Decisions, decisions, decisions.
How to pick just one or two beers to drink during happy hour when there are so many to choose from?
Fortunately for those fickle souls among us, a number of bars and restaurants in town offer beer flights, so you can get more bang for your buck and more beer for your belly. If you can't decide which beer to taste on a night out, taste as many as possible with these various flights put together by beer aficionados so you don't have to do any thinking.
Of course, a few places offer build-your-own flights, which opens a door to endless possibilities (and hours of waffling back and forth). The indecisive should maybe stay away from those.
Drink up! Here's to Houston's hottest (and hoppiest) flights!
Crisp Unlike many bars that have flights of pre-designated beer, Crisp allows drinkers to mix and match any of the 24 craft beers on tap (with the exception of the Cask beers) for $8. Each paddle comes with four 5-ounce glasses filled with whatever your heart desires. On Fridays from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., Crisp celebrates "Friday Night Flights" by offering the same choice of four beers for just $6 a paddle. If you're one of those people who is loath to make important decisions like what to drink on Friday night, the menu contains suggested flights pairings like the "High Altitude Flight" with Victory Golden Monkey (9.5% ABV), Karbach Rodeo Clown DIPA (9.5% ABV), Gulden Draak Strong Belgian Trippel(10.5% ABV) and North Coast Old Rasputin Imperial Stout on nitro (9.0% ABV).
Cafe Brussels Now that we're not mad at Belgium any more over the World Cup (we aren't, are we?), it's time to get back to what we've all been neglecting in our anger: Belgian beer. Cafe Brussels has the best selection of Belgian beer in town, and to give customers a real feel for it, they offer flights. You can mix and match or go with a server's recommendation based upon your preferences, but you can't really go wrong with the beer available at Cafe Brussels. Even better: The cafe offers a meal deal that includes 18 mussels with assorted Belgian sauces with a flight of four beers for $28. It's worth every penny.
D&T Drive Inn One of Houston's few remaining ice houses, D&T is a great place to while away warm summer nights sipping on a frozen shandy or sangria or working your way through the excellent craft beer selection. To try more beer for less money (and less drunkenness), order a flight of four smaller pours. There are three flights on the menu: The Death Star, the Standby and the Helihopter. The Death Star is a flight of four dark beers that change depending upon what's on top. The Helihopter contains all hoppy beers, and the Standby features staff choices, again based upon what's on tap. They're $7 to $9 each (price depends on which beers are included).
Flying Saucer Of course the bar with the largest selection of beer in Houston offers an impressive flight--or four. Flying Saucer (both area locations) allows drinkers to choose from three pre-determined flights of either Texan, Belgian or international beers. You can also build your own flight from anything on the impressive Flying Saucer draught menu. The build your own and Belgian flights are $15 each, and the Texas and "Around the World" are $10 each. If those sound a little pricier than the other flights highlighted here, that's because each has five samples instead of four. You know how Flying Saucer is: Go big or go home.
MKT Bar Whenever there's a special event at MKT Bar (like the Houston Press's Hoppy Hour), the cute cafe inside Phoenicia offers specialty beer fights. There are also regular flights on the menu, though, so you can mix and get your fix any time. Choose from the "Day Trip", the "Domestic" or the "Customs Check." The Day Trip is composed of Houston and Texas beer: Watsach Apricot Hefe, Buffalo Bayou 1836 Copper Ale, Karbach Weekend Warrior Pale Ale and 8th Wonder Alternate Universe. Domestic is all brews produced in the United States, and Customs Check, as you might imagine, contains international offerings like Steigl Goldbräu and Warsteiner Dunkel. They are $8, $8 and $9, respectively, and each glass holds four ounces of beer.
