GuideLive's craft beer bar bracket concluded Nov. 20, and if we learned anything, it's that North Texans are wild about craft beer.
The bracket, which put local bars head-to-head in a (friendly) bracket-style tournament, accumulated more than 67,000 votes in five rounds. But today, we have our winner: Readers voted Little Elm Crafthouse in Little Elm as their favorite watering hole in Dallas-Fort Worth.
Opened in July 2015, Little Elm Crafthouse is a fairly recent addition to the local scene, but there's no denying its popularity among its namesake suburban community. Owner Todd Carpenter contends that Little Elm Crafthouse one of the only bars east of Lake Lewisville to offer a robust craft beer selection and enable customers to take suds home in growlers.
"Obviously the town name is in our brand and just that alone enlists a loyalty to fierce competition," Carpenter said by phone Monday. "The entire town got behind us."
"In Dallas, there's so many great places to choose from. In Little Elm, there's really one," he added. "I think that had a huge effect."
Carpenter tapped into the craft beer movement while working in Washington D.C., but after retiring as a contract adviser to the Afghanistan judiciary, he settled in the North Texas suburb where he noticed a serious lack of craft beer bar options. Little Elm Crafthouse, which focuses primarily on suds brewed in D-FW, prides itself on serving beers from the 30-tap draft wall at the correct temperature in style-specific glassware.
Carpenter would like to expand the concept into other towns, perhaps even as early as next year. But for now, he's planning to thank his loyal fan base with a customer appreciation party on Saturday, Dec. 3. Little Elm Crafthouse will run drink specials and have several food trucks available onsite that day.
GuideLive would also like to everyone who participated in the bracket. Take a look at how the results panned out below, and let us know your thoughts on Twitter.
Finals:
