Lazy Beach Brewing held its cafe grand opening on Nov. 11 and is now offering a collection of sandwiches made to complement different brews.

The brewery opened in 2015, offering a new flavor beer every week since first opening its doors. Along with new brews, it is also the only place in Texas that makes in-house hard kombucha, putting a spin on fermented tea.

Along with specialty drinks, the brewery also had several food trucks but due to coronavirus, many of them did not make it through. The shutdown of bars due to the virus in Texas has pushed owners to get creative, many opting to add food to the menu to be classified as a restaurant in order to evade closing. This loophole has helped Lazy Beach continue to stay open despite the difficult times.

Cory Matthews, also known as Mr. Lazy Beach, founded the brewery with his wife, Jess, also known as Mrs. Lazy Beach. The pair are both TAMU-CC Alumni and started the brewery after receiving positive remarks on their home brews. The cafe will allow them to expand their creative side, making food and beer pairing an art. “We’re really trying to bring the food and the beer together. There’s been a lot of great food trucks but it’s never really been paired with the beer,” said Cory, “For the opening of the cafe, we’re releasing the Mariana’s Trench, an Imperial mint chocolate stout that we age for a little less than a year; we made a mint and pineapple chutney paired with pulled pork that really compliments each other.”

Alexis De Leon, also known by her co-workers as the Kombucha Queen, is a former Island Waves Editor in Chief and TAMU-CC Alumni. De Leon received a B.S. in Marine Biology as well as a P. B. in Chemistry and found a home at Lazy Beach while waiting to hear back from another job prospect at the time.

Since then, she has used her skills and love for chemistry and the healthy probiotic drink to build an impressive kombucha selection at the brewery and is the only hard kombucha brewer in Texas. Along with hard blends, non-alcoholic kombucha is also offered as well. “If you’re looking for somewhere you can come in with sweatpants on to study and enjoy a beer or some kombucha, this is the place,” said De Leon.