Day Trips
Llano's Fain's Honey Company and Fredericksburg's Pedernales Brewing Company meet in a bar, and the results will surprise you
By Gerald E. McLeod, Fri., Oct. 3, 2014
Fain's Honey Company outside of Llano knows beeswax. For 88 years, the third-generation, family-owned business has harvested the golden nectar of honeybees working around the upper Highland Lakes. It is also the key ingredient in singer-songwriter Robert Earl Keen's new Honey Pilsner.
"You found out about it when we did," Brad Hoy, a Fain's employee says of the press release from Pedernales Brewing Company of Fredericksburg. "They bought a barrel of our honey, but we didn't know it was going into Robert Earl Keen's beer."
Yes, Fain's Honey comes in 55-gallon barrels and little honey bear jars. As far as Hoy knows, Robert Earl Keen has never stopped by the store at the honey factory.
PBC and REK couldn't have found a brand of honey that represents the Texas Hill Country better than Fain's Honey. The company has 1,200 hives scattered around the Llano area on ranches far from pesticides and chemicals. You can almost taste the bluebonnets in every spoonful.
The new Honey Pilsner will ship to an adult beverage cooler near you on Oct. 15. Or you can try it at Pedernales Brewing Company's tasting room on Friday and Saturday afternoons. PBC is 2.4 miles south of Fredericksburg's Main Street on U.S. 87, www.pedernalesbrewing.com, 830/998-7486.
Fain's Honey Company is east of Llano at 14817 Hwy. 29 E., about half a mile west of Fuzzy's Corner at FM 1431. The retail store is open Monday through Friday from 7am to 4pm, www.fainshoney.com.
1,210th in a series. Collect them all. Day Trips, Vol. 2, a book of "Day Trips," is available for $8.95, plus $3.05 for shipping, handling, and tax. Mail to: Day Trips, PO Box 33284, South Austin, TX 78704.
