A Hill Country taproom known for letting goats mingle with its patrons is putting down roots in San Antonio, and it's bringing the goats along for the move. Screaming Goat Yard & Tap is preparing to open a second location near Loop 1604, with a general manager saying the team hopes to have it running within the next month.
The San Antonio outpost sits at 7422 N. Loop 1604 W., placing it in the thick of a fast-growing retail and student corridor near the University of Texas at San Antonio and the H-E-B College Park shopping center, according to CultureMap San Antonio. Jamie Maldonado, a general manager at Screaming Goat, told mySA that the business has started setting up point-of-sale systems and has begun hiring for the new site. State regulatory paperwork filed with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation in November 2024 described a $500,000, two-story build spanning nearly 13,000 square feet, according to a report from the San Antonio Current.
A Bigger Kitchen With a Familiar Menu
The San Antonio location will have a larger kitchen and capacity than the original taproom, per mySA's reporting, and the team plans to bring the same robust menu of Southern- and Cajun-inspired eats that built the brand in Spring Branch. That includes a muffaletta among the dishes, and Maldonado has said the menu could expand over time, with oysters floated as a possible future addition. Beers on tap and Southern-inspired brunch fare are expected to anchor the new spot alongside the food.
The Spring Branch flagship, which opened in 2021 at 4 Sun Valley Drive, built its identity on Louisiana-leaning dishes like crawfish étouffée, fried green tomatoes, and Nashville hot chicken served with beignets, the Current reported. An XL Bavarian pretzel with Shiner Bock beer cheese and Creole mustard rounds out a menu co-owner JD Scott introduced with an eye toward elevated Southern comfort food, a concept KSAT-TV featured on its Texas Eats program back in 2022.
The Goats Are Coming Too
Screaming Goat is known for its resident goat herd, and the San Antonio location will be no exception. The team plans to bring about six or seven goats from the Hill Country property to the new site, where they'll join beer and brunch as part of the draw. In Spring Branch, named goats including Oreo and Loa roam the outdoor yard and mingle with customers, and the flagship even offers goat yoga sessions that let visitors get up close with the herd.
Fitting that many goats into a dense suburban corridor inside San Antonio city limits, however, isn't simply a matter of trucking them in. San Antonio Municipal Code Chapter 5 caps livestock on a property at two animals unless the owner secures an excess livestock permit from Animal Care Services, and that permit requires animal enclosures to sit at least 100 feet from any neighboring dwelling or business, according to city regulations. How Screaming Goat plans to navigate that requirement for a herd several times the standard limit remains an open question as opening day approaches.
Familiar Ground on Loop 1604
The 2.6-acre property near UTSA and Hills & Dales Ice House has its own history in San Antonio's hospitality scene. The land was previously acquired by the operator behind Smoke BBQ + Skybar before being sold ahead of that company's bankruptcy liquidation, according to the San Antonio Express-News. The site now sits at the center of a corridor already packed with dining and entertainment options catering to students and Northwest San Antonio residents alike.
Job listings posted for the new location advertised hourly wages between $10 and $12 for support staff, with front-of-house roles requiring TABC and Texas Food Handler certifications, per postings reviewed on Workstream. The original Spring Branch location built its brand as a family-friendly gathering spot, complete with fire pits, yard games, an open area for dogs, and live local music five nights a week. If the San Antonio build-out follows that same playbook at a larger scale, Northwest San Antonio could soon have its own version of the Hill Country hangout, goats included.
