Red Horn Brewery & Roastery unites again to create ‘Undercover Cowboy’
Red Horn Brewery’s Hazy IPA ‘Undercover Cowboy’ became available this spring on draft and in cans at their two restaurant locations, with plans to expand to other retailers soon.
“[The logo] is the silhouette of a cowboy wearing sneakers,” co-owner Chad Misner said. “It speaks to the climate of Central Texas right now with so many people moving here. We released cans on our anniversary.”
Red Horn Brewery & Roastery celebrated its ninth anniversary on March 8. The brewery, cafe and restaurant is the brainchild of co-owners Chad Misner and Jon Lamb, who conceived the idea during a family beach trip.
“We wrote the business plan and it got to the point where our wives were tired of hearing us talk about it,” Mr. Misner joked, saying they were told to act on the plan or drop it.
They decided to take a chance and pursued the opportunity. Mr. Misner quit his job teaching business and coaching basketball at Round Rock High School, while Jon Lamb quit his job in corporate homebuilding. The duo built a small team of people— bringing on Zack Garner to launch the brewery and Marco Leal to start the roastery.
Over the past decade, the business has become a fixture in Williamson County, with two full-service locations. At 3010 West Parmer Lane, Cedar Park, the business offers a menu of sandwiches, cafe food, coffee beverages and beer. At 1615 Scottsdale Drive, Building 1, in Leander, they serve drinks as well as tacos by Taconmaye.
Red Horn also has a rinkside cafe inside the Crossover sports complex off of the 183 toll road, which sells typical concession-stand food.
Red Horn roasts their beans in Cedar Park, while the Leander location is home to the brewing operation. Each location is staffed with “Brewistas” who specialize in serving both coffee and beer. The atmosphere of the restaurants coincide with their food options.
“If you walk into the [Leander location] and you walk into the Parmer Lane location, they feel completely different,” Mr. Misner explained.
He said the spot on Parmer Lane feels like a small coffee shop that you would find in a big city. It’s cozy, with dim, comforting lighting, and customers frequently work there on their laptops all day long. It’s also become a spot for dates or meet ups.
In comparison, the Leander restaurant has more of a brewery feel, Mr. Misner said.
“It’s more communal, larger and louder. More families come here,” he said.
Although their food offerings vary across locations, there is always coffee and beer.
“We have five [beer] mainstays that are listed on our tap board,” he said.
Beers on tap include the Cuerno Rojo Mexican Amber Lager, Hap Slappy IPA, Undercover Cowboy Hazy IPA, Trail Runner Golden Ale, Wonder Boy Hefeweizen and House United Coffee Milk Stout.
The House United Coffee Milk Stout is a beer that has cold brew and whole bean coffee, which gives it a rich and complex flavor. The name’s origin story begins with Mr. Lamb being an Aggie and Mr. Garner being a Longhorn.
“There’s branding that says if an Aggie and a Longhorn are in the same house, then that house is divided,” Mr. Misner said. “We decided to play with that and unite the two things we do into a coffee beer. So, instead of being a ‘house divided’ we are a ‘house united.’ ”
When coming up with their new Hazy IPA, Mr. Misner wanted to include everyone in the company. This is how ‘Undercover Cowboy’ came to be.
“To make the beer, we did a team brew collaboration,” he said. “We took everybody who isn’t originally from Texas — I was one of the people who led that team. Then we had team Texans, led by Jon and Zack.”
Each team came up with a beer recipe and a name. Then, a friendly competition started to see which beer would run out the quickest.
“On the transplant team, we came up with the name ‘Undercover Cowboy’. Undercover Cowboy sold really fast,” Mr. Misner sai
It was decided that Undercover Cowboy would become Red Horn’s new Hazy IPA.
Red Horn gets visitors from across the county — including regulars from Leander, Cedar Park, Round Rock, Georgetown and Liberty Hill who stop in to work remotely.
But for those who might not make it out to their shops, Red Horn Brewery sells some of their beers to various retailers including H-E-B, Specs, Total Wine and Whole Foods. Undercover Cowboy’ should be featured on the shelves of retailers soon. Their coffee beans are sold both in stores and at Central Market.