The First Brewmaster of the first Brewpub in Texas

Steve Anderson was born in Dallas, Texas, in 1962. After graduating from high school he moved to Austin and was a valued member of the burgeoning punk scene as a member of Cry Babies, Screws, and Toxic Shock. He was also the original singer for Scratch Acid.

In the 1980s Steve was home-brewing while also working as a bartender at Texas Showdown (a legendary beer bar on the Drag) for his long-time friend Billy Forrester. After attending the Great American Beer Festival in 1991, the pair were inspired to open a brewpub. However, brewpubs were not legal in Texas at the time. The friends made a deal: Steve would attend the Siebel Institute Brewing Program in Chicago to refine his brewing knowledge while Billy would lobby the Texas Legislature to change the law. Both would accomplish their goals and in 1993 (thanks to the passing of H.B. 1425) the pair opened Waterloo Brewing at 4th and Guadalupe, making Steve the first Brewmaster of the first brewpub in Texas.

Though Waterloo generated a tidal wave of interest in craft brewing in Austin and is often credited with creating the city’s craft beer culture, it was an early victim of escalating Austin rents and the building was torn down in 2001.

Steve then became the Head Brewer at Live Oak Brewing Co., working closely with founder Chip McElroy until 2012. As Austin’s population exploded Steve and his wife Ellen Weed came to fall in love with the Big Bend region of Texas. In 2012 he opened Big Bend Brewing Co. in Alpine, Texas. Over the next three years the team would grow to produce 5,000 barrels a year. The brewpub’s mainstays included Tejas Lager, La Frontera IPA, and 22 Porter.

Steve passed away November 25, 2015, at his home in Alpine after a valiant fight against cancer. He is fondly remembered in the Austin craft beer scene and is given much of the credit for helping to foster what the scene became.

Source: Big Bend Brewing Co. Press Release, 2015

Ephemera from Waterloo Brewing (2000-2006)