Anyone who attends a Texas Rangers baseball game and orders a frozen margarita is enjoying a beverage made entirely in south Oklahoma City. With liquor laws that allow only beer to be sold at the games, Rick Huebert makes the margarita, classified as an alcoholic malt beverage, in his brewery.

“Technically, these qualify as beer,” Huebert says. “It hasn’t been run through a still to separate the alcohol and the water. We leave it mixed and ready to drink.”

Huebert Brewing sits in a modest building in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. Inside, there are no frills, no perky tour guides and tasting rooms, and no gift shop. Instead, with a staff of three, Huebert brews beer and makes the pre-mixed cocktails sold in Arlington, Texas, the Oklahoma City Arena, and the BOK Center in Tulsa. Head north from Oklahoma City on Route 66 to Arcadia to find exclusive drinks from Huebert offered at Pops.

In 2003, he started the microbrewery after perfecting several brews of his own. Oklahoma state law, however, prohibited him from starting a brewery and distributing his product. He sought to change that Prohibition-era legislation and set to work. As a result of his efforts, Senate Bill 353 was passed and signed into law. It allowed him and others to open up shop, brewing and distributing their beer in Oklahoma.

The first beer was Huebert’s Old Tyme Lager, a light amber. While he was busy brewing, Huebert’s son wanted something he could drink. In response, Huebert created a root beer. With plans for Pops being made, he was contacted about making a beer for the tourist attraction. Then the owners asked about a possible soda.

“I told them I had a root beer ready to go,” he says.

When Pops staff tasted his root beer, they asked to stock it exclusively. Round Barn Root Beer has been available since Pops opened in 2007. An exclusive beer, Pops Hops Premium Select, followed the next year and, at their request last fall, he began making Catoosa Cream Soda.

Providing drinks for the Rangers came about five years ago through a company Huebert partnered with in Texas. Looking for frozen drink options that could be classified as beer, the stadium’s concession vendors found that the margarita not only tasted good, it was also on good terms with the law. Huebert estimates he sends about 14,000 gallons of his beverages to Arlington each baseball season.

With inroads there, he began shipping his beers to stores in Texas. He also sells his products in Mississippi and Tennessee.

“Most of our business is in Oklahoma and Texas,” he says.

To keep up with demand, Huebert upgraded his bottling capacity last year. His previous machine could wash, fill, label and cap about 200, 24-pack cases every 12 hours. The new machine has the capacity for 2,000 cases per day.

As he looks ahead, Huebert and Chris Sanders, head brewer, have launched four new beers. He hopes to get those into liquor stores and bars around the state and the region.

Rick Huebert estimates he sends about 14,000 gallons of his beverages to Arlington, Texas, each baseball season.

Sanders says he hopes the Tucker Pale Ale, Wild Pony Ale, Deep Deuce Porter and Rosenmaher-Kolsch will help put the brewery on the map.

“We’re starting to change people’s perception about Oklahoma beers,” Sanders says.

As for Huebert, with nearly 20 beers, sodas and cocktails from which to choose, he doesn’t always reach for the same beverage.

“It just depends on what kind of mood I’m in,” he says.