What’s yellow and fizzy and available for 24 days in Texas?
Mustard Beer.
Fletcher’s Original Corny Dogs, a company that has sold fried franks at the State Fair of Texas for 83 years, is collaborating with Martin House Brewing Company and Best Maid Dill Pickles, both out of Fort Worth, to sell a yellow-colored Mustard Beer in fall 2024 in Dallas-Fort Worth.
The beer will be sold exclusively at the State Fair and at Martin House’s Fort Worth taproom, until it sells out.
Why mustard?
Fletcher’s has been selling corny dogs since 1942, and for decades, the Fletchers family said the perfect corny dog came with a simple squiggle of tangy yellow mustard.
Beer, naturally, became another popular pairing as fairgoers enjoyed corny dogs in the Texas heat.
Why not combine the two?, asked Martin House Brand Manager Sam “Shugg” Cole.
If anybody would ask that question, it would be the team at Martin House.
The scrappy brewers stir up a new recipe every week, sometimes twice a week. They’re famous for the puckery Best Maid Sour Pickle Beer and the tart Salty Lady. But over the years, it’s gotten weirder: They’ve brewed a Limoncello beer, a Space Pizza beer made with real tomatoes, and an au jus beer. The “crazy” concoctions are created by brewer John “Beef” Laughman.
“It’s chaos, but we thrive in chaos,” Cole said.
The Mustard Beer uses Martin House’s best-selling Pickle Beer mixed with “probably a gallon of mustard in each batch,” Cole said.
“You get acidity. You get tartness,” he said. “You get straight mustard after that.”
Said another way: If you love yellow mustard, you’ll probably love this beer.
If you don’t, buyer beware.
Fun — and funky
Martin House brewed its first Mustard Beer in 2023. It has been sold out for months, but it becomes available again on Sept. 27, 2024, the first day of the State Fair of Texas.
The Fletcher’s family expects to sell about 500,000 corny dogs in the State Fair’s 24 days. Amber Fletcher, the granddaughter of the founder and current company co-owner, said her family tends to keep the business simple when it comes to corny dogs. They don’t add new items all that often.
The beer collaboration offered the Fletcher’s family a new item to sell, without distracting customers from the big seller: corny dogs.
Mustard Beer “embodies what the spirit of the fair is,” Fletcher said.
“It’s fun and new — and you’re not going to see it anywhere else.”
Mustard Beer will be sold at Martin House Brewing Company in Fort Worth and at three Fletcher’s stands at the State Fair of Texas in Dallas: near Big Tex; at the Corny Cafe near the Texas Star Ferris wheel; and on the Thrillway.
A 16-ounce cup costs 10 coupons, or $10.
The State Fair runs from Sept. 27, 2024 to Oct. 20, 2024.
