Although it's facing stiff competition from Southern Star lately, Saint Arnold is still our favorite hometown brewery. And this weekend's Foam Raiser at the Orange Show (Saturday, October 24, from 7 to 10 p.m.) is one of many reasons why.
The ticket sales for the 2nd annual Foam Raiser go to support the Orange Show, which puts on the yearly Art Car Parade in addition to funding many other Houston folk art projects. Tickets are $25 at the door ($20 in advance), and festivities will include music from the Wild Moccasins and Grandfather Child, as well as a very special cask of Honey Orange Christmas Ale. The only cask of this ale ever made, it contains honey made from bees that once lived in the walls of the Orange Show, along with delicious orange peel.
In other beer news, Block 7 Wine Company has a special guest (or an interloper; your call) for their weekly wine tasting: fall beers! Beer expert Charles Kirkwood will be on hand this Saturday from 2 to 5 p.m., pouring and discussing the newest falls beers and some special Oktoberfest brews. And as always, the tasting is free.
Beer seems to be everywhere this weekend -- is it Oktoberfest's influence or is beer finally experiencing the Renaissance it so richly deserves? Find out for yourself at Foam on the Range this Sunday, October 23 at CityCentre Houston starting at 5 p.m. Houston's first craft beer festival will feature over 25 handcrafted beers from breweries such as Shiner, Blue Moon, Guiness and more. View the entire list and purchase your tickets ($15 each) at the Foam on the Range website.
Also on Sunday afternoon, the long-awaited Taco Truck Crawl #2 will traverse Houston in search of the best tacos in the city. The fun starts at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, October 25, in the parking lot of Northwest Mall. If you haven't RSVP'd for the event, do so now. Otherwise, you might find yourself surreptitiously following the caravan from truck to truck throughout the day (not that that's necessarily a bad thing).
If the Taco Truck Crawl doesn't empty your wallet (which it really shouldn't), then check out the Home Safe Home gourmet gala featuring pretty much every single amazing chef in the city, on Thursday, October 29. Tickets are $250 a piece, but the money goes to support Aid to Victims of Domestic Abuse (AVDA), a program that assists abused women who can't afford legal assistance, and includes an amazing dinner cooked by chefs such as Chris Shepherd, Monica Pope, Mark Cox, Kiran Verma, Robert Del Grande, David Denis, Hugo Ortega, John Sheely and many, many more. Seriously, if you can afford it, you shouldn't miss this dinner. Reservations can be made by calling Cathy Prieto-Smith at 713-224-9911.