Smittox Brewing opens in Oak Cliff after 28-year homebrew journey

Smittox Brewing did not arrive in Oak Cliff as just another taproom opening. It opened after a 28-year climb from homebrew success to a full brewery at 930 E. Clarendon Drive, near the Dallas Zoo, and its June 13 soft opening made it the Dallas area's first fully Black-owned brewery.

That long runway is built into Kuumba Smith’s story. Known as Smitty, he started brewing beer in 1998, and his Short Order Porter won the Riverside Shootout Homebrew Competition at Martin House Brewing in Fort Worth that same year. By the time the doors opened in east Oak Cliff, the brewing community had already watched Smith work for years, from recipe development to the grind of finding a place to build.

Smith began planning the business in late 2018, then signed a lease on the Clarendon space in January 2023. The brewpub license did not get approved until April 2023, which stretched the buildout and permitted timeline well past the first burst of momentum. That patience now shows up in the finished brewery, which was designed to launch with a solid foundation rather than a kitchen-sink beer list.

Inside, Smittox runs a 7-barrel brewing system built around equipment acquired from White Rock Brewing’s original Alehouse location. The tap wall has 12 handles, and the opening lineup sticks to the basics Smith wanted to get right first: Kölsch, American pale ale, stout, hazy IPA, and Outta Order Porter. A more elaborate Short Order Porter, built with coffee, maple, and cacao, is planned for later.

The location gives the opening extra weight in Oak Cliff’s beer scene. Before Smittox poured its first pint, it was expected to become the third operational brewery in Oak Cliff, joining Oak Cliff Brewing Co. and Jaquval. That alone changes the map for local beer drinkers, but Smittox also carries a different kind of significance in a neighborhood and a city that have not seen many Black-owned breweries take root.

The brewery had already been described in 2023 as one of the first Black-owned breweries in North Texas, and its mission has been tied to diversity and inclusion from the start. Limited on-site parking means some of the practical details remain tight, but East Dock across the street offers overflow space. After nearly three decades, the bigger story is the one Smith spent years building toward: a brewery that adds another credible stop to Oak Cliff, while marking a first for Dallas that took far too long to arrive.