Contributor Introduction: James Weiss
James Weiss
My love of beer began (aside to my parents…EARMUFFS) before the law officially told me it could. I was then introduced to what were at the time known as micro brews by a friend my freshman year of college at a bar with a liberal ID policy, and my liver and wallet still haven’t forgiven him to this day. That was many years and many beers ago, so I honestly don’t recall what my very first non-macro beer was, but given the limited number of craft beers available in Texas at the time it was likely a Sam Adams Boston Lager or Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.
Once I realized that there were options besides the big names, I quickly began seeking out new breweries and beer styles. With the benefit of being the somewhat self-appointed “beer guy” at the pizza place I worked at during school, I placed the beer orders and got to know the distributors in town, so I was able to add some of the older European breweries as well as newer local Texas beers like Saint Arnold and the original iteration of Celis to our inventory. This was entirely self serving, but fortunately no one told me to stop.
Over the 20+ years since then I’ve continued to enjoy trying new beers. As more of these rebellious breweries have popped up locally, I’ve taken advantage of the rare open calendar date to check them out. And any travel away from home inevitably involves some scouting ahead of time on Google Maps and Untappd to locate the best area breweries and craft beer bars/restaurants. Truthfully I probably spend twice as much time on this aspect as I do trying to find a place to stay.
In other words, to quote the great Tom T. Hall, “I like beer.” I like to drink it but I also like to learn about it and talk to others about it. When I learned of the relaunch of the Houston Beer Guide and that they were looking for contributors, I thought it sounded like a great opportunity to put my appreciation of beer to work and maybe help to enlighten or entertain others. I look forward to sharing this love with you all over the coming months. Cheers!
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