Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Duckworth.
Hi Michael, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
The founders, having spent many years learning under the guidance of numerous other home-brewers started working their beer philosophy into a business plan in the summer of 2015. After approximately two years of working, and re-working, the plan True Anomaly was able set to seek investment and secure a property. Two more years of property search, licensing, and build-out, and the team was finally ready to open the doors.
True Anomaly started commercially in early 2019, focused on Old-world style ales merged with new-aged American brewing techniques. In addition to the many traditional offerings provided within the taproom, True Anomaly also sought to bring into the Houston market long-term, wood-aged projects that often used more interesting and unique yeast strains. The passion to bring these less familiar offerings was born out of a decade-plus of home-brewing amongst the founding members. Hop-forward IPAs, variations on traditional Saisons, and fruited kettle-sours all emerged as mainstays in the True Anomaly catalog, but nothing quite stood out in complexity and flavor as the mixed-culture, wood-aged projects.
Today, we have a mainstay of rotating lagers, fruited sours, year-round IPAs, and Pale Ales, complemented by monthly releases of the bottle-conditioned long-term varietals that help differentiate True Anomaly from most others.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
True Anomaly initially focused on a taproom environment to build community and introduce some of our more unique offerings, wherein patrons are generally more apt to try new things. During the emergence of the pandemic, we had an abrupt change in consumer preferences that now favored purchasing through supermarkets and across the counter. We were able to adapt fairly quickly to enables sales to-go, though building up infrastructure to penetrate into grocery and retail was much more challenging.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
We recently came away from the Great American Beer Festival (2021) with a couple of wins for our Sea of Waves (Gold Medal – Wood-aged Sour) and our Scout (Silver Medal – Mexican-style Lager). Of course, we didn’t go in expecting to be awarded, but it was a very special moment amongst the brewing team, and all those within True Anomaly. We were also fortunate to win a Bronze the year prior (2020) for our Freedom 7 – Tart Saison, in the same Wood-aged Sour category. Again, this was very special to us, as a brewery specializing in these more unique styles that are otherwise unavailable from other Houston breweries. It was always a corner-stone of the business to put forward quality beers that would be enjoyed by all, but also help bring attention to the industry within Houston. Hopefully, we can continue this tradition, and continue inspiring new converts to come learn why local, craft beer is worth their time.
What were you like growing up?
I remember drawing a ton. I would spend hours in my room or in class sketching out levels to video games that I thought would be interesting (NES days), or try to copy a comic book characters. In grade school, I landed in Gifted & Talented Art, a program that allowed me to take higher level art classes. I recall submitting drawings for competition and winning a few small things, but eventually phased out the interest. After many, many years, the brewery has now provided me an opportunity to flex my creative muscles and has renewed enjoyment in art creation by working on everything from label art to shirt design.
Contact Info:
- Website: trueanomalybrewing.com
- Instagram: trueanomalybrewing
