Brock Wagner

The Eating...Our Words 100: Tracy Vaught, Owner of Backstreet Cafe and Hugo's

What she does: Tracy Vaught is the owner of Hugo's and Backstreet Cafe and a partner at Prego and Trevisio. ""I do all the planning, train managers, set all the standards for the restaurants, design menus," says Vaught. "Investments and charitable giving. I am the one who has political involvement ... More >>

Here, Eat This

A beginner's guide to Indian cuisine.

Openings & Closings: Saint Arnold for Lunch, Goro & Gun for Dinner

A happy Friday morning comes with some happy news from around the city. First is the announcement that Goro & Gun -- the hotly awaited downtown ramen shop on Main Street -- will officially be open for business today at 4 p.m. Goro & Gun is only serving dinner for now, but lunch looks to be in its fu ... More >>

Sitting Pretty

Houston's 10 Best Patios

Chef Ryan Savoie to Head Up New Lunch Program Launching at Saint Arnold Brewery

Houston's oldest microbrewery once hosted a tour only once a week, back in the days when the Saint Arnold Brewery was still located in a warehouse that lacked both air conditioning and space for its growing crowd of fans. Four years ago, the brewery moved into a big new facility at 2000 Lyons that o ... More >>

The Eating...Our Words 100: Ellen Schwartz, Culinary Instructor & Private Chef

Who she is: Ellen Schwartz, better known as Chef Ellen, has been in the kitchen for as long as she can remember. A native Houstonian, she and her family have a long history in the food industry. Her father and grandfather -- a butcher -- owned the Riverside Market grocery stores since the 40's. She ... More >>

The Eating...Our Words 100: Brock Wagner, Godfather of Craft Beer in Houston and Founder of Saint Arnold Brewery, the Oldest Microbrewery in Texas

Eating...Our Words has embarked on a project to profile 100 Houston culinarians of all fields, practices, careers and backgrounds. This isn't a Best of Houston list, it's not a 100 Favorites list and it's not in any particular order. Instead, the Eating...Our Words 100 is a way to introduce our read ... More >>

Saint Arnold Releases Divine Reserve No. 12 Today

Home brewer David Rogers is the man responsible for Saint Arnold's latest Divine Reserve batch -- that's because Rogers's entry into the 16th Annual Big Batch Brew Bash won him the chance to have his recipe featured as the most recent Divine Reserve to be released by Houston's oldest craft brewery, ... More >>

Old Habits Die Hard: 6 Texas Beers to Try

Texans are a stubborn bunch. Proud and headstrong, we hold our beliefs as closely as just about anyone. Sometimes we do it out of tradition, and other times simply out of habit. What other excuse do we have for still executing the mentally handicapped and eating at Saltgrass Steak House? Old habits ... More >>

Upcoming Events: Take Your Pick of Avocado, Snails and Beer

Fed up with Cinco de Mayo? Just want to do something different from the rest of the crowd this weekend? Then head out to the 6th annual Polish Festival this weekend. The two-day festival will take place at Our Lady of Czestochowa Church (1731 Blalock Drive) from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. tomorrow and 11 a ... More >>

Baylor Bears Win Saint Arnold's 5th Annual One Pot Showdown

For a university that -- ostensibly, at least -- doesn't encourage drinking, Baylor turned out a hell of a One Pot Showdown team at yesterday's 5th annual competition held at the Saint Arnold brewery. The Bears Gone Drinking team, made up of Baylor alumni in a green-and-gold tent, won the competitio ... More >>

Owling at the Saint Arnold Brewery

You haven't lived until you've owled atop a beer tank.​Yes, owling is the new planking. Or, if you're to believe the movement's Facebook page, it's the "evolution of planking." (Side note: Are Internet trends moving at light speed these days, or am I already a geriatric at 30?) Personally, I' ... More >>

Upcoming Events

Collaborative dinners take center stage. (Note: There are women involved, too.)​Justin Basye, Peter Jahnke and their bunch of wild young hearts chefs were the talk of the week, as their new pop-up dinner series was announced this past Monday. Les Sauvages (translation: the savages, or the wild ... 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 >>

The Weekend in Slideshows

Photo by Katharine Shilcutt​It was a busy weekend for food events, from the 17th anniversary party at Saint Arnold to the cattle call for Pilot Light tickets at Revival Market, but we managed to capture most of it. The line for those Pilot Light tickets started forming at 2 p.m. on Saturday a ... More >>

Legislative Victory for Texas Beer

kMatherlyCheers indeed. Local breweries celebrate a win in the House of Representatives.Just as we were bemoaning the huge, wet bite the IRS took out of our savings account, along comes an example of tax dollars being put to good use. On April 21 the office of State Representative Jessica Farrar (D, ... 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 >>

Saint Arnold's 4th Annual One Pot Showdown

Photos by GroovehouseThe One Pot Wenches and their stewed collard greens.​Sometimes taking a risk pays off. At least it did yesterday, when the One Pot Wenches won second place at Saint Arnold's 4th Annual One Pot Showdown with a very unusual ingredient: collard greens. "We had people giving ... More >>

Altared Amber: Saint Arnold's Second "Moveable Yeast" Brew Hits Taps Today

Altared Amber on the left, regular Amber Ale on the right.​It tastes like someone decorated Amber Ale for Christmas, the strong scent of cloves mixing with that signature caramel sweetness: This is Altared Amber, the second in local brewery Saint Arnold's "Moveable Yeast" series, in which the ... More >>

The Back 9: A Vertical Tasting of All Previous Saint Arnold Divine Reserve Beers

Brock Wagner carefully uncaps the first bottle of DR 1, being careful not to disturb the sediment on the bottom.​Robb Walsh last did a vertical tasting of all the Saint Arnold Divine Reserve (DR) brews back in 2008, and three more DRs have been released in the ensuing years: DR 7, a Weizenbock ... 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 >>

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 >>

A Sweet Showdown

Photos by Marco TorresClick here for a slideshow​The third annual Saint Arnold One Pot Showdown took place at the brewery's brand-new location on Sunday afternoon, a day which closely resembled last year's Showdown in cold weather and cheerful competitiveness but not in food. While many of las ... More >>

Still Suspended: St. Arnold's Saturday Brewery Tours

​It came as a bit of a shock after a successful grand opening party last Wednesday night to find out that Saint Arnold's much-anticipated Saturday afternoon brewery tour -- a regular weekly event and the first at their new facility -- had been cancelled late last week. As with most snafus whe ... More >>

Saint Arnold's Celebrates Their 15th Anniversary With the First Annual Beer Olympics

Photos by Jeff BalkeSunday's bracing heat and thick humidity didn't stop the hundreds of beer lovers who turned out to help local microbrewery Saint Arnold celebrate its 15th anniversary while feasting on barbecue and watching the spectacle that was the first annual Beer Olympics. Emcee Lennie Ambr ... More >>

American Homebrewers Association Rally

Web exclusive!

Recession Thanksgiving Tip: Drink Beer Instead of Wine

Airline travel is down, grocery stores are giving away free turkeys to get customers in the door, and everybody is looking for ways to economize this Thanksgiving. But before you decide to save money by buying a jug of Riunite instead of an expensive wine, consider serving your guests American cra ... More >>

Tailgating: Breakfast Beer

Texas Wants Beer: Change This Law!

Texas Wants Beer!

Our state is the top beer market in the country, so why are we falling behind in the microbrewery movement?

Beer Time in Austin

Houston's microbrewer starts lobbying

Drink and Walk

Free Booze

Never pay for a drink in this town again

Holy Water

Saint Arnold's finds a little divine guidance in the form of Father Andrei Davydov

Expect the Wurst

Schadenfreude

Divine Drinking