Big Hops Growler Station- The Bridge

Love this place! Good beer and atmosphere. Have been to all of the Big Hops and they are all great!

I would assume the sketchy highway overpass-​adjacent location was responsible for the slow Saturday night of my visit, but all the better for enjoying a nice night with my best friend, Al Cohol. Big Hops has everything I’m looking for in a bar — friendly bartenders, a crapload of taps serving a buttload of Texas beers, and a nice patio where I can sit, sample a bunch of new beers, and watch the weirdos crossing the Hays Street Bridge… though maybe to those skateboards, street artists, and families I’M the weirdo drinking alone on the patio. Life’s all about perspective.

Good beers and my fav r cider and stouts

This place is busy for a Sunday night. It has become very popular since we first came. Always a great selection of beer that changes frequently. Staff is friendly and knowledgable.

Loved this place. The selection of craft beer was incredible and the beertenders were very knowledgeable. It seems odd to say that it is in a remote location when it is in San Antonio but there are many vacant lots and buildings between the Station and the Alamodome with no food close by.

This is a nice spot to come have some laughs with friends, bring your dog and chill on the patio. The beer selection is great, prices comparable-​competitive with other beer spots, the staff knowledgable and the vibe laid back. You can buy your beer by the glass or the growler. Bring your own or buy one of theirs to fill it.
Right next to the entrance for the Hays Street bridge, it makes for good people watching.
Even if you’ve been to the other locations, give this one a go — it’ll be a funky adventure. ^_^

Really good selection of both local and national beers. Small local feel, great music, and friendly staff willing to give out samples. If we lived in the area, we would become regulars for sure!

My love for all things beer should come as no surprise to anyone by now. Big Hops is always on my list of frequent haunts. The Bridge location is different from the other two in that the space it offers is unique. It’s larger than the other two with a wonderful outdoor patio space. During summer and fall (hell, even this wacky winter) it’s nice to go outside and watch all the people on the Hays St. bridge. They also were showing NFL games on a pop up projector outside.
The staff as always are incredibly friendly and informative. Ashley & Dorothy are the bomb dot com. They always make me feel welcome and remember details from past conversations of past visits. They know the styles of beer I enjoy and have great recommendations for me.
The beer is always fresh and tasty. I also enjoy going here when they have their logo glass nights, because they tend to be less crowded while still having a fun crowd. Just like the other locations, the clientele are talkative and friendly.
This location invites food trucks to come set up outside to provide patrons with food options. I’ve discovered so many smaller food trucks just by visiting The Bridge. If there isn’t a food truck but your stomach is grumbling, they do serve pretzels with mustard or cheese. They’re pretty tasty and help sop up some of the beer so you can have another and not feel too wild about it.
I would have to say The Bridge has overtaken the Huebner location for my favorite Big Hops!

Although I was sad to see Boneshakers leave this spot, I was happy to hear that we were getting a new spot with craft beer. Little did I know that along with it would come such wonderful people. The staff here is always a delight and never ceases to bring a smile to my face.
Oh, and the beer selection is excellent. :)

4.5 stars. I’ve managed to make it out to Big Hops a few times now and I’m extremely impressed with it. The guys that work here are really friendly and know the beer scene both locally and nationally far better than anyone else I’ve met in this town (it’s kinda sad when I’m explaining the history of Evil Twin to the people that work at Total Wine). They have an impressive array of rotating taps to cover a great variety of tastes. They are the first beer bar in San Antonio that I’ve seen that carries the aforementioned Evil Twin products. Big Hops offers plenty of specials, and they create an incentive to take home local beers in their growlers (though I’ll be honest and say that I’m generally a fan of the out of town products). Big Hops is yet another place that is far too long of a drive for me, but certainly worth the visit anyhow (Über can’t move to this town soon enough).

We all know and love Bog Hops already right? Good. That will save me some time and trouble then. They have craft beer, a lot of craft beer. They do growlers, 64 or 32 oz, to go or you can sit and sip on a pint (or 3) in house. I think that covers the basics for anyone that doesn’t know them already.
The newest Bog Hops is «The Bridge» located on Austin St. right at the Hayes St. Bridge. This is my favorite of the three by far. It has a cool vibe, it is very bike friendly, has a lot of room inside and outside to sit and enjoy your brew, and there is normally a food truck out front to keep you satiated while you imbibe on the huge selection of craft beers.
The tap list is extensive and ever changing. When you look up at the screen you will see the brewery name, the beer, the style, pricing (3 different options big growler, small growler, glass), and finally the ABV. They have a variety of styles of growlers, some more expensive than others, choose wisely, I prefer the flip tops so I don’t lose the lid after I empty my growler.
You can find them on FB,
and on Twitter at @BigHopsGrowlers.
Cheers.

Love Big Hops! This was my first visit to this newer location… Street parking only, but there were plenty of spots on a Wednesday evening. Just like the other locations this is a great «no frills» spot to enjoy some delicious craft beer (and take a growler home for later!). No lines, no waiting for a table, and a great place for a group. They don’t have food but you can bring food in/​order in, and the taps are rotating so you can always find something new to try.

Came in to visit the Riverwalk and found this place. Has kind of a warehouse feel to it. I walked there from a Riverwalk hotel and felt pretty safe in the area.
Javier made some really good suggestions on beers to try. Very cool guy as well!
I went home with some Dankasaurus which Javier recommended.
I really wanted to try a crowler fill as well as that looked like a cool idea.
If I was in San Antonio I would certainly fill my growler here again.

Great beer. Lousy ambiance.
This used to be a pizza joint, Boneshakers. But when Big Hops moved in, they tore out all the amenities that made Boneshakers nice! Gone are the days of booth seats, a stage, big screen televisions to watch the game on, and a stage for live music. They tore out all of that. Replaced it with — well, nothing. There’s a picnic table in the middle to sit at, which isn’t adequate. They also need more outdoors seating! Nowhere to sit.
They do have a television for watching the Spurs win on, but it’s not enough– they need more!
We came here recently, and got overcharged tremendously for some Ranger Creek. They made good on it the next day, however.
Ok, enough complaining– the beer selection here is pretty fantastic! They know how to pour a pint, and know the specifics about the beer. They often have cask tastings, so keep an eye on their Facebook site to see what’s being tapped. It’s also cool that they have an app so you can see what’s on tap before you get there, and decide if you wanna make the trip.
It’s cool that you can go from here to the Hays Street Bridge and hangout and watch the trains roll by.

I’m prettyyy sure this is my new fav. spot!!! The atmosphere was cool, they have a selection of beers, and food truck outsidee.wooo. They also have the racks to hang your bicylces outside! i love this place, i’ll sureeeee be backk

Really cool place! Strange location alongside the highway, but whatever. We really enjoyed the picnic tables outside, the food truck that set up shop next to the bar (no food here, but you can bring it in), the great beer selection, and the funny/​helpful servers. I’m only in town for the month, but hope to be back!

The newest Big Hops, less than a mile from the Alamo.
The location is both good and bad. It’s very close to everything downtown and just a short ride for me when I’m riding the Riverwalk. And it sits right across the Hays Street Bridge from Alamo Brewery. But it’s still a rundown part of downtown. I wouldn’t call it a rough neighborhood, but there are lots of homeless people around and I was concerned about chaining up my bike outside (they let me bring it inside).
Inside, it’s barebones but comfortable. Metal and wood picnic tables on what feels like an enclosed patio and a bar covering 2 walls.
The beer selection was OK. 30 taps, mostly Texas craft beers. This would be a good place to bring someone to introduce them to local craft. However, there were only a few beers that I hadn’t tried (including a session IPA, which really doesn’t count).
Chong’s Korean Food was parked outside. From what I’ve seen on Facebook, they usually have a food truck outside.
Service was good — but it is a Big Hops after all. I wouldn’t expect anything less.
There were only a few customers at 2:00 on Saturday afternoon — a group of older women who left soon after I got there and a rather obnoxious drunk who reminded me more of the guys who hang out in neighborhood dives than at craft beer bars.
So I have to compare this with GS 1221, since they’re less than ½ miles from each other.
Selection: About the same number of taps. Big Hops had more local beer but GS 1221 usually has more beers I haven’t tried. I’m going to give this to Big Hops simply because I can look up their tap list on my phone before I head that way.
Atmosphere: Big Hops has a little more personality.
Location: GS 1221, by far. Closer to the River Walk and in a non-​seedy area.
Service: It’s a toss up. I get professional, efficient, and friendly service at both.
For me, it’s going to come down to what’s on tap on any particular day.

What a great new addition to the Big Hops family!
The Hays Street Bridge has been a sad, sad (beautiful, but still sad) bridge to nowhere since the demise of Boneshakers (RIP, beer ice cream!)
Now though, it’s got 2 great cornerstones.. the newly-​opened Alamo Brewery and beer garden at one end, and now, in the space once occupied by my beloved Boneshakers, Big Hops at the Bridge… sweet hoppy
gentrification!
It’s still just soft-​open for the next weekish, so all of the finishing touches aren’t 100% yet, but all of the standard Big Hops goodness is already in place… plenty of mostly-​local all-​craft taps, reasonably priced growler fills, great music/​vibe/​patio, cool staff & crowd. Beer highlights of the weekend for me: they featured the debut of Freetail’s bourbon barrel aged version of the phenomenal Local Coffee Stout; Prairie’s Apple Brandy Barrel Noir was available by the bottle — and that’s nowhere else to be found in San Antonio; and the best IPA in Texas, Lone Pint’s Yellow Rose, was flowing on draught.
This will definitely be our go-​to joint for Spurs game pre-​flight.
I love that there will be a regular rotation of food trucks, leaving The Hops itself more focus on the taps instead of trying additionally to run a kitchen. (Crossing my fingers that Rickshaw Stop, Slider Provider, and Say.She.Ate will be common fixtures on that rotation!)
The patio area is still a bit of a work in progress, but it’s pretty great even right now — several picnic tables for ample seating, and between the awesome bikes rolling off the bridge and the procession of horses down the street (city carriage horses live in the building next door), the view is neato.
The road to 5 Stars is paved with. .
*Production/​availability of beer ice cream
*CROWLERS!
*Purse hooks in the ladies room and under the bar
*Parking that’s a bit more monitored/​secure

A bridge by definition is any structure that serves as a path across an obstacle, to bring a traveler to safety. For me a bridge is any structure that has the ability to merge different worlds together. The Bridge, the latest addition by the ever expanding Big Hops Growler franchise is seamlessly doing this.
The Big Hops Growler, with The Bridge is now four locations wide. In each unique vision each space reflects the area where it resides. In this configuration it is in an urban area, taking the old Boneshaker’s façade and putting their own spin on it. Unlike the other locations that are sleek and industrial feeling, this one seems tattered and worn. Its like you can almost sense the hands that have put this all together.
An old garage door opens the interior of this place and patrons move freely in and out. From the side of the building you can see The Hay’s Street Bridge, full of history and symbolism. Inside the bar folds into an L-​shape, with servers on all directions to get your drink on. They carry all the taps much like the other locations: local, regional, Freetail Brewing Co., Prairie Artisan, Ranger Creek, stouts, IPA’s, sours, ciders etc.
Beer nerds, business people, the downtown culture, hipsters and bike riders congregate and converge. People with glasses and people wearing glasses commiserate or unwind after a hard day’s night. The room opens up and patrons spill onto the outside. You can still score a growler or buy beer by the glass. The prices are much like the other locations, but still they are reasonable considering it is closer to downtown. While I do like this vision, especially in its newest location I do have a few critiques.
My first critique is that the tap selection are all on one part of the wall, which makes it inconvenient for the patron and server. Since the action is located in one area it does have the potential to create traffic. They need to find a way to spread patrons out, as they are ordering their drinks to alleviate traffic.
Another issue I had was in the visibility of available tap selections. Since the selections are presented on a screen with small print I had to squint my eyes just to make out what they exactly had. While they do have an app for your phone that has the taps they are carrying that day, it didn’t reflect what was actually there.
While I do like that this location’s room opens up with benches/​tables for seating the space outdoors feels like an afterthought and still needs some reconfiguration. What I mean to say is that they need to place seating or makeshift pub tables so people can drink comfortably. The Bridge should not be just a name but a mission statement. Why not have a milieu that showcases its proximity to The Hays Street Bridge thus exemplifying this idea?
Given all this why do I give it five stars? Well:
1.) The tattered façade gives it a sense of authenticity and realness.
2.) The people that go here and work here are friendly and awesome! There is a sense of community.
3.) I like that they employ women as tapmasters, for example I had a server named Dorothy who was absolutely wonderful, knowledgeable and above all, professional.
4.) It is really cool to see the owner in all his metal t-​shirts making the rounds and surveying the room. That is the hallmark of any successful business.
5.) It’s truly inspiring to see a business of this caliber in an area of this city overlooked and underdeveloped. It has the potential to heighten the profile of this neighborhood.
The newest location by The Big Hop’s Growler is both bold and necessary. By proxy its location will bring people that never make their way to this side of the city. It’s façade is worn and tattered which gives it a sense of authenticity and genuineness. The staff are friendly and the people that come are equal to that. The vibe is vibrant but laid back. It is the perfect place to unwind or to engage in conversation over a beer. This location will test if The Big Hops Growler is truly ready to become a franchise or just a fixture in our city.
ps. The parking is interesting. Choose wisely where you situate your vehicle.

The nostalgia from the décor gets me gitty. Then there’s beer and good people inside.