BOOTLEGGER BREW STATS:
 Style: Brown Ale
 Alcohol by volume: 6.0%
 Beginning gravity: 14.5° Plato
 Ending gravity: 3.0° Plato
 Bitterness units: 12
 Yeast: American Ale yeast
 Bittering hops: Palisade
 Malts: Two-Row Pale, Chocolate, 20° Caramel
 Calories: 195 per 12 oz serving* (*ProBrewer.com Calorie Estimator)

Smooth, chocolatey, and easy-drinking.... Brewed with the finest two-row barley and Belgian chocolate malt, Bootlegger has a distinctive, chocolatey flavor. Bootlegger is medium-bodied and filtered for a clean, laid-back finish.

When most people think about bootleggers they think of gangsters, Tommy guns, and the glamorous, big-city speakeasies conjured up by Hollywood. They don't usually think of their grandparents, secretly brewing beer in their basements, or smuggling bottles of homebrew to family picnics. But here in Texas, there were plenty of underground brewers. My grandfather was one of them.

Like many of the young men of his time, he struggled to make ends meet during the Great Depression. He worked his way through Texas building parks, tunnels and bridges with the Civilian Conservation Corps. And in the evenings after a tough day's work, he learned how to brew a mean batch of beer from some of the guys in the corps.

He knew brewing beer wasn't legal, but out in the far reaches of Texas, it didn't seem to matter much. When people would ask him why he did it, he would just smile and say, "Some things are worth it."

REVIEW:

"The Bootlegger Brown Ale tastes like someone snuck some Bosco into the mix, it's so chocolaty (don't worry, they come by the flavor naturally by the way they roast the malt). Fans of Scottish ales will like this, though the Independence version is even richer, and, at 6% alcohol, it's every bit as heady."
- Wes Marshall,
Austin Chronicle

"Bootlegger Brown Ale uses malt roasted deeply enough to impart big chocolate notes and even a little smokiness. The brown is a little sweet, but shares some characteristics with porter ale."
- Travis E. Poling,
San Antonio Express-News