It’s in this locally focused, charitable spirit that Back Pew Brewing Company in Porter has begun a partnership with Addi’s Faith, a Kingwood-based charity. Part of the proceeds of the Addi’s Faith Kolsch will go to the organization, whose mission is to both support researchers working towards a cure for childhood brain cancer and provide services to families impacted by the disease. Addi’s Faith approached Bobby Harl, president and brewer at Back Pew, and asked him to design a beer that would be approachable for just about anyone and easy to drink during the heat of the late Houston summer. Addi’s Faith Founder and President Amber Bender told me, ‘We went to Back Pew first because they are local, make a great beer, and we enjoy going there on the weekends to hang out.”

Bobby leveraged his expertise in German styles and designed a Kolsch brewed with a slight twist – using Northern Brewer (a hop with a distinct minty-like bitterness) along with noble hops. Bobby’s skill shows in this example of the classic style from Cologne. The beer pours straw gold with a bright white head, with a delicate malty sweet aroma. The taste of the beer is also slightly sweet and bready, with a crisp bitterness and an ever-so-slight fruitiness. The hint of Northern Brewer evergreen/mint helps reinforce the clean, dry finish. Bobby said he would like to coax a little more of the pear-like flavors from the yeast in future versions, but the balance of this beer is pretty perfect in this single batch offering.

Back Pew sees this beer as a first step in what should be an annual effort to help support Addi’s Faith during September, which is also Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. The style of the beer may change year-on-year, but the mission remains the same – raise awareness of the disease Addi’s Faith is focused on, and bring the focus of the community on their organization in an engaging way.

Although not much of this tasty Kolsch will be left on shelves and taps around town through the waning days of September, if you’ve missed getting your taste of the brew I highly recommend taking a close look at the history and accomplishments of Addi’s Faith. Specifically, watch the video story below of how Amber and her husband responded to the loss of their daughter Addison Faith to the disease just shy of her second birthday in 2008. From that foundation of tragedy and loss, they’ve built a legacy through Addi’s Faith, raising over $1 million for research on pediatric brain cancer treatment, as well as outreach and support for families that have heard those terrifying four words themselves: ‘Your child has cancer…’

Amber and the leaders of Addi’s Faith have done incredible things in the past 11 years. Now it’s our turn – the craft beer community of Houston – to do our part. This Back Pew Kolsch represents a tasty beginning to what promises to be another chapter in the long happy story of charitable support from the Houston beer community. Learn more about Addi’s Faith and how to support their mission here.

The post Good Beer, Great Cause – Back Pew Brews up Kolsch to Benefit Addi’s Faith first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

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After a 2017 filled with controversy for the Treadsack group, D&T remained as one of the three entities in the company’s portfolio, alongside Down House & Johnny’s Gold Brick. The closure of their Thai restaurant Foreign Correspondents (with attached Canard cocktail bar) on North Main was shortly followed by the shuttering of the Bernadines / Hunky Dory restaurant compound on Shepherd. In the wake of a spate of lawsuits and unflattering press reports about the turmoil swirling around the Treadsack group, many D&T fans were more than a little concerned for the future of the place. Fast forward a few months and D&T seemed to be staying the course, albeit with a great deal of staff turnover, including the departure of general manager Amber Miller and her husband Jason Moore – who together had been standard bearers for the craft pedigree of the little icehouse since it opened in 2013. Regardless of the change it seemed as though D&T seemed to be holding on through the tempest, keeping its status as a bulwark of Houston craft beer and a neighborhood focused watering hole, but apparently a sale was in the works.

New ownership will keep D&T open, but changes are evident. Gone are the ‘pay it forward’ chalkboard, the daily selection of happy hour specials served in pints or Mason jars, the jukebox, the kitchen and even the original sign (replaced, sadly, by a new black and white logo). I noticed that the specialty bottle beer selection and beer engines were gone, although the staff told me they still had the cask service equipment and would use it as they needed it, and there’s a new list of cans and bottles. Set-ups are no longer listed on the menu, but the staff confirmed they are not pursuing a liquor license, so those might still be available. The frozen shandies also remain as a popular holdover from the old menu.

The new sign at D&T Drive Inn | Photo: D&T Drive Inn via Twitter

Arrived are a nearly complete staff turnover, a tap wall aiming at being 100% Texas beers, and a set of specials that feels aimed at being a neighborhood stopover type place, with industry night, big-ass beers and such. Weekday happy hour is every day, 2-7pm, and includes 22 oz pours of lower ABV/low IBU brews at pint prices. I had ‘big ass’ pours of Saint Arnold Orange Show and Southern Star Spring Pilsner in the ~6-7 dollar range.

HopDrop is using D&T as a source for delivery for the area, so there is a crowler machine behind the bar to meet those needs, but it didn’t seem like crowlers were an option for takeaway from the bar – just branded full size glass growlers.

The old D&T food menu is gone and the notoriously small kitchen is literally shuttered. For the time being they are hosting a Venezuelan arepas vendor on Thursdays and food trucks on other nights. They told me they aim to build out a full kitchen into a shipping container inside the back patio area, and aim to serve a more full-featured menu than the tiny space in place would allow. Additional plans include adding coffee service, and opening in the mornings as a coffee shop with breakfast from the to-be-built kitchen. They also plan a regular Sunday brunch.

Big changes in progress for one of the best craft beer bars in the city. Here’s hoping the careful tap wall curation that had come to define D&T can carry on in some fashion.

The post D&T Drive Inn Is Moving in a New Direction first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

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Saint Arnold Divine Reserve 18 pours an inky black and weighs in at a beefy 13.4% ABV | Photo: Josh Frink for Houston Beer Guide

DR18 pours an inky black, with a very narrow ring of foam from the initial pour. This is black hole dark – I think it might actually be absorbing light. The aroma is a little figgy with dried fruit (prune and raisin), but it’s decidedly sweet with smells of toasted sugar and dark chocolate. Alcohol is definitely notable. As it warms in the glass the vanilla starts to bloom out.

The flavor hits hard with the dark roasted malts, tons and tons of plum and more raisin, a slight alcohol burn and something akin to the astringency of the peel of a stone fruit and the striking bitterness of a nibble of baking chocolate. Some Belgian-like yeast esters are behind all this I think, not so much earthy and peppery as stone fruit and green apple – but just a hint of that latter. I get the vanilla quite a bit more as I breathe out through my nose between sips – but in the beer itself it’s a flavor component and not a dominating element. The alcohol comes and it goes rather than just heating up the entire experience, which is pretty amazing considering the ABV. As it warms it gets decidedly better. The chocolate/roasted malt flavors really pick up, and the beer really rounds out at just above room temp, as it gets warmer the alcohol just takes over. Those magical moments at just the right temperature are really something special – all of the fruitness, a deep, rich dark malt experience and just a hint of vanilla – but they don’t last long!

My overall impression of this beer is mixed. Admittedly, whenever I drink a massive American imperial stout I can’t help but think of Deschutes Abyss and Avery Czar, which are my personal hallmarks. With that in mind, I want a little more dark roastiness than this beer gives me through the entire experience. The vanilla does a heck of a job of helping this beer wring as much of the ‘house’ character out of the Saint Arnold yeast as must be possible.

I am left wondering if all this fruitiness and heat are going to meld together into a greater whole as this beer ages and the vanilla falls away. Maybe in 6-12 months this beer will bring these big flavors together and deliver that transcendental experience I’m looking for. Given how previous Divine Reserve releases have improved over time I’d bet on it!

The Divine Reserve 18 bottles come with these special caps celebrating Saint Arnold winning Mid-Sized Brewing Company of the Year at last years Great American Beer Festival. | Photo: Josh Frink for Houston Beer Guide

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Since that time, Drink of Ages in Montrose has started delivering fresh draft beer to the immediate area around the pub for a $5 fee, but what’s really gotten my attention is the new service offering from a group calling themselves HopDrop. You may have seen the ads pop up in your Facebook feed over the past few weeks crowing over yet another partnership with a local Houston craft brewery and advertising their December 1^st launch. The faults of the current delivery services in Houston are what HopDrop aims to fix, namely that they are too expensive, too slow, don’t deliver what people want, or don’t deliver to enough places.

Fundamentally the premise of HopDrop is tantalizing: get freshies from local breweries delivered to your door nearly immediately for about the same price as you would pay if you went out to get it yourself, save for a $5.99 delivery fee ($3.99 if scheduled at least 24 hours in advance). From what I could tell, their inventory focuses on the types of tap-room-only offerings and far-flung breweries that would otherwise require a special trip. As an example, on launch day they had crowlers of Houston Haze and Hops Drop from Spindletap, Wheez the Juice and Wheez the Shake from B-52 and at least one of Baa Baa Brewhouse’s current taproom NEIPA variants. On top of this were the draft offerings of new breweries like Texas Leaguer and Great Heights. They also had a good selection of other Houston beers including special releases from Brash, Eureka Heights, City Acre and No Label.

HopDrop currently has one delivery van, but they plan to add vans as they expand. | Photo: HopDrop

Does it Work?

Since I live in their pilot launch area of Greater Heights/Rice Military/Oak Forest/Montrose I couldn’t wait to give it a try. My first order on December 1^st included 100 ‘points’ that were redeemable for a $5 discount on my order, essentially refunding the delivery fee. The website is very easy to use: signup took less than five minutes and the inventory can be sorted by style or searched. Big, easy to read tiles with pictures of labels and beer descriptions including recipe basics, ABV, and IBU make shopping a breeze. Ten minutes after clicking submit on gohopdrop.com, the delivery van was outside my door putting my five cold HopDrop labeled aluminum crowlers into plastic snap carriers.

I got a good look into the van, and it’s filled with small chest freezers and coolers to keep the beer cold while it’s being delivered. The crowlers have their contents Sharpied onto the exterior of the can. I talked a little bit with the two men doing the work that day, and got a sense of how the service works. They have what they call a mobile crowlering machine that they take to brewpubs and to at least one growler shop (Growlers USA in Katy) for filling. They purchase beer (they told me mainly kegs) at retail and then use their machine to seal the beer onsite. They said they have offsite cold storage and as I saw keep the beer cold in the vans when it’s out for delivery. Ultimately they want to link their ordering system into brewing schedules so that they are packaging beer at the moment it’s ready and then delivering it all as quickly as possible – an end to end focus on freshness. They told us that no beer stays in the can longer than two weeks.

HopDrop’s mobile crowler machine. | Photo: HopDrop

Is This Legal?

The other question floating around in the local beer forums and certainly in my own mind is a big one: is this legal? We reached out to HopDrop with this exact question, and we got a chance to talk to co-founder Steven Macalello. Without delving into very much detail, he summarized the legalities of their operations as follows:

“What we do is facilitate the transaction between a retailer and the consumer. Think of us like Paypal or a credit card processor for the retailer. We don’t carry inventory until it’s in transit to the consumer. This is a very important distinction.”

Regarding the legalities of the model, Steven said HopDrop had consulted with experts in TABC code, and that, “…with their guidance we were able to develop our business model 100% legally.”

Steven and the guys in the van that came to my house reinforced two things repeatedly: HopDrop is focused on getting the freshest beer they can to consumers as quickly as possible, and do that for a fair market price.

I also reached out to breweries around town to get their take on HopDrop. Some confirmed they were working with them directly, while others didn’t realize that their beer was being offered through the service. This seemed to confirm that HopDrop is using a combination of onsite crowlering at brewpub tap rooms while also sourcing beer from bottle shops/retailers. HopDrop wouldn’t confirm to me exactly who is ‘partnering’ with them or where specifically they are getting each of their beers on offer.

I for one hope that HopDrop is right, and they are on the right side of the law. As one that watched the TABC’s antics unfold in their 2015-16 attack on the legality of crowlers, I can’t help but be nervous that HopDrop is headed for the same type of conflict.

Anxiety over the future notwithstanding, as I wrap up this post I’m enjoying a radically fresh Wheez the Juice at my living room table and marveling in the promise that HopDrop offers anyone in Houston who loves fresh, local beer. If you live in their ‘pilot’ delivery area, get on it!

To see the full list of beers and breweries offered, visit gohopdrop.com/

The post HopDrop Is Trying to Disrupt the Houston Beer Scene – but Is It Legal? first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

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Needless to say, I was excited when 8th Wonder announced a hefeweizen named Weisstheimer as the newest addition to their seasonal lineup. The name of the beer is a portmanteau of ‘Weissbier’ (German for ‘wheat beer’) and ‘Westheimer’, which I think means ‘ANOTHER red light?’, although I’m not really sure. Regardless, the speed with which I finished my Weisstheimer belies its roadway reference, and as a fan of the blue tile project, I especially like the label art.

Weisstheimer Label Art

So how does Weisstheimer stack up against my Munich memories? For my taste buds, an enjoyable hefeweizen is all about balance – banana esters and clove phenols, a slight lemony tang from the wheat malt and the yeast, bread-like flavors and aromas and a refreshing finish. All those flavors need to sing together like a choir. If one jumps out the entire experience gets a bit dissonant.

My first pour of 8th Wonder Weisstheimer had me a little worried, as it throws off some serious bubblegum in the nose. However, a few sips in and I was pleasantly surprised. The taste starts with a little of that Bubble-Yum, and then quickly moves into a nice banana flavor, clove spiciness and wheat tang. A sweet breadiness follows along with a crisp finish. I finished my can quickly on a hot Houston July afternoon. All those different flavor elements were nicely in balance, making for a quite enjoyable experience. I don’t think this beer needs a lemon squeeze, but that’s certainly not going to hurt anything about the flavor and might cut through that bubblegum aroma that threw me at first. It’s not surprising to me this new beer is already stacking up some hardware, having just tied for the Gold medal (with, ahem, another German standard, Weihenstephaner Heffweissbier) in the hefeweizen category at the US Open Beer Championships.

My only complaint is that I’ve had a hard time finding more of it. My usual haunts are always sold out. I’m hoping production increases enough so that I can stockpile some of this Cougar-made summer seasonal for my UH football tailgates this fall.

The post 8th Wonder Weisstheimer – a German Hefeweizen Great for Summer first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

The post 8th Wonder Weisstheimer – a German Hefeweizen Great for Summer appeared first on Houston Beer Guide.

So how do the services available to us in Houston stack up against one another? There’s three main ways to get beer delivered:
1. Store ‘curbside’ or traditional ordering combined with a task service like Taskrabbit to go get it
2. Delivery services that specialize in beer, wine and liquor
3. Hiring someone to go get what you want via Taskrabbit

Not able to go to the store yourself? In my experience so far nothing is really ‘there’ yet, especially for the beer drinker that wants something other than macro lager and cares about best-by dates. If you’re going to try it out, I think whether you have a good or bad experience comes down to four key factors. Some are better than others in each area, but none excel:

Price: How much more do I pay for the convenience of delivery (or order prep)?
Inventory: Can I find what I want, and is it accurate?
Speed: How fast can I get my order?
Quality: When I get it – is it damaged/expired/whatever

Online ordering and curbside pickup

I’ve used two main services here – Kroger ClickList and Total Wine & More’s online ordering process. Both services require about 12 hours advance notice, although with Total Wine I actually was able to have the order picked up within a hour or so by calling the store after I submitted my order – they put it together for me within about half an hour of my call.

Kroger charges a $5 fee after the first three uses of their service, and Total Wine offers theirs for free, although it isn’t curbside – you have to go into the store to pick up the order.

Total Wine’s online inventory system was quite accurate – easily the best online system available – and included listings for variants and all the sizes available (including kegs), and they actually had the things I ordered. Kroger’s ClickList search features are pretty primitive, and the inventory doesn’t list everything they have – just ‘mainline’ beers, and even then it can be inaccurate. You can, however, make manual entries and provide lists of products to sub out if what you want isn’t available, and this works reasonably well.

Note, HEB and Wal-Mart also offer curbside pickup at some of their area stores, but in my experience they have the same online inventory issues as Kroger … and as I don’t live near one of their participating locations I have not used them.

A TaskRabbit ‘tasker’ will charge an hourly rate to go and pickup basically anything, on the order of about $10-$20.

In terms of quality, I’ve never had an issue with my beer orders for Kroger (and I’ve bought quite a few six packs using ClickList) – the beer is always cold and as fresh as I would find on the shelf. In comparison, Total Wine sent me a six pack of my favorite IPA that was a little too close to the ‘best by’ date for my usual preferences.

Delivery Services

There are four big players in Houston right now that offer true web-to-home delivery. Drizly, Instacart, Minibar and Shipt. Shipt works exclusively wth HEB, and requires a fee to sign up (plus additional fees to deliver alcohol), so I didn’t try them out.

Both Instacart and Minibar offer 1 hour delivery to my area, but their online inventories stink. Instacart works with Specs, but the product database is a mess and full of beer that I sure hope isn’t available. Case-in-point, when I searched for Sierra Nevada the only product that came up was a 12 pack of Celebration… their winter seasonal.

In my neighborhood, Minibar works with a store called Chalet Fine Wine and Spirits over off West Gray. I had not been there before, and after looking at the complete inventory of beer available I figured out why.

Yeah, that was everything they had.

On cost, Drizly includes a tip of ~10% of your order total and a $5 delivery fee – not cheap, especially for a wait that potentially could be measured in days and not hours. The inventory is a little clunky to search, but I was able to find some specialties (Bishops Barrel and Barrel aged Bigfoot). However, when my order was filled a week later, they called me and said the Barrel aged Bigfoot wasn’t actually there – but they were ready with an acceptable substitute – barrel aged Narwhal ‘Trip in the Woods’. While it was nice that they knew their stuff enough to make that offer, it was annoying that they waited to call me about it for a week.

Drizly had the best quality of the bunch, but I did order mainly barreled beers and not fresh IPA, so it may not be a fair comparison.

Hiring someone

The final option is to hire someone to go and get beer for you. There’s really only one option for that (aside from putting out an ad on Craigslist), and that’s Taskrabbit. Favor is a competitor in this space, but they don’t do alcohol delivery, and although they say they have a partner that does this, that outfit isn’t in Houston at this time (delivery.com).

Taskers (as they’re called) specialize in specific tasks they are willing to do – everything from basic errand running to house handyman stuff. As I mentioned above, the ‘grocery/item’ pickup folks charge on the order of $15-20/hour, and that’s on top of whatever you spend on the items you’re paying them to go and retrieve. Total cost depends on how how long it takes the tasker to do the pickup and delivery.

It’s the most expensive of the options, but if you know exactly what you want and it’s not available from one of the store partners that offers online services of any kind (ahem, three crowlers of Mini Boss, please) it’s the best option.

As I opened with, nothing’s really all the way there. All the services have drawbacks that (from my perspective) are deal killers. Now if only we could get Hopsy to come to Houston …

The post On demand craft beer? Not yet. first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

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There, I said it.

Just 6 months ago this wouldn’t have been even mildly controversial. Fast forward to today, and the parent of D&T (Treadsack) has shuttered 4 of its 7 restaurant and bar concepts amidst a great deal of controversy, and has retreated to doing business at Downhouse, D&T and Johnny’s Gold Brick. It would be easy to simply dismiss D&T as just another hapless victim of a failing corporate parent but the quality of the beers on tap and the knowledgeable staff fly in the face of that generalization. I just can’t help but hope for the best for everyone there.

This is not to make apologies for the sins of the father, but D&T’s 4th anniversary party this coming weekend is an event worth celebrating and enjoying. D&T has earned its place as one of Houston’s classics, and the tap list this weekend is reflective of that.

D&T has a selected list of beers to be tapped on their Facebook page. It’s not a long list, but highlights are:

• Founders KBS and 512 IPA w/Grapefruit paired with breakfast cereals (on tap at opening at noon)
• Gigantic/3 Floyds Axis of Evil
• Boulevard Rye on Rye on Rye
• Saint Arnold Bishop’s Barrel 16 and 17
• Sierra Nevada Bigfoot 2014
• …and a number of others.

I also heard a rumor of a vintage barrel-aged Great Divide Yeti keg that’s been hanging around in the cold box just for this day.

The bar also plans on using a unique method to turn their taps over as the day proceeds – a common problem at anniversary parties. They’ve bought an air horn, and whenever it blows on Saturday everything on tap is $3.

They’re also holding a raffle for a mixed box of Saint Arnold Bishop’s Barrel bottles.

Regardless of the troubles of Treadsack, celebrating the success of D&T is a worthy exercise. Here’s hoping we can all toast them for years to come.

D&T Drive Inn 4th Anniversary Party

Saturday, May 27th & Sunday, May 28th
1307 Enid St, Houston, TX 77009

The post D&T Drive Inn Celebrates 4 Years first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

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Photo: Saint Arnold Brewing Company

I haven’t had loads of Baltic Porters in my drinking life. Like most of you, my first taste of the style came from a homebrewer’s version (via Beeriac/Mike Heniff at a long ago Foam Rangers meeting, I think), and my commercial experience is with Baltika 6. The new Divine Reserve 17 offering from Saint Arnold squares nicely with what I know and have tasted before – roasty and malty, easy drinking and clean, almost dry, but with tons of malt flavor that stands out. In my experience, it’s a hard style to get just right, as it demands precision in ingredients and technique. Fundamentally it’s imperial stout for lager drinkers, but without the benefit of debittered malt that makes a schwarzbier hum. Making Baltic Porter seems a lot like the end of Jenga game where you have to start taking out side pieces and balancing them on top to push the tower higher.

Did everything come crashing down with Saint Arnold’s play on this style? I don’t think so.

I took a 12 oz bottle out of my beer fridge and poured it into a bubble glass to warm a bit. In the glass, the beer is an inky brown with a dark ruby undertone. It formed a khaki brown head that dropped back to a ring around the edge of the glass that hung around with me through the entire session.

The aroma out of the glass is a mix of chocolate malt with vanilla and a faint fruitiness, somewhere between plum and sweet cherry, and a whole lot of straight up roastiness. Not that I’m in the habit of smelling bread – but the aroma of this beer sure seems a lot like what it would be like to huff warm toast.

There was lots of bitterness on the initial sip, almost sharp. This immediately gave way to a burst of sweet roasted malt – the same chocolate-driven flavor as in the aroma. Not much caramel, just a little sweet and bready, with a strong bite of roasted malt at the finish. Not chewy or thick in any way; you could almost describe it as thin, as though it seems to have just the minimum amount of body it needs to carry the flavors through. As the sip warms up, the alcoholic heat (~9.2%) drives some more sweetness from the beer and keeps going. I didn’t notice any heat at all until a few minutes after the sip. Aside from the immediate first taste, I don’t get any significant hop bitterness. No yeast character at all; it’s very clean.

This is a good beer. The flavors are on point, it has a really nice malty backbone that is nuanced – part chocolate, part roasted, part heavily kilned malt that adds bitterness. None of those component flavors dominate any of the others. It drinks smoothly – the use of lager yeast keeps the beer focused; this is a malty brew and there aren’t any distractions from that. With the exception of the bitterness on first sip, none of the other flavors are overwhelming. There’s a nice vanilla component and some fruit (mainly in the aroma), but no serious heat and nothing that touches the clear roasted malt flavor that comes through after each sip.

So as I finish this admittedly good beer why am I not excited? Why am I not clamoring to open my next bottle? I’m not entirely sure, but I think it has something to do with the maltiness, which just reminds me of the wonderful flavors of Avery Czar – an Imperial Stout. On second thought maybe it’s that the slight booziness and fruitiness on the finish that is makes me think about the incredible bourbon flavor that comes through so strong in The Bruery’s So Happens It’s Tuesday. Again…another Imperial Stout.

I’m sensing a pattern here.

My bottom line? As a fan of big imperial stouts, DR 17 just makes me want to drink those. Perhaps, like Santo this is the ‘dark beer’ that can convince the members of the SA Army that don’t like Impy Stouts to come to (heh) the dark side.

What I am intrigued by is what the monkeys in the barrel room on Lyons could do with this brew. Could this wobbling tower of taste go just a little higher with the addition of some bourbon barrel character? Could this recipe be turned into something crazy good and funky with an inoculation of bugs and some fruit (can you say Almanac? I knew you could). This is two DR releases in a row where I’m more interested in what it could become in barrels or as a variant than what it is right now. Turning a lager like this into a palette for further experimentation could be a fool’s errand, but that’s just what the first floor of the brewery was built to do.

The post Divine Reserve 17 Is an Imperial Porter That Makes Me Want to Drink Imperial Stout first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

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<Lawnmower taps on a pint glass>

“Can I get everyone’s attention for just a few moments? Thank you, thank you.

I want to thank you all for coming tonight. We’re here to wish our good friend and colleague Winter Stout a fond farewell and a happy retirement. Some of you newer folks … Hey! Art Car! Raspberry AF! I’m talking to you here!

Sorry…as I was saying. Some of you newer folks might not know this, but Winter Stout has been with the team since almost the very beginning. Only Amber and Mr. Brow- er, sorry, Ale, habit! – Mr. Wagger have been around longer.

So, for the benefit of you newbies, let me run through a quick summary of Winter Stout’s career with Saint Arnold:

Early on in our history, Brock Wagner and the founders knew they needed someone like Winter Stout on the seasonals team, especially for the short Houston ‘winter’. They reached out to the Kuykendahl Gran Brewers homebrew club to host a single-style competition — with the winner to join the lineup at the young brewery. And that, folks, is how the KGB’s ‘Big Batch Brew Bash’ was born. The winners that day were the Sly Bastards — yeah, Charles Vallhonrat & Steve Capo, I see you back there in the back! Holla!

Nevertheless, we found Winter Stout that day, and the rest is history.

So Winter Stout, we love you. We really do. But what retirement reception would be complete without a little roasting? And given how roasty and delicious you are, I’m sure you can appreciate this… so without further ado, I’ll hand the stage off to your best friend, Christmas Ale.”

“Thanks, Lawnmower, thanks, and thanks for always being the tap next to me every fall. Really, I appreciate it. We make a great team!

Winter Stout, I think Lawnmower said it best: We really do respect your accomplishments. We love you, we wish you weren’t calling it quits — but the real reason we’re all here is to try and figure out how you’ve made it all this time working two months a year. I mean c’mon, give up the secrets! I’d sure like to know — the Scottish bastard — that’s right, Oktoberfest I’m talking about you! — he sure wants to know and for SURE Summer Pils wants to know, since she has to work through four long months in this Texas heat and humidity! Oh, and there’s White Noise sitting right next to you … I bet you’ve told her how to work this out since she’s going to try and fill your shoes! Take it from the rest of us, White Noise: you’ve got the sweetest gig in the brewery with this job. Welcome to the seasonals team!

In all seriousness Winter Stout, we’ll miss you here at Saint Arnold. White Noise has some big, dark, delicious shoes to fill, but we wish you and your partner Kristall nothing but happiness together in retirement, and I know I speak for everyone when I say that we’d love to have you back from time to time for an encore. Thank you!”

<applause, laughter>

The post Exclusive peek into Winter Stout’s retirement bash first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

The post Exclusive peek into Winter Stout’s retirement bash appeared first on Houston Beer Guide.

To that end, my fellow board members and I worked hard to build the infrastructure of a from-scratch, non-profit consumer advocacy organization, using the template laid down by groups in other states as a start, but creating our own Texas-sized identity. We wanted to expand from our operating base in Houston and go statewide, focusing on the key metro areas, but working to give consumers everywhere in Texas a voice in the legislative process. We raised money, we recruited members, we built relationships with key players in Austin and across Texas, and at the bottom line we accomplished quite a lot of what we aimed to in the beginning.

The changes that have come to help drive the craft beer revolution in Texas aren’t successes that Open The Taps can make sole claim to. The industry came together to make our environment what it is today, but I am confident that we were a major part of the work towards the progress that has been made. I know I speak for everyone that has been a part of the organization when I express my great pride in accomplishing so much that we originally set out to do.

So, past achievements notwithstanding, let’s fast forward to the present day. Craft beer culture is mainstream. Supermarkets are installing growler fill stations. Nearly every community in Texas is expanding local options. The changes are incredible, but the battlegrounds over policy remain the same. How much, from whom and in what container can beer be purchased by consumers? How easy is it to start a new craft brewery or tap room? Can beer festivals and tourism be expanded? And most importantly, how can a rollback of progress made over the past several years be prevented?

The details behind each of the skirmishes in these battles is complex, but at the bottom line, the decisions that impact these issues are going to be made and there are definitely parties working in opposition to consumer interests. Some decisions will happen in TABC ‘stakeholder’ meetings, some in court hearings or in the upcoming 2017 legislative session. Consumers deserve to keep their hard-earned seat at the table for these important debates.

With that in mind, Open the Taps needs some help. Pursuant to our founding principles, the current board is all volunteers — none of us are associated with the industry, and after almost 5 years running the organization, the board is looking to move on. Therefore, we need help. YOUR Help. Open the Taps is at a crossroads. We need the next generation of passionate leaders to reinforce the ranks of the organization, fill those seats we earned and reinforce the energy and passion of the membership across Texas. We need good people able to take the time it requires to step up and take over the leadership of Open the Taps. If no one is willing to step into those leadership roles, the organization will have to be dissolved due to the desire of the current board to move out of their leadership roles and responsibilities.  If that does happen, the Open the Taps organization will reach out to its current membership to determine how to best move forward and liquidate the organization.

Without diving into the nuts and bolts of each board position, we’re anxious to find individuals that share our original passion and principles, and have the time and energy to engage the craft beer community across Texas to that end. The current board stands ready to help hand over the reins of the organization to the next generation. If you’re interested in helping us, please email me at chris@openthetaps.org.

The post Open The Taps needs your help! first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

The post Open The Taps needs your help! appeared first on Houston Beer Guide.