Three Wide Brewing Company @ The Fort Worth Complex

“If the lion didn’t bite the tamer every once in a while, it wouldn’t be exciting.” - Darrell Waltrip

Brewmaster and Brewing Evangelist Matt Morriss specializes in brewery design and has built amazing operations over the years. In 2013, he and his brewing partner Tom Anderson, decided to build Rabbit Hole Brewing in Justin, Texas, where they made award-winning beer. 

By 2019, Matt and Tom decided to close the brewery and begin to focus on building a larger operation in the Fort Worth Complex area.  Four years, a global pandemic, commodity shortages, and a host of other roadblocks came with launching a new and bigger business, Three Wide Brewing Company. They didn’t let anything stop progress, meticulously curating the building design, and art, investing in creating an experience for the community. 

Three Wide Brewing Company 

Three Wide Brewing brings a classy, open-air feeling, artistic design, and a resemblance to West Coast breweries like Lagunitas Brewing in Petaluma, California, Denver Brewing Co., and The Great Divide Brewery at the OG Taproom. What do all these breweries have in common? They create community, a place for people to come watch a Rangers game, NASCAR, or The Olympics. It offers a space for music and a place where you can get to know the staff, who serve great food and beer. This brewer knows that community is the heart and soul of why they do what they do! 

Roger and Helen Ma, also partners in this venture were the inspiration for the look, feel, and layout of the tavern. The 15,000 square foot space dedicates just under 50% to brewing and the other to the tavern. The attractive, unique design elements are thoughtful and meticulous, from the bar's reach to the hidden doorways disguised as bookshelves and decorative walls. Those spaces allow access to walk-in refrigeration and rooms where you end up finding yourself right in the mix of it all. The industrial chic design with high ceilings, well-lit rooms, and steel beams, coupled with a warm feel in a big space, has allowed the team to invest time, money, thought, and attention into making it an inviting and comfortable place to eat, drink, and a real community gathering place with friends and family. 

The interactive Audio Visual (AV) system is well thought out; TVs are placed strategically in the center and sides of the tavern, and the flooring is designed with Chevron inlay tile, almost resembling a sports arena, along with table seating for dinner and drinks. At the back of the main bar, steel, and glass windows roll up to an outdoor seating and bar area for customers to enjoy during cooler months. 

Good Eats On Site!

The tavern serves yummy elevated bar food, from shareables, to burgers and upscale fired pizza. The food brand onsite is Azores Craft Sausages, run by Roger Evaristo and his team of chefs. 

The charcuterie plates are woven with hand-curated blue and soft cheeses, aged cheese, hand-salted artisan crackers, and cured meats with a healthy balance of fats, salt, and acid. The sweet gherkins and fresh fruit cleanse the palate to make way for the delicious brews on tap. 

The Azores chefs recently ran a burger special with Prime Picanha, a dry-aged steak burger, a 4oz double patty, caramelized onions, pickles, roasted garlic aioli, bourbon bacon jam, and truffle fries. On the pizza front, Matt’s favorite is the Hot Soprasetta and Honey.  The other pie that strikes a chord is the Salsicce Picantse, loaded with spicy Sicilian Sausage and Calabrian peppers. 

Serving Up Some Delicious Beer

A while back, James Briscone and Brooke Parkhurst wrote The Flavor Matrix:  The Art and Science of Pairing Common Ingredients to Create Extraordinary Dishes. Along with Scott Bickham’s Four Basic Tastes of Beer; bitter, salty, sweet, and sour. Flavor theory states that we humans we have the ability to sense 20 distinct tastes and flavors. What’s the point of all this theory in the middle of a good beer article? Because Matt and his team know flavor theory, apply it across the board, and make some amazing beers!

Here are just a few: 

Sour Molly - Uses Blood Orange and Hibiscus and is described as a complex classic sour Berliner Weisse. It layers flavors of fresh flowers and fruit. 

Heart of Glass - A Brown Ale with a rich malty flavor profile, built on earthen roasted, nutty chocolate for starters.  

Twelve Bar Blues - is a Mississippi Mud Stout with a 6.9% ABV. A layer of perfectly roasted coffee with a brush of vanillan marshmallow. 

Sweet Marie - is a Cherry American Wheat with a 5.1% ABV. Sweet cherries ripen in July, and white wheat has layers of fruit, maillard, and earthen notes. 

Going Streaking, West Coast IPA - A BIG flavor, hoppy, and bold! The 8% ABV speaks for itself, and this IPA is a delicious flavor down in Texas. 

Orange Dreamzz Milkshake IPA - is rich, creamy, and dreamy, layered in fresh citrus. The chefs recommend this brew with their Pao Com Linguica or Footlong Bratwurst specials. 

What or Mellon Beer - is a refreshing Fruit Ale that is light and crispy with undertones of sweet - brewed with summer watermelon. The beer guys recommend asking for a Salty Tajin application. 

Union Jack - an Extra Special Beer (ESB) malted Amber Ale with hints of sweet caramel and hops - a fuller body beer. 

Matt and the team brew highly versatile beers. The recipes are tested and developed over time through experimentation and a strong understanding of making good beer. Aromas factor into making a good brew, using things like floral aspects, fruit, maillard, caramel, sour, and on goes the list. These beers have been meticulously curated and paired with their pub food to offer a great balance of taste. 

Spinelli Angus Ranch’s Commitment To Sustainability 

December 2023 marked a special date for Three Wide Brewing, a collaboration between the brewery and Spinelli Angus Ranch in the spirit of ‘Beers for Steers’. The ranch chose to work with Matt and his team to secure a high-protein feed source of spent grains for the healthy, high-quality Black Angus cattle based in Decatur, Texas. This aligns well with Spinelli’s commitment to high-protein feed and sustainability. 

Make sure to drop in for some Merch on the way out the door! If you want to know more about Texas breweries, delicious bites, and the people curating some amazing beer, click the link to Foraging and Farming below.