The armadillo is an animal closely associated with the American Southwest, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that a brewery in Oklahoma seized upon the animal for its name. So when Mason Beecroft and Tony Peck started a commercial brewery production, Dead Armadillo Craft Brewing was born. In 2016, the brewery opened its own taproom in an industrial area of town.
Like most craft breweries, Dead Armadillo celebrates the unique tastes it brings to beer drinkers. Customers see this irreverent humor on the door before walking into the taproom.
The taproom used to be home to Fourth Street Auto Repair, which was ideal for a brewery because it provides plenty of space to install the brewing equipment. However, it meant the taproom was smaller. The bar is immediately to the left upon entering with a small seating area to the right.
The bar seats about a dozen people while the seating area, which features high top tables, seats about nine people. Even the glass behind the bar pays homage to the building’s former occupant with “Fourth Street Auto” stenciled above the brewery’s logo.
The brewery offers flights, so my wife Katie and I took advantage and ordered two different flights. She ordered the Berliner Weisse flight, which featured a selection of Berliner Weisse beers mixed with a variety of simple syrup flavors. On my flight, I ordered the Amber (an American amber), Inland Porter (an American porter brewed in collaboration with Hanson Brothers Beer), IPA with Pineapple, and Renaissance Black Gold (an American stout). The Amber is a bit hoppy in the traditional American style, and is one of the brewery’s flagship beers. The Berliner Weisse and Inland Porter were my two favorite beers.
Perhaps the coolest aspect of the taproom was the tire tread on the bar counter. It runs across the entire bar except where a metallic version of the brewery’s logo sits in the middle of the counter.
I visited the taproom during a midweek holiday, so despite it being a Thursday and the brewery offering special one-off beers through their Randall. However, the crowd appeared to consist of some regulars and a few newcomers trying the brewery’s beer with a flight.
