Developer Aims to Fill a 'Craft Beer Desert' in Austin

Paul Thompson reports on a development underway in Austin that poses a new concept for the intersecting interests of planning and economic development: a craft beer desert.

"Fast Friends Beer Co. is building a 16,500-square-foot brewery in a portion of Southeast Austin," reports Thompson. The brewery's founder is pitching the development project and eventually business model as a benefit to a part of the city described as a "craft beer desert."

Most of the article is behind a paywall that Planetizen doesn't have access for, but this use of language commonly associated with concerns like access to fresh foods, high quality public transit, and other services that determine quality of life for underserved communities is notable—if not alarming. Further adding to the irony is the fact the development is located in an Opportunity Zone, making it eligible for tax breaks originally sold as a benefit to underserved communities, which is a subject of ongoing debate four years after the program inception.