Saint Arnold’s Free Beer for Life Offer Gets a Lot of Takers: New Beer Garden’s Special Memberships are Already Nearly 50 Percent Sold

Texas’ oldest craft brewery is breaking new ground. Saint Arnold Brewing Company is poised to open Saint Arnold Beer Garden in 2018, a restaurant-meets-beer garden showcasing classic beers and special barrels seven days a week.

Whether you’re a fan of Weedwacker or Art Car IPA, the brains behind the brews want to give you the ultimate craft beer experience. Founder Brock Wagner has dreamed of opening a beer garden since founding Saint Arnold back in 1994. Now that the grand opening is in sight, it’s time to roll out the red carpet. And the big-time perks.

Wagner and his crew also dreamed up the Saint Arnold Society, a members-only community with lifetime benefits. Members pay a one-time fee of $1,000 for plenty of perks, including the unbelievable free beer for life.

Every member will receive one free beer each time they visit Saint Arnold, excluding special releases. And there’s no better way to enjoy a complimentary cold one than a personalized handmade pewter mug engraved with the Saint Arnold logo and the member’s name. Saint Arnold is offering those mugs up, valued at $150, as part of society membership. The mugs will be kept at the beer garden, waiting for the member on their visit.

Beer Garden Insiders

Members also will have the opportunity to check out the construction on a scheduled tour before the beer garden opens. Construction began back in August a couple of days before Hurricane Harvey, and should be wrapped up in Summer 2018. Members will also get an invitation to Saint Arnold’s VIP Grand Opening Party.

If you’re looking for free beer and that boatload of benefits, hop to it. Spots are limited, and they’re getting scooped up fast. Roughly half of the memberships have been purchased, with a little more than 100 people already having signing up. Wagner says there a total of 250 available slots. (You can sign up here.)

Saint Arnold Beer Garden will play next-door neighbor to the existing brewery on Lyons Street, but its architecture may surprise you. It’s a side step away from the brewery’s brick construction. The new building’s design is a point of pride for Wagner, who has always placed community at the center for his longstanding vision for the garden.

“It’s in an industrial neighborhood,” Wagner tells PaperCity. “Rather than creating something that didn’t fit with the neighborhood, we wanted to do something that fit with the architecture but was creative and distinctive and interesting.”

The result? A dissolving metal building by Natalye Appel + Associates. The setting’s got an impressive view of the downtown skyline and will feature murals painted by local artists.