cookies.