How Our Brewpub in Fort Worth Started…and Ended

Funky Picnic was born in a Fort Worth garage amongst friends, brewing and enjoying beer circa 2012. We grew our passion and friendship from brewing batches for friends, to entering local homebrew competitions, and finally into breaking ground and opening our microbrewery “Funky Picnic Brewery & Café” in June 2019.

Much like its humble beginnings, our microbrewery was a place for everyone to relax and enjoy great beer amongst friends, new and old. A place to learn, experiment, and try new things. We believe everyone has a spot at our table, not only to enjoy our beers and food but to engage with the entire Fort Worth community, Near Southside, South Main Village, Fairmount, and Downtown areas.

While Funky Picnic closed our doors on April 27th, 2024, we hope that the Funky spirit lives on in Fort Worth through all the neighbors and visitors that we had the pleasure of serving during our five years of being part of this amazing community.

Meet the Team

Samantha Glenn
Co-Founder / General Manager

Sam has had a passion for craft beer since college, and a passion for tight-knit communities like Fort Worth since she was a wee-one in small-town Texas. Running a microbrewery came naturally to her, thanks to years of production management at Alcon Labs. She works harder than almost anyone we know, but she also plays hard. In her not-so-copious free time, she loves to hike with her dog Taco, backpack, kayak, slackline, rock climb, play frisbee, and travel the world. She was always involved full-time with Funky Picnic, combining her management and brewing experience to ensure a cohesive marriage of food and beers—and helping people expand their perception of craft beer.

Collin Zreet
Co-Founder / Financial Guru

Collin got his start in craft beer 15+ years ago while homebrewing with friends in Austin during college and hasn’t looked back ever since. He has extensive beer and brewing industry knowledge, having previously organized and led several beer dinners at Joyce & Gigi's Kitchen.  He has volunteered at several breweries across the metroplex and has written professional beer articles for several online publications. Collin is also one of eight Advanced Cicerones® in all of Texas, a Certified BJCP Beer Judge, and is on the Texas Craft Brewers Guild Competition Committee. When he's not thinking about beer, he likes to spend his time outdoors hiking, fishing, and spending time with his wife (Taylor), son (Alder), and dog (Rocco).

Michael Harper
Head Brewer

Our drum-playing, mariachi-loving head brewer studied at the American Brewers Guild in 2013, and he's passionate about classic techniques but also loves to experiment with new styles and terroir-based ingredients. When he's not knee-deep in spent grain, you can find him at home with his wife, cats, and pet tortoise—or perhaps bingeing on Gilmore Girls episodes and reminiscing about his brief career as a radio DJ.

Josh Rangel
Head Chef

Our chef is an all-around restaurant ninja and taco connoisseur who’s been in the industry for over 10 years. When he’s not in the kitchen, he loves to spend time with his mini-horse Diesel (a rescued 125-lb mastiff) or training muay thai. Any gamers out there? Follow him at RawfleMyWaffle on PS4 and Xbox1.

Jenni Hanley & John Koch
Co-Founders

In addition to providing in-depth knowledge of the brewing process and developing award-winning recipes, Jenni and John provided their garage, affectionately called—what else?—The Fort. Their jobs and lives have now taken them to Colorado, but they still lovingly watch and nurture Funky Picnic from afar…and the beer trades aren’t bad either! Their side hustles include kickball, snowboarding, adventure travel, obsessing over American Ninja Warrior, and—most recently—wrangling their two children, Fiona and Ari.

Funky Picnic Staff
Heart & Soul

Our unique collection of bartenders, servers, bussers, cooks, and dishwashers are the heart and soul of Funky Picnic. They like being fed pizza, tacos, beer, and whiskey. But seriously, Funky Picnic wouldn’t be anything without them, so huge shout-out to Austin, Shelbi, Ticia, Call, Ben, Shane, Tara, Danny, Myles, Faith, John, Anero, Jade, Heather, Page, Christina, Juan, Kenzie, Parker, Khendrick, Cameron, and all the other staff who helped us build an awesome and friendly place!