Beer

Drink In the Craft Beer at Houston Press's Inaugural BrewFest

Trying to navigate the suddenly complex and overwhelming world of craft beer at a time when seasonal sours and bourbon barrel-aged Russian Imperial Stouts are all the rage? It's best to lay a foundation first -- building institutional knowledge of what exactly craft beer is, which styles you like an ... More >>

One Short of a Six-Pack: Five Great Beer Songs Written By Texans

Beer has nothing to prove to you. The sudsy stuff has been around nearly 10,000 years by some estimates, and has played a critical role in building civilizations and maintaining life itself, according to various historians and scientists. Still, like an honors student aiming for valedictorian and ... More >>

New Texas Beer Legislation: What It Could Mean For You

In case you didn't know, we here in Texas are so far behind the curve when it comes to alcohol laws, we might as well be your grandmother trying to work The America Online. Other states literally look to Texas as the textbook example of how not to do things. It's an embarrassment, really. States li ... More >>

Dallas Beer Scene: Revolver Brewing Gets Serious in Granbury

It's been a big year for craft beer in Texas. One of the biggest stories, however, is news that hasn't quite made its way down to Houston. Dallas is currently experiencing a boom in breweries as big as, if not bigger than, the expansion Houston and Austin have seen in past years. Dallas/Fort Worth a ... More >>

Dallas Beer Scene: Lakewood Brewing Brings Its A Game

It's been a big year for craft beer in Texas. One of the biggest stories, however, is news that hasn't quite made its way down to Houston. Dallas is currently experiencing a boom in breweries as big as, if not bigger than, the expansion Houston and Austin have seen in past years. Dallas/Fort Worth a ... More >>

Dallas Beer Scene: The Common Table Owner Corey Pond Gives Us an Insider's Look at What's Brewing in DFW

It's been quite the year for craft beer in Texas. One of the biggest stories, however, is news that hasn't quite made its way down to Houston. Dallas is currently experiencing a boom in breweries that's as big as, if not bigger than, the expansions Houston and Austin have seen in past years. (See "T ... More >>

The Draft Brings Philanthropy, Craft Beer and Fine Food to The East End

Houston Beer Week buzz has been kind of a slow burn this year. With no balls-to-the-wall epic beer dinners like last year's Petrol Station vs. Hay Merchant battle planned for this year, one big event -- The Draft -- is promising to be Beer Week's heavy hitter. The Draft is this year's revamped and ... More >>

Fit for a King

A Pearland biergarten serves up tasty Austrian-German food and lots of fun.

Celebrate Oktoberfest Like the Germans Do at King's Biergarten -- With Beer

When it comes to German beer on draft, there are two places to beat in Houston -- even if one of them is technically in Pearland. Closer to the heart of the city, Midtown's Bar Munich has an impressive array of taps that includes all six varieties of Hofbräu München (including their Oktoberfest b ... More >>

Flying Saucer Sugar Land Announces Beer Feast Event

I will be the first to admit, I never expected to like much Sugar Land's Town Square had to offer, much less the package as a whole. Between the distance, the generally unappealing Town Center shopping format or the fact most other concepts of this nature dotting Houston's landscape tend to be a tea ... More >>

The Battle Hymn of the Beer-public: There's No Room for Snobs in Craft Beer

When Mongoose versus Cobra first opened, one of my favorite things to do was sit outside on a busy Friday night and watch as the following scene played itself out over and over like some version of Groundhog Day with a different pack of confused Midtowners each time: Group of snappily dressed men ... More >>

Sixpoint Brewery Makes Its Mark on Texas

"It was very planned out," said Sixpoint founder Shane Welch of his brewery's recent move into the Texas market. The Brooklyn, New York-based brewery hit Texas this week with an initial offering of five different beers, a number Welch promised would grow in the near future. We had a chance to check ... More >>

Mikkeller Offers a New Salvo in the Beer Wars: 300 IBU Tastes Like Burning

The beer wars are nothing new. Long before craft beer came along, the large macro breweries engaged in back-and-forth barbs, jockeying for position in the market. Usually carried out via marketing and commercial sniping, the battles all but amounted to multimillion-dollar re-enactments of schoolyard ... More >>

Creative Pizza and Crafty Pints at That Pizza Place On Ella

I'll admit that I wouldn't have been quite as drawn to That Pizza Place On Ella -- the subject of this week's cafe review -- were it not for the marquee above, which crows that the pizza joint has the largest beer selection in Oak Forest Larger than Petrol Station? I thought. Surely not. Either way ... More >>

Where the Chefs Eat

Grant Gordon, Matt Marcus and Kevin Naderi

King's Biergarten and Restaurant's 2012 Oktoberfest Kick-Off

2nd Annual Texas Beer Fest a Success

Check out our photos from the Texas Beer Festival at Discovery Green. This past Saturday, a sun-drenched Discovery Green was converted into a playground for beer-lovers as it played host to the second annual Texas Beer Fest. As I walked into the festival grounds, I opened up the event booklet and r ... More >>

Track Your Bud Lets You Find Out Where Your Brew Was Born

There are many things about food and drink that I will readily admit confound me. How did salty, slimy fish eggs become a delicacy an ounce of which cost more than my monthly rent? What is the obsession with food so spicy, it literally hurts to eat it? If Anthony Bourdain weren't famous, would he be ... More >>

Fort Bend Brewing Brings One More Craft Brewery to Town

​First Houston, then Conroe, then Katy. Now Sugar Land is getting a craft brewery of its own -- Fort Bend Brewing -- and the momentum created by the rash of brewery openings in 2011 seems determined to continue into 2012. Fort Bend Brewing plans to open early next year, starting small with a ... More >>

Mikkeller Beer Comes to Houston: Night After Monsters

Mikkel Borg Bjergsø and Jakob Mielcke​Mikkel Borg Bjergsø moved around the crowd last night at the Night After Monsters beer tasting like a virtual unknown. Clad in a red plaid shirt and a scruffy beard, Mikkel looked more like any other Montrose resident who'd walked over to Whole Foods for ... More >>

Upcoming Events: A Week Full of Beer

Read on for our picks of the best beer dinners next week.​In case you hadn't heard, it's Houston Beer Week, y'all. The week-long celebration of craft beer and local breweries kicks off tonight with a kick-off happy hour at Ziggy's Downtown, from 5 to 7 p.m. The restaurant will be offering $2 ... More >>

Night After Monsters: Winner and Craft Beer Labels Announced

Brooklyn's Oktoberfest: the label that proved toughest to guess.​We had 29 entries for last week's Night After Monsters contest, in which we asked our readers to identify 15 craft beer labels which had been edited to remove all identifying text. And of those 29 entries, an impressive 19 got al ... More >>

Houston Beer Week 2011: Bigger, Better, Beer-ier

Read on for a full -- and we do mean FULL -- schedule of HBW events.​The second annual Houston Beer Week kicks off this year on an auspicious date: 11/11/11. That's when the big craft beer festival will celebrate its sophomore year with a kick-off happy hour at Ziggy's Downtown, from 5 to 7 p. ... More >>

Austin's Jester King Craft Brewery Sues the TABC, But Is the TABC Really the Bad Guy?

Shit just got real.​Jester King, based in Austin, is one of the state's most popular craft breweries. The TABC (or Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission), also based in Austin, is one of the state's most powerful agencies. And with news that Jester King has just filed a lawsuit against the TABC, ... More >>

Karbach Brewing's Grand Opening Brings a Big Crowd

Karbach's banana-flavored wheat beer is already a hit.​At last night's grand opening for Karbach Brewing, Rich Arnold walked over to me with a glass of Karbach's Weisse Versa wheat in hand. "Have you ever had a beer that tastes so much like..." "Banana!" we both finished at the same time. The ... More >>

Would You Like Some Cheese with That Beer?

Greg Engert, the only beer expert ever to be named Sommelier of the Year in 2010 by Food and Wine Magazine, first got his interest in fine craft beers from his father. After he studied abroad in Munich and Dublin, his taste for international brewing developed. Engert now works with chefs to pair ... More >>

Oktoberfest 2011: Where to Binge on Beer and Brats

Insert obligatory photo of buxom woman in a dirndl consuming lager from a stein here. (And remember: Lederhosen are Austrian, not Bavarian!)​If there's one thing that we Americans enjoy doing, it's co-opting other countries' holidays and turning them into giant boozefests for no good reason ot ... More >>

5 Lessons Learned From Our First Homebrew

Garrettc​We enjoy the occasional pint and, like much of America, have taken an interest in craft beer ever since we could afford (and thus appreciate) it. While I like to simply imbibe my beers, my husband enjoys discussing the various flavors and styles of beer. "What if," he asked, "we cou ... More >>

Open the Taps: Houston Lobbies for Statewide Access to Better Beer

Will you support the cause?​It's one thing to sit and complain about the wretched restrictions the State of Texas has placed on the sale and distribution of craft beer. It's quite another to actually do something about it. And because Houston is a city of do-ers, five Houston craft beer lovers ... More >>

AB InBev Trademarking Our Area Code for Crappy Beer

Filling a stein with Budweiser is tantamount to filling a Riedel glass with Boone's Farm, just FYI.​Anheuser-Busch is counting on civic pride to make its next product a smash seller: beer named after America's various beer-drinking cities, based on their area codes. To that end, AB has alread ... More >>

Brew Blog: Texas Beer Fest

​Despite having some really terrible beer laws, Texas has some really great beer. While efforts are currently underway to change the law, we don't have to wait to get our hands on some wonderful brews. Not only are there many bars around town serving up Lone Star libations, we now have the Tex ... More >>

Pierre Celis, Brewer of Hoegaarden and Celis Beer, Dead at 86

Flickr user wolfworld​Pierre Celis, the "King of Belgian White Beer", died over the weekend. He was 86. In spite of several unfavorable transactions with major brewing companies, Celis is widely considered one of the forbearers of the craft-brewing movement in America. His self-named brewery ... More >>

Comment of the Day

​Today Nicholas Hall tried St. Arnold's Divine Reserve #11 and loved it, like just about everyone else in Houston. Except, perhaps, commenter Bubbledome: Much ado about nothing - the later third of this review sounds more like an acid trip than a beer tasting. Sheesh... There are probably a ... More >>

Proposed Beer Legislation Seeks To Loosen the Reins on Texas Brewers

logocheif.comFreetail for retail sale? Supporters of HB 660 hope so.​Hey, I love Texas as much as the next girl, but when it comes to laws the Lone Star State has a reputation for being a bit outdated. And when it comes to alcohol laws, we're downright hard-core. The regulations are particula ... More >>

More on The Hay Merchant

Kevin Floyd​Oh happy day. On Wednesday we heard the news that our favorite beer nerd, Kevin Floyd, was expecting. No, he's not having a baby. He's opening The Hay Merchant, a new beer bar with Anvil Bar & Refuge co-owner Bobby Heugel, and yesterday we had the opportunity to talk with him it. ... More >>

We're Buzzed About Houston Beer Week

foshydog​From October 11 to 17, local taprooms, eateries, breweries and beer aficionados will join forces to pay homage to all the creative combinations of hops, malt, yeast and water - better known as beer. The first ever Houston Beer Week will be eight days of beer magic taking place in Hous ... More >>

Learning Is Fun and Intoxicating: "Beer 101" at Anvil Bar & Refuge

The place settings were almost too pretty to disturb. ​Kevin Floyd is a huge beer nerd. In fact, you could say the co-owner of Anvil Bar & Refuge is the Lord of the Beer Nerds. Okay, that may be stretching it just a tad, but Floyd is the biggest beer nerd we've encountered, which made the "Bee ... More >>

Five Easy Steps To Beer Pairing Nirvana

SamuelAdams.comAnd you thought only wine could be paired with food.​No, we're not talking about the way the subtle notes of ice-cold rocky mountain air in that Coors Light accentuate the cool ranch flavor in Doritos, not here at least. The knowledge that different varieties of beer compliment ... More >>

The Brew Ha-Ha on the Brewmasters International Beer Festival

​Hopheads, grab your steins! It's a brewtiful day to love beer in the Lone Star State. On Labor Day weekend (September 3-6), through a partnership with Spec's and Food & Vine Time Productions, Galveston's Moody Gardens will host the largest-scale beer event in Texas. The Brewmasters Internatio ... More >>

Brew Blog: "Moveable Yeast" Series

We here at Brew Blog try to be educational. The ultimate goal, of course, is to welcome casual beer drinkers into the more complex but infinitely more satisfying world of craft beer. So we were flat out exuberant when we heard about a new project from hometown St. Arnold Brewing Co. that founder ... More >>

Five Tips for Getting Started Homebrewing

​Doak Procter, the Grand Wazoo from local homebrewing club The Foam Rangers, helped me to come up with five tips to help people who are interested in home-brewing get started. Here's some advice for how to take up a rewarding and delicious hobby. 1) Learn firsthand: As Doak puts it bluntly, ... More >>

Brew Blog: Le Freak from Green Flash Brewing Co.

​It was the artful label that drew us to Le Freak, an "extreme ale" from California's Green Flash Brewing Co. But it was even harder to pass up when we read the description: "converging San Diego-style imperial pale ale and Belgian-style trippel." This certainly went a step beyond a black and ... More >>

Houston Needs a Brewpub

robtrentIf Salmon Arm, BC has one, why can't we? ​I've never believed in the "if-another-city-in-Texas-is-doing-it-why-doesn't-Houston" train of thought. Even though Houston has lacked a distinct identity at times, we aren't followers here. Like everyone else, I cringed when I read a recent na ... More >>

Brew Blog: Pinkus Organic

​We've always chuckled on seeing the offerings from Pinkus Organic on the shelf. We tend to think all German breweries have venerable, awesome names. And then we see Pinkus. And the world returns to balance. This time we chose Jubilate, a dark lager. After having pedants beat us about the he ... More >>

Brew Blog Interview: Rob Cartwright of Independence Brewing Co.

​Rob Cartwright and his wife Amy started Independence Brewing Co. in an Austin warehouse six years ago. Today the company has nine employees, not counting two dogs. ("They don't have thumbs," he explains, "so they're not on the payroll.") Having been selling well at H-E-B stores in Austin and ... More >>

Brew Blog: Independence Brewing Co.'s Freestyle Wheat and Bootlegger Brown

​Austin-based Independence Brewing Co. began expanding into the Houston market this week, distributing its Austin Amber and Independence Pale Ale to eight H-E-Bs in north Houston and stocking all six of its styles at the Smith Street Spec's, co-founder and brewmaster Rob Cartwright said in an ... More >>

Warm Weather Drinking: 5 Beer Styles to Cool You Off

Kevin H. via Flickr​1. Vienna Lager: A crisp, lighter style with no oppressive flavors. There are just enough hops to keep your palate awake, rounded out with a slightly malty sweetness. As the beer lost favor in its country of origin, Austrian brewers enjoying the warmer climate down Mexi ... More >>

Mexican Microbrews Hit Houston

Photos by Katharine Shilcutt​The first thing that struck me about the cans of Sierra Madre that were delivered to my office was that they looked almost cartoonish, like one of the Simpsons illustrators had created a satirical beer based on an amalgam of a Coors Light can and a Corona bottle. I ... More >>

Tasting Beer: Samuel Smith's Lager

​American microbrewed beer may be the passion of many a beer knurd here in Houston, but we recently geeked out sampling English microbrewery Samuel Smith. We'd been fans but had failed to experience its version of a lager until now. Medium hoppiness and light body make this a refreshing brew ... More >>