Blind Butcher, Lower Greenville’s newest craft beer joint, finally pulled the covers off the windows and unlocked the doors for an “unbelievably soft” opening last night, as co-owner Matt Tobin put it.
So soft, in fact, they haven’t even announced the opening on their Facebook page. And yet, the building was a buzz of activity all evening.
From the time Tobin opened at 4 p.m., staff members milled around, experimenting with the various new cocktail recipes and helping customers who wandered in — most of which were regulars of Goodfriend (co-owners Josh Yingling and Matt Tobin also own Goodfriend Beer Garden & Burger House).
And “craft” was the word of the hour. “At our heart, we’re about craft cocktails, craft beers and craft meat,” Tobin explains. “Anything else is secondary.”
In case, like me, you’re curious about what exactly “craft meat” entails, the name “Blind Butcher” is a clue. While they won’t be skinning live animals in the back alleyway (I hope), they will “craft” their own meat on-site. So, they’ll bring in giant slabs of meat, and cut them down to portion size.
Yingling and Tobin are partnering with Chef Oliver Sitrin, formerly of Village Marquee Grill & Bar, and they haven’t unveiled the menu just yet, but if you happen to wander in for a drink, there’s a good chance there will be meat of some kind available for snacking.
They’ll also have their own Blind Butcher brew, which will be a year-round Märzen/Oktoberfest beer (the beauty of modern-day refridgeration, right?) by Franconia Brewing Company in McKinney. And they’ll be rolling out a line of craft cocktails, as well. Every week they’ll feature three new cocktails and see which ones stick.
Even the building seems to scream “craft,” having been stripped down to the bare bones, with the original floor and brick walls in tact. The design was the handiwork of partner Ryan Chaney, who owns 44 Build in Plano and has the design of other local favorites, like Mudsmith, Goodfriend, Acme, on his resume.
Blind Butcher will be managed by partner Tony Bricker, but he says the team isn’t done yet. They’ll barely have time to stop for a breath before they launch into the next project, Bricker says. They’ve got a new meat shop in the works in Deep Ellum. Once that’s finished, they’ll craft the meat there, instead of on-site at Blind Butcher. They’ll also open a deli at Goodfriend Beer Garden.
“It’s still very much a work in progress,” Tobin concludes.
