Westcave Is Brewing!

We are pleased to welcome Adelsverein Bier und Ale to the tasting room! The name honors the extensive German history in the Hill Country.

 

In the early years of the Republic of Texas a group of German aristocrats, called the Adelsverein (ADD-dells-fur-ine), purchased large tracts of land in Central Texas and sponsored German emigration there. The emigrants, now known as the Adelsverein settlers, founded towns and cities throughout the region, many of which survive to this day. They include well-known cities, such as Fredericksburg, New Braunfels, and Boerne, along with many smaller and lesser-known ones, such as Castell, Gruene, and Sisterdale. Cypress Mill, where Westcave Cellars is located, was also settled by the Adelsverein emigrants.

 

Where Germans go, beer is sure to follow. But while their cities prospered, the hops they brought from their homeland did not. The conditions in Texas were ill-suited to hop production and after many attempts, the Germans gave up and had to satisfy themselves with beer made from ingredients grown elsewhere.

 

* See below for the symbolism of the seal.

 

 

Recently, Patrick Vanderwilt, a native Texan of Dutch-German descent and a homebrewer of 30 years, took up the baton and has attempted growing hops at his ranch in Central Texas. Located just a few miles from Sisterdale, the ranch sits on the lands originally settled by the German emigrants. Despite several years of failure, he has managed to establish a small, but thriving, hops field.

 

Being a brewer, Patrick used the hops, along with water from a natural spring on his ranch, to make his own hand-crafted beer. Allan and Margaret Fetty, longtime friends of Patrick, asked him to share his beer with winery guests. With Allan’s encouragement, help, and support, this unique Texas-hopped beer is now being brewed at Westcave Cellars.

And in recognition of the Adelsverein Settlers, their love of beer and their desire for Texas-grown hops, Patrick has named his beer “Adelsverein Bier und Ale.” The first brew being offered is “Zink’s Freethinker Ale.” Nichalaus Zink was the Adelsverein settler who founded Sisterdale. Like many of the German settlers, Zink was a member of the Freethinkers, a group that valued community, education, and equality for all. Members embraced critical thought and reason above social convention and dogma. Moreover, Patrick refers to himself as a freethinker, since he persisted against all conventional practice and thought to successfully grow hops in Texas.