KinderHill Brew Lab
Biergartens hold a special place in the hearts of many. While they may not grow the amber beverage, they serve as a place for communities and friends to gather and thrive. As a frequent destination for students and Bryan/College Station locals alike, KinderHill Brew Lab is the premier biergarten of the Brazos Valley.
Laura Hill and Jason Kinderman founded KinderHill in 2021 after falling in love with the outdoor property that has now housed their brewery and biergarten for the last three years.
The couple complements each other like hops and barley. Laura fuels the science behind their various brews with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Cornell University, a master’s degree in food science flavor chemistry from Washington State University and a doctorate in bioengineering from Texas A&M University. While she always loved food science, she found her passion for brewing during one of her labs at Cornell.
“I had a class where we had to select and model a chemical process and all the reactions that happen,” Laura explains. “My lab partner and I chose fermentation. That was a moment that I [realized] I really like this side of engineering and chemistry science. There's so much creativity! There are tons of different science disciplines and engineering all mixed together [in brewing].
“Then I got an internship with Kraft Foods. And I was thought, ‘I love this,’” Laura adds. “It's something that's so intertwined with all of our lives. It's all the foods we eat and the things
we drink. That was the starting point for me. [It was when I] realized this was what I was meant to do.”
Jason is the mind behind the business itself, having earned a bachelor’s in business administration and marketing from the University of South Florida. During his college journey, he began making small brews with his friends as a cheaper alternative to going out, but he didn’t expect to fall head over heels with making craft beer.
“[My friends and I] started making beer and then I joined one of our homebrew clubs with the founder of Cigar City Brewing, [a popular brewery in Tampa, Florida],” Jason recalls. “Joining the club got my foot in the door and [let me] meet people in the industry and ask all the questions I could ever have. It really helped me increase my knowledge base and learn the brewing side of things to go along with the business and marketing background that I already had.”
KinderHill Brew Lab
The soon-to-be power couple moved to Texas independently and started working for local breweries where they would begin dating shortly after. Thus, the seed of a shared dream that blossomed into KinderHill Brew Lab was planted.
“We met and started dating while we were both working for breweries,” Laura says. “I was at Shiner and Jason was at Thirsty Planet Brewing Co. in Austin and we both had this idea that we wanted to open a brewery someday. Mine, I would say, was more of like a dream of ‘one day I'd love to do this,’ while Jason had a clear plan of action.”
Their partnership seemed like an alignment of every celestial body possible. Not only were they puzzle pieces that fit together, but their complementary skills fast-tracked the couple’s dream of owning a brewery together.
“I was familiar with the lab operations, product development and all that, but I wasn't in the day-to-day production of moving poses and stuff like that,” Laura says. “So it took me a long time [to learn]. Jason luckily, had been in the day-to-day production. We were able to teach each other our [respective] knowledge bases.”
Jason’s hands-on experience was a key piece in starting KinderHill. He had to learn the ropes and enter the industry using bootstrap methods once he found his passion for brewing.
“I started volunteering in breweries,” Jason says. “That's the opposite side [of getting into brewing] if you don't go to school for it. Most people during the time that I got into it started by working for free at a brewery until they had a slot open. I worked for free at breweries for six months until they had an available position and then I got hired into the open position.”
With a shared dream and loyal partnership, Laura and Jason started making moves to open their brewery. It was while the power couple began searching for a location when they happened to visit B/CS.
“We were just visiting my family,” Laura says. “And [we decided] we should go to some breweries because I like to visit breweries when I go anywhere. [That’s when we] realized there's only two in town. Jason was like, ‘This town is way too big to only have two breweries,’ so we started researching more and [decided] this is the right space. [B/CS has] a great community and [we thought] that they'd be receptive to another brewery.”
Starting any small business isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, however. It took a lot of clever planning for Jason and Laura to bring their dream to fruition.
“At the time we came in COVID-19 was still [a large threat],” Jason explains. “We both came from much larger breweries and we wanted to open in a much larger facility and have a much larger space than this, but once we found this outdoor space, we kind of fell in love with it and said, ‘Well, let's start small.’ We both came from breweries that made very specific beers so we had a back catalog of things that we wanted to make, but we didn't know how people were going to like the Pop-Tart beers that we made, the beers with sour straws or all these pie beers that we make. It's been [pleasantly] shocking how many people are into them.”
With a strong alcohol tourism scene already in place thanks to Bryan’s Messina Hof Winery, there wasn’t much question of KinderHill’s success. Their distinctive brews offered a unique taste experience, but the couple says their primary focus was for KinderHill to be a community space where everyone feels welcome.
“One thing that's unique about brewery spaces is they tend to be a little bit more family-friendly,” Laura says. “[With] wine, you want to go [to a vineyard] and have a more elevated experience, and it’s not that beer breweries can’t be elevated, but they tend to be more of a third space where communities can gather.”
This core value of KinderHill alongside its location near Downtown Bryan has made it a popular gathering spot for groups of friends and families alike.
“We definitely have tons of families and young professionals,” Laura says. “A lot of people are surprised that we don't have a ton of college students as our main customer base. I think part of that is because we’re in Bryan, but also because there aren't that many outdoor spaces in town. There aren't many spaces where you can go and hang out for a little bit, bring your kids, bring your dog and everybody is welcome. [At KinderHill] you don't feel out of place and like you don't have to be in as much of a hurry to leave. It's really just a gathering place.
“We've noticed over the years that people who didn't start as friends but talked here now come together, which is really cool,” Laura adds. “We’ll see kids running up when another kid comes in the door. It's very much a community atmosphere. It’s welcoming and people are willing to get to know each other here, which I think is different from other restaurants.”
While Laura and Jason may love their current location, from the very beginning their vision was a bigger place with more room for brewing equipment and events.
“We always knew at some point we'd have to have some kind of plan to get more production space,” Laura says. “We found this building that was an old warehouse. It’s a blank slate that'll give us a lot more space for beer production, but also more indoor seating space. Because that's one thing that is a challenge [at our old location]...if the weather's nasty, too hot, too cold or it’s raining, then people don't want to come sit out in the crummy weather and drink beer. That'll give us more flexibility and make it a little bit more comfortable for people when the weather’s not ideal.”
Even with more indoor seating planned, the main attraction at KinderHill will always be the biergarten and the many unique flavors available.
“We're also going to plant a huge garden, to be able to grow things to put in beer, but also for cocktails,” Laura says. “We're pushing [the move] on forward and getting it all done as quickly as possible [so we can start] working on the garden which will probably be one of our big, big projects this summer.”
Though Laura and Jason are saying goodbye to the outdoor location they fell in love with, they aren’t leaving without bringing one of their favorite community partners: Wild Garlic Pizza.
“They've been our permanent food truck for about a year and a half, and they'll have a brick and mortar [kitchen at our new location] and we’ll grow ingredients for them in the garden,” Laura says.
With more space for culinary freedom, Chef Tanner Pundum plans to expand the offerings of the Wild Garlic at the physical location while continuing to do pop-ups with his food truck around town.
“[Chef Tanner] came from a James Beard [Award-winning] restaurant in New Orleans, where they did Middle Eastern and Mediterranean food,” Jason explains. “He's going to incorporate some of that into the pizza and he'll do different types of hummus too. He may do pork belly on top, beef cheeks or all kinds of different toppings that he wants to incorporate. And he'll still always have vegetarian options.
“He’ll also add in a coffee shop and a bakery,” Jason adds.
The new location is set to open in Fall 2024 and is within walking distance of Pot Heads Plant Shop and Mad Cowboy Vintage & Goods. Jason and Laura are excited to collaborate with their new neighbors along with local talent.
“We'll add in some art shows,” Jason says. “We already have some local artists that we planned our shows with for the new space, some are portrait photographers and some do pottery. We have a lot of different things that we want to let local artists utilize [our new] space and showcase their talents.”
New events aren’t the only thing coming at the new location for patrons to look forward to. KinderHill will continue community favorite events and celebrations only bigger and better.
“[We’ll be] bringing all of our favorite events like Oktoberfest [back at the new location],” Laura says. “We also do a spring fling with the KBTX weather team where they collaborate on some beers and pizzas. That's another one of our favorites that we’ll continue. We'll keep doing those and a bunch of others that we've done throughout the years.”
Although the local brewery is closed for the summer while they make the move to the new location, Laura and Jason have committed to being transparent about the process as the community anticipates its re-opening.
“I can't wait to see [the finished location] in real life and to share it with other people,” Laura says. “We're going to miss all of our customers, but they've been so excited. I think by the end they’ll be saying we have to open just so they can see.”
The community cornerstone that KinderHill has used in its business model and philosophy is something that Jason and Laura have come to lean on even as they take the next steps in their brewing journey.
“We feel fortunate to have found all these people in the community that have been so supportive and such a loyal customer base,” Laura says. “When we get stressed, we just remind ourselves that we have so many wonderful people who are going to continue to support us in the new space.
“The community has always been the first to offer help and step in,” Laura adds. “We've just fallen in love with this town even more than when we first came here.”
KinderHill Brew Lab is moving to 505 W. 31st Street. Visit kinderhillbrewlab.com to learn more about Laura, Jason and the brewery. Email kinderhillbrewlab@gmail.com or call (979) 217-2440 with any questions or inquiries about events. To get the latest updates on KinderHill’s new location, follow them on Facebook and Instagram @khbrewlab.
