11 Below Lame Duck

Brand new can alert: this week, the first adorable-duck-adorned cans of 11 Below’s pale ale hit the market, so this one is good to get fresh asap. Bryce Baker, 11 Below co-founder, states that it’s “quickly become a favorite among staff and customers.” And although the can was designed by a Dallas firm (Caliber Creative), I have to agree with Bryce that “the artwork is pretty badass.” It’s hard to imagine a better beach can design, and the beer inside speaks for itself as well, as kegs move pretty fast all over town.

SpindleTap Houston Haze

I never expected to see Houstonians wait in line to take beer home from a brewery, but if it’s going to happen, it makes perfect sense it would be for SpindleTap Houston Haze, an insanely crushable NEIPA that blows away any other Houston attempts at the distinct and delicious style. “The excitement surrounding Haze has been fantastic and consistent,” founder Adam Wright says. And while this is likely the hardest acquire to get from this list, that will only get easier over time: “every batch we’ve brewed has doubled in size … Haze is the champ of the cans we sell out of the brewery.” The can features art apt for the oilfield-centric brewery: “the downtown skyline with a shadowed offset against a refinery outline,” with a “purple spectrum” that reflects the “haze” imagery. There may be nothing about an oil derrick or refinery that suggest cooling off, but in this case, as with so many buildings in Houston, the coolness is inside.

8th Wonder Weisstheimer

No summer is complete for me without cans of Live Oak Hefe, and now 8th Wonder brings some local competition: a “ridiculously drinkable and delicious Hefeweizen,” in the words of Ryan Soroka, 8th Wonder co-founder. At 5.4% abv, this summer seasonal is just strong enough to make you forget the heat for a little while and still light enough to allow enjoyment of a few cans in one go. The cans are pretty slick too, a play on a historic style Houstonians will recognize from the blue tiled street signs still present all over the city. 8th Wonder’s cans are all designed by local branding agency GoodProject, but for this project they also teamed up with the Blue Tile Project for additional art and signage.

Bakfish Defying Gravity

Bakfish planned to can their beers from before they even opened, acknowledging that cans are better for the environment, better for portability, and thanks to their ability to eliminate sunlight, better for the beer. Defying Gravity is just one of the canned offerings available now, not only beloved by fans on tap and in cans, but also co-founder Brian Allen’s personal favorite. The focus is a hoppy beer with some light caramel tones mixed in, “but dominated with tropical fruits like mango, papaya, and pineapple mixed with citrus fruits like mandarin oranges and tangerines.” If that doesn’t sound like summer refreshment to you, I don’t know what does. The cans feature art by Houston-based Brenden Polk Designs, and are available to-go directly from the brewery in Pearland as well as at nearby stores.

Southern Star Buried Hatchet

Southern Star has been canning beer in Houston since before most other breweries in this post even existed. “First to Can Craft in Texas” is a badge Southern Star happily displays on their cans, and they’ve earned that right. If you can imagine now, when the can explosion has taken over craft beer across the nation, there was once a time when Southern Star faced retailers that refused to carry their beer “because we did not have beer in bottles,” owner/founder Dave Fougeron recalls. Of course, you might not think of a rich, smooth stout as a “summer beer” but until very recently, no one thought of it as a canned beer either, and as far as I’m concerned, it’s always stout season in Texas. Buried Hatchet is a true classic, one of the state’s best beers, and the beer that Dave is happy to say he’s “most proud of,” and in his opinion is “one of the best stouts in the country.” I can’t say I’d argue against that. Interestingly the artwork on the can is the inspiration for the name, and not the other way around. Art director Michael Draper drew the now iconic buried hatchet, and from that image, the beer was named. Dave points out “an old pull ring buried in the dirt” as an homage to the beer can’s long history.

Brazos Valley Willin’

If you know me, you know I love Mosaic. It’s my favorite hop, or as I call it, the “cheat code.” So Brazos Valley Willin’, a new mosaic pale ale that also features comet hops, hits the spot, “crushable yet hop forward and perfect for the Texas heat,” according to Production Manager Avery Clayton. The can features a “strong, take no BS, Texas woman,” also prominently displayed in all Brazos Valley Brewing artwork, and designed by Evan Hill, a childhood friend of the brewery’s founders. Willin’ joins a family of Texas IPAs designed to cool you off better than air conditioning, and this particular can gives Houstonians a great reason to visit the brewery in Brenham – after all, I can’t think of anything else out there that could be so refreshing.

Saint Arnold Raspberry AF

Of course, no list would be complete without a beer from Houston’s oldest brewery, Saint Arnold, and no list of summer-friendly cans would be complete without something as refreshing as Raspberry AF. Raspberry AF, according to brewer Aaron Inkrott, was a “truly collaborative effort,” and unlike many fruited beers, actually uses “100% fruit” ensuring it’s “great to drink again and again.” Of course, Saint Arnold’s cans are fairly iconic, but the artwork designed by in-house marketing guru and freestyle rapper, Jeremy Johnson, truly conveys summer. The art is supposed to invoke “a peaceful, serene picnic scene abruptly interrupted by the AF,” according to Jeremy. Saint Arnold only recently started canning, but their cans have really taken off, with many releases being can-only. And it’s paid off: Raspberry AF, with its juicy, “pleasantly tart,” flavor that built off the excellent Boiler Room, is an incredible beer perfectly packaged for a picnic or anywhere else your summer takes you.

The post 7 Canned Beers to Drink This Summer first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

The post 7 Canned Beers to Drink This Summer appeared first on Houston Beer Guide.

We chatted with 8th Wonder president and co-founder Ryan Soroka ahead of the celebration and he gave us a little insight into what to expect at the party. First, the beer: they’re releasing Coltsch Forty5, IP8 (an IPA dry-hopped with Citra and Cascade), and re-releasing BrewGK, a candy apple ale collaboration with Bun B.

Soroka said 8th Wonder has added capacity recently, both to keep up with local demand and to make room for seasonals and one-offs.

“We’re always excited to celebrate with our friends, family, and fans,” Soroka said.

8th Wonder has put on a hell of a party year after year. I encourage everyone to head out to EaDo and enjoy a few beers with them.

There are still a few tickets available:
http://www.stubwire.com/event/acelebr8ionofbeer4thanniversary/8thwonderbrewery/houston/13932/

The post 8th Wonder 4th Annual Celebr8ion of Beer first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

The post 8th Wonder 4th Annual Celebr8ion of Beer appeared first on Houston Beer Guide.

(Click here to for a zoomable version)

Yo that IPA Region is stacked! Mostly Harmless got screwed, though. Pumpkinator vs. Rocket Fuel in the Sweet 16 is gonna be brutal. I’ve got EZ7 as my Cinderella. Think Yellow Rose can win it all again?

Welcome to the 2017 edition of the Houston Beer Guide Bracket. Last year’s bracket was a blast, with some nail-biters, a ballot-stuffing scandal, a handful of upsets, and Lone Pint Yellow Rose ultimately cruising to the title.

We’ve made some changes compared to last year, when we used weighted Untappd rankings to fill out the field from 1 to 64. This year, we still leaned on ratings, but we also opened up the selection process to the HBG staff, our own version of the NCAA’s selection committee. We awarded “automatic bids” to breweries that wouldn’t have qualified based solely on rankings. We eliminated one-time releases (no Divine Reserves, Bishop’s Barrels, etc.). And we limited the field to independent craft breweries — you know what that means.

Enough with the pregame analysis. Let’s get to the #HBGBracket. Voting for the first round ends Monday night, March 20th. The second round will begin Tuesday, March 21st. We’ll update results on Facebook and Twitter.

Update #1 – Round of 64 recap:
The first round has wrapped up and there were quite a few surprises. 12-seed SpindleTap Hop Gusher took down 5-seed Saint Arnold Endeavour, with a respectable win of 56%. In our far north vs. far south matchup, 14-seed B-52 Double IPA beat 3-seed Galveston Island Citra Mellow. Copperhead King of Terrors managed to eke out a win against Buffalo Bayou Vanilla Mocha Sunset, in a match decided by just 13 votes. In the battle of Clear Lake, Texas Beer Refinery’s Gulf Coast Gose held its ground against BAKFISH I Tell You Wit. Unfortunately, Texas Beer Refinery Catalyst wasn’t able to repeat last year’s Cinderella run. Yellow Rose continued last year’s tradition of dominating the competition, knocking out newcomer Running Walker Texas Reserve. Check out the rest of the results at the bottom of the page.

Update #2 – Round of 32 recap:
Well that was certainly interesting. The majority of this round went to chalk, with the 1-seeds doing especially well. Dig into the middle of the field a little bit, and you’ll see some very surprising results. 12-seed SpindleTap Hop Gusher continued its Cinderella run, leading 4-seed Brash Pussy Wagon the entire round. At the 24-hour mark, Brash Vulgar Display of Power vs Brash Cortado was exactly 50/50, but lower-seeded VDoP eventually won out. 11-seed Copperhead King of Terrors managed another narrow victory, this time over 3-seed No Label Nightmare on 1st Street. There were no upsets in the Easy Drinking region, dashing the chances of a Pilsner head-to-head between Back Pew and Saint Arnold. How will old-standard Buried Hatchet fare against new-hotness Raspberry AF in the next round? Last year’s champion, Lone Pint Yellow Rose, faces Cinderella; is there a stunning upset on the horizon? Will King of Terrors be able to sneak past Brash EZ-7 and into the Elite 8? It’s all up to you.

Update #3 – Sweet 16 recap:
Let’s start with the fun parts: Almost every one of the match up in the Sweet 16 ended within 100 votes. For nearly 1,500 votes, that’s pretty impressive. Brazos Valley 7 Spanish Angels overcame Saint Arnold 5 O’Clock Pils by 107 votes, 4-seed Lone Pint The Jabberwocky upset 1-seed Brash Abide with 92 votes, Saloon Door Tasty AF beat Brash Vulgar Display of Power by 39 votes, and Pumpkinator vs Rocket Fuel was decided by just 32 votes. Every beer included in the Sweet 16 deserved it’s place this far into the tournament. SpindleTap found a post in one of the beer groups by someone bragging to have voted for Hop Gusher several hundred times in a short period Monday afternoon. Unfortunately, there is no way for us to undo the damage that was done. After a discussion with the team at SpindleTap, they offered to forfeit the game to Yellow Rose. At the T-11 hour mark, SpindleTap had the lead, and they appeared to gain more ground in the morning. As stated earlier, we believe that every beer that made it to the sweet 16 deserved to be there. Hop Gusher beat Endeavour and Pussy Wagon without any intervention, and there is a very strong likelihood that it would have beat Yellow Rose as well. Yellow Rose faces some stiff competition in the next round with Saint Arnold Art Car, as do all of the beers in the Elite 8.

Update #4 – Elite 8 recap:
The giants have fallen. Saloon Door rounded up their supporters to knock out 1-seed Saint Arnold Pumpkinator. Brazos Valley had a late surge of support: 7 Spanish Angels rallied from being down 49/51 at the 24 hour mark to come out ahead 54/46 and take out 1-seed Southern Star Buried Hatchet. 1-seed Yellow Rose clobbered 2-seed Art Car in a round that was expected to be more of a challenge for last year’s champion. Brash’s 7-seed EZ-7 avenged 1-seed Abide’s earlier elimination and trounced Lone Pint The Jabberwocky. Lone Pint Yellow Rose is the only 1-seed that remains in the tournament – how will it fare against the Saloon Door posse, which has already overcome some quite impressive opponents? Will EZ-7 or 7 Spanish Angels be the lucky one to advance to the finals?

Update #5 – Final Four recap:
Yellow Rose, our last 1-seed and last year’s champion was bested by the chocolate & peanut butter stout from Clear Lake, Tasty AF. 7 Spanish Angels, the coffee brown ale from Brenham, rallied its supporters to eliminate Brash EZ-7. It’s all come down to this: Saloon Door Tasty AF versus Brazos Valley 7 Spanish Angels. Peanut butter & chocolate vs coffee. Both beers eliminated some very impressive challengers along the way. Which beer will be crowned the best beer in Houston by the readers of Houston Beer Guide?

Update #6 – Championship recap:
Wow, that was a surprisingly close match. Saloon Door’s Tasty AF is now the reigning ‘Best Beer in Houston’ as chosen by the readers of Houston Beer Guide. If you haven’t tried it or any of the other 63 beers included in this year’s bracket, I highly recommend that you seek them out.

The changes we made to the beer selection process this year were a direct result of the conversations we had with our readers last year. If you have suggestions for ways we can make it even better next year, shoot us an email, we’d love to hear your ideas: info@houstonbeerguide.com.

Championship Results:

Saloon Door v Brazos Valley (1,800 votes)
Tasty AF – 51.3%
7 Spanish Angels – 48.7%

The Final Four Results:

Elite 8 Results:

Sweet 16 Results:

Round of 32 Results:

Round of 64 Results:

The post Houston Beer Guide Bracket 2017 first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

The post Houston Beer Guide Bracket 2017 appeared first on Houston Beer Guide.

Even the fine print is awesome:

• This special is valid at every location with a bar in the greater Houston area. (I think that’s all of them, but feel free to correct me in the comments.)
• This only applies to draft beers served in 8-16 ounce pours. (Again, I think that’s the vast majority of the beers they have on tap.)

As of the time that I am posting this, I found Whole Foods bars with Karbach Brewing F.U.N. beers, Brash Brewing Abide, various Funkwerks beers (one of my current favorite breweries), 8th Wonder Brewery Instant Classic (one of my favorite new local beers), and 12% ABV Founders Brewing Devil Dancer (if you really want to get your money’s worth). If you haven’t been to the brewery in the Post Oak location, you no longer have an excuse!

Check out the Tap Hunter links below for semi up-to-date tap lists at each location.

Whole Foods Market Montrose
https://www.taphunter.com/location/whole-foods-market-montrose/6011610797703168
Whole Foods Market Kirby
https://www.taphunter.com/location/whole-foods-market-kirby/5608335833300992
Whole Foods Market Post Oak
https://www.taphunter.com/location/whole-foods-market-post-oak/5816669442146304
Whole Foods Market Bellaire
https://www.taphunter.com/location/whole-foods-market-bellaire/5611821199261696
Whole Foods Market Voss
https://www.taphunter.com/location/whole-foods-market-voss/5260785151377408
Whole Foods Market Wilcrest
https://www.taphunter.com/location/whole-foods-market-wilcrest/6349803686461440
Whole Foods Market Sugar Land
https://www.taphunter.com/location/whole-foods-market-sugar-land/6188749960511488
Whole Foods Market Champions
https://www.taphunter.com/location/whole-foods-market-champions/4851873712439296
Whole Foods Market Katy
https://www.taphunter.com/location/whole-foods-market-katy/5406849322975232
Whole Foods Market the Woodlands
https://www.taphunter.com/location/whole-foods-market-the-woodlands/5224272202039296

The post If It’s Thursday, Whole Foods Market Has the Best Beer Deal in Town first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

The post If It’s Thursday, Whole Foods Market Has the Best Beer Deal in Town appeared first on Houston Beer Guide.

Held under the pavilion at Hennessy Park next to Saint Arnold Brewing Company, the small venue was a perfect setting for this bite-sized festival. The 10.79-gallon firkins used for the event allowed brewers to offer a small batch for experimentation to add adjuncts to, creating concoctions with fruit, spices, chocolate, coffee and other special ingredients. Fifteen Texan breweries brought firkins full of beer featuring everything from peanut butter to peppers.

Freetail’s Double Cherry Bexarliner was a hit. Though I prefer their more refreshing peach version, the tart Michigan Montmorency cherries in the latest of their Berliner Weisse fruit series paired well with the lactic tang of the beer. An improvement over the too-restrained single Cherry Bexarliner, which was served on the festival’s specialty tap wall, the extra cherry punch of the Double was just what the Berliner needed. Also fruity and refreshing was the addition of grapefruit to Real Ale’s White, a dry-hopped Belgian wit. Crisp with a subtle grapefruit finish, it hit the spot at the hottest time of day on the summer afternoon.

The popular variant vanilla earned high marks in its starring roles in New Republic’s Vanilla Sky, based on their Skylight dunkelweizen, and Lone Pint’s vanilla and chicory variation of their standby brown ale, Gentleman’s Relish. Though a bit overpowering in the dunkelweizen, the vanilla was a natural complement to the typical banana flavor of the hefeweizen yeast, and it tamed the boldness of the chicory in the brown ale.

No Label brought two cocktail-inspired beers: Old Fashion Ridgeback Ale and Dark & Stormy 1^st Street Blonde. The Old Fashion was the more successful of the two. Bourbon cherries, bitters and orange peel added complexity to the dark amber brew and nicely accented its existing caramel notes and roasted malt. The rum-soaked ginger and lime enlivened the blonde, but the lime finish was too intense.

Arguably the most audacious experiment, Cycler’s Ryed Hard (Reubenized) was the brewery’s take on a Reuben sandwich. Their rye ale was made over with mustard seed, star anise, juniper berries, dill seed, bay leaves, ginger, cloves, cardamom, allspice, coriander and mace to taste like a Reuben without the corned beef: an odd beer, but it worked well.

Like any experiment, the results can vary. Sometimes the result is something you want to replicate, and sometimes it falls flat. In my opinion, Deep Ellum’s Very Berry Dallas Blonde, 8^th Wonder’s Peanut Butter Chocolate Rocket Fuel, and Real Ale’s modified Real Heavy Scotch ale were misses. The Very Berry Blonde tasted like a watered-down berry lemonade, the Peanut Butter Chocolate Rocket Fuel was thin and had hardly any discernible peanut butter flavor, and the Real Heavy with English tea tips, candied figs and dried apricot had too many flavors to focus on.

A late entry in the Fest, new kid on the block Eureka Heights really impressed me with My Stoutrifice, an incredibly well-balanced milk stout brewed with Mexican cinnamon and peppers. It’s one of the best pepper beers I’ve ever had.

Other highlights included (512) Café au Lait, their venerable Pecan Porter with a coffee kick; the sarsaparilla-spiked Brazos Valley NYF Silt Brown, a dead-ringer for its namesake, Not Your Father’s Root Beer; Deep Ellum Tongue Punch, a solid tropical twist on their standard IPA; and the luscious, creamy Nutella®-like evolution of Southern Star’s Buried Hatchet Stout, Deez Hazelnutz.

Those standouts were a warm-up for my vote for Best in Show: Karbach Bourbon Barrel Hellfighter Horchata. The welcoming, warm cinnamon nose invited me to drink the imperial porter. Bourbon upfront with a grainy backbone and a cinnamon finish, it was a perfect symphony of flavors and one of my favorite BBHs to date. I really hope Karbach releases this one, at least in limited batches, so more people can try it.

Though most of the beers at the Fest were variation of standards from their regular beer lines, some breweries brought unaltered brews, showing off the richer, smoother character of cask-conditioned beers. Karbach offered their lupulin bomb, Hop Delusion Double IPA; Southern Star’s newish IPA, Conspiracy Theory, made an appearance; the revered Saint Arnold Divine Reserve 15 Russian Imperial Stout came out of retirement for the occasion, and 8^th Wonder’s tasty limited-release gose, Haterade, was also featured at the Fest.

One of my favorite aspects of this festival was the signage. Too often at festivals you are left on your own to figure out what you are actually drinking. Firkin Fest featured signs labeling the style, ABV, IBU and a detailed description of each beer and its transformation from its normal base into its firkin alter ego. Even better, some of the brewers were on hand to ask questions about their beers. The intimacy of the event allowed for longer discussions with the brewers, which I very much enjoyed. I’ll be back next year.

The post Houston Firkin Fest 2016: A Firkin Good Time first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

The post Houston Firkin Fest 2016: A Firkin Good Time appeared first on Houston Beer Guide.

Recently released Dome Faux’m cans were available for purchase.

Both Colleen and I enjoyed Haterade. Colleen opined, “The Gose style was a nice change to the usual line-up at 8th Wonder and I hope they have it on draft this summer as it’s great for hot weather. It was tart and very easy to drink.” In addition to their standard line-up, a couple of specialty casks were available, including Peanut Butter Chocolate Rocket Fuel and French Toast, a chopped and screwed version of Alternate Universe.

Houston’s own Fat Tony

There were food trucks aplenty, including Eatsie Boys, The Rice Box, and The Waffle Bus. Below, Walker Lukens & The Side Arms kick off their set as the sun starts to fade.

All of the acts were high energy, but The Hot 8 Brass Band really got the crowd going. It may have been the beer, but everyone seemed to be having a great time on a beautiful Houston night.

The post 8th Wonder 3rd Anniversary Celebr8ion first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

The post 8th Wonder 3rd Anniversary Celebr8ion appeared first on Houston Beer Guide.

Why would a brewery use a firkin over a regular keg? Well, the firkin lends itself better to allowing natural conditioning and makes the beer have a smoother finish because of the lack of CO2 needed. It is also an outlet for a brewery to try something special like adding fruit, chocolate, coffee, spices or any other adjunct that the brewery wants to experiment with. Breweries now a days seem to like to use these to add an adjunct to a beer that they commonly brew, and that is what makes this festival so exciting. These beers will be unique. Yes, some of the breweries will have firkins of something they regularly sell, but just putting that in the firkin will change it a bit. In addition, this year there will we a draft wall with 10 limited releases from the participating breweries.

Speaking of participating breweries, it’s a who’s who of the Texas craft beer scene. The festival is actually run by the Texas Craft Brewers Guild, so in many ways it’s the breweries putting this on. The following breweries are planning on participating: Real Ale Brewing Company, Saint Arnold Brewing Company, Freetail Brewing Co., Deep Ellum Brewing Company, Brigadoon Brewery & Brew School, (512) Brewing Company, Cycler’s Brewing, Karbach Brewing Co., No Label Brewing Co., 8th Wonder Brewery, Lone Pint Brewery, New Republic Brewing Company, Southern Star Brewing Company, Brazos Valley Brewing Company and Buffalo Bayou Brewing Company.

Check back as the festival nears as we will update this article with the full beer list, and check back after the festival as I will be writing up a review. I’d love to hear about what you’re drinking and enjoying most that day. So, write a comment after the festival, or better yet, come say hello if you see me; I’ll be out there enjoying it.

Firkin List:

If you get the urge for more carbonation, this year Firkin Fest is offering some traditional draft options as well.

For more detailed descriptions, check out http://houstonfirkinfest.com/

Location: Hennessey Park, 1900 Lyons Ave, Houston, TX  77020

Time: 2 — 6 PM with VIP entrance starting at 12:30 PM

Parking: Free at Saint Arnold as well as on street

Tickets: VIP, General Admission and Designated Driver tickets are available at: Https://www.eventbrite.com/E/Houston-Firkin-Fest-Tickets-21216080869

 

Website: houstonfirkinfest.com

Twitter: @htxfirkinfest

Facebook: www.facebook.com/houstonfirkinfest

Facebook Event RSVP: Https://www.facebook.com/events/1686760454925906/

The post Houston Firkin Fest – Preview first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

The post Houston Firkin Fest – Preview appeared first on Houston Beer Guide.

A quick reminder of the methodology: To make this list, I started with all Houston-area beers with at least 100 Untappd check-ins. I then excluded any beers that have had less than 5% growth in activity since last quarter. The resulting 202 beers from 24 breweries were then weighted using a Bayesian estimate based on total check-ins and ratings. And finally: obviously all ratings should be taken lightly. Ratings are subject to the whims of rarity, perceived excitement, and even personal vendettas from groups of people. This is just a fun exercise but should not be considered a reflection of my opinion or the opinion of Houston Beer Guide.

Last time around, we only had 193 beers from 21 breweries. For the second quarter in a row, three more breweries have qualified for this list, indicative of the city’s steady brewery growth.

The Top Ten Beers in the Houston area, weighted:

Atop the chart, not much has changed from last quarter. Southern Star Black Crack rose two spots, largely due to the latest successful release. And sadly, my love of Yellow Rose can’t save it from another quarterly drop. Near the bottom, however, the real excitement occurs: the first sighting in the Top 10 of a Brash beer (likely a sign of more to come), as well as the first time that a No Label beer has made the chart. This year’s Perpetual Peace release has been incredibly highly reviewed and the Single Barrel variety helped as well. Clearly a good sign from the Katy brewery.

The Top Ten Breweries in the Houston area, weighted:

Again, the top of the chart remains unchanged. Much more exciting: Brash’s rise into the Top 5, as well as Texian’s return on the chart, something obviously bolstered by their recent focus on funky & sour beers. Texian’s return dethrones Brazos Valley, which has fallen completely off the chart, something likely affected by their lack of a new qualifying beer since last quarter.

What do you think? It’s March and that means one major thing for sports fans, and a similar thing for Houston beer fans. You’ve seen the rankings above, but now we want you to vote in our own March beer bracket with the top 64 Houston beers. Check it out here!

The post Top-Rated Beers & Breweries in Houston: March 2016 first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

The post Top-Rated Beers & Breweries in Houston: March 2016 appeared first on Houston Beer Guide.

They’ve given us a bunch of stuff to give away to you on Twitter. Send us a photo of what in this great city inspires you (or of your favorite 8th Wonder swag) Who knows, maybe you’ll inspire them to brew a new beer.

Giveaway Bundles:

Grand Prize:

A red 8th Wonder T-Shirt and 2 tour passes (each redeemable for 1 pint glass and 3 fills at the brewery).

One 1st Runner-up:

Two tour passes (each redeemable for 1 pint glass and 3 fills at the brewery).

Two 2nd Runners-up:

Two pint glasses (each).

How to Enter:

• Follow us on Twitter at @HoustonBeer 

• Tweet a photo of what in this great city inspires you (or your favorite 8th Wonder swag), with a caption explaining why. 

• Tag @8thWonderBrew in your tweet.

• Use #HoustonBeer in your tweet. 

The Grand Prize winner will be the best photo and caption entry, selected by the Houston Beer Guide staff. The 3 Runner-up prizes will be selected at random.

Fine Print:

No purchase necessary. Entries must be submitted from a non-private account on Twitter. (If we can’t see it, it doesn’t count.)
Entries and entrants must meet all 4 requirements above to be eligible.
Winners will be notified by Direct Message on Twitter.
This contest (and this blog) is only for those ages 21 and up.
Delivery of the giveaway bundles will be in person, so you must live in or near Houston to be eligible to win.

Open for entries from now until February 28th, 2016.

The post 8th Wonder February Giveaway! first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

The post 8th Wonder February Giveaway! appeared first on Houston Beer Guide.

Photo by Andy Bouffard

I guess third time’s a charm: after being plagued by weather problems the past two years, 2015’s Untapped Festival was a perfectly sunny sweat-drencher. The weather wasn’t the only thing Untapped got right this year: from beer selection to musical talent, this year’s line-up did Houston proud.

I got there a little later than I wanted to due to events out of my control, so I missed out on a couple rare and limited-quantity tappings (looking at you, Jester King Fen Tao and Firestone Walker Helldorado), but I got to try almost everything else on my “must-hit” list.  

First up, Jester King La Vie en Rose. Made with raspberries previously tasked to make their much-beloved Atrial Rubicite, La Vie en Rose is dry and, predictably, less fruity than Atrial Rubicite. To me, that’s not a bad thing. Don’t get me wrong, I like Atrial Rubicite, but I’ve never been a fangirl. (I’m more of a Noble King kind of gal.) La Vie en Rose is vinous; add that to the dryness and subtle raspberry, and it tastes almost like a slightly sour rosé.

At the Saint Arnold tent I skipped some of the rare tappings as I’ve tried most of them before, but somehow I’d missed Divine Reserve 15 (Russian Imperial Stout), which was lovely: boozy, creamy, chocolately and pruny. I also finally tried the new Art Car IPA which had a floral nose and a crisp, fruity body with a bitter finish. I have to say I like it better than Elissa.

Too late to the party, I missed out on Pussy Wagon, but I got try Brash’s Cali Green. I’ve heard a few people criticize it for being too bitter, but I think its bitterness is well balanced with citrus and incredibly drinkable. In fact, excuse me while I go get a growler fill.

Photo by Andy Bouffard

Freetail’s Oktoberfiesta, an Oktoberfest bier fermented with Belgian yeast, surprised me: clean, slightly fruity with a hint of bitterness and a caramel finish. That may not sound like it works, but it does.

I am an equal-opportunity beer-lover. I really do like most styles, and even if I don’t, I will always try them at least once. I’ve never been a fan of smoked beers, but I like to push myself outside my comfort zone. Based on recommendation and my admiration for their venerable Hefeweizen, I decided to give Live Oak’s Grodziskie and Helles Rauchlager a try. I was pleasantly surprised.

Grodiziskie is an almost-extinct Polish style made from oak-smoked wheat. More earthy than smoky, and slightly lemony, the grodiziskie is a nice alternative to a hefeweizen that would taste great with barbecue. The Helles Rauchlager is made with beechwood-smoked barley like a rauchbier, but pale like a helles lager. It is dry and aggressively smoky, but the clean noble hops shone through and created a very refreshing, summery brew. With all the single-hop beers out right now, it was a nice change of pace to try some styles that are, as Jason from Live Oak said, “more like an orchestra than a solo.”

Moving onto beers from outside of Texas, SanTan Moon Juice, a wheat IPA with a beautifully floral and citrus nose, impressed with a nice balance of fruity and bitter, as did Founders Porter with its creamy mouthfeel, notes of coffee and chocolate, and lightly smoky finish.

I always go for favorites when I can get them on draft, so I was delighted to get some pours of Lagunitas Maximus, Victory Golden Monkey, Real Ale Devil’s Backbone, and one of my new favorites, Boulevard The Calling.

Of course, as with all festivals there are always too many beers and too little time. I missed out on several brews I wanted to try, such as 8th Wonder Mission Control and Premium Goods, Ballast Point Indra Kunindra and Even Keel, and Independence Red Bud. But, there’s always next year.

Photo by Andy Bouffard

I go to a lot of festivals. Too often you have to choose between drinking great beer and listening to crappy music or listening to great music and drinking crappy beer. What I like about Untapped is that the good folks who organize it had the bright idea to make it a no-compromise situation for people like me who appreciate both beer and music. As with the past two years (thank you Suffers and Tontons), I found a new-to-me band to add to my list of local favorites — New York City Queens, who remind me of the Dum Dum Girls with the addition of, well, guys.

Sarah Jaffe surprised me; having only heard “Clementine” and a couple of her earlier ballads, I expected a folky set and instead got a guitar-driven alt rock show. I was casually interested in her music before, but after witnessing her guitar skills and falling in love with her emotionally vulnerable songs, I am now an official fan.

I have long liked Cold War Kids, and their set had moments of glory. Nathan Willett’s voice was strong throughout, but the band’s enthusiasm lagged at times. Standouts included “We Used to Vacation,” “Drive Desperate,” “I’ve Seen Enough,” and their most well-known song, “Hang Me Up to Dry.”

New this year to Untapped Houston was the addition of the Saint Arnold Game Garden tent. While I’m not a gamer, I thought it was a great idea for geeks to have another way to enjoy themselves and stay out of the heat.

Finally, food. Festival food is often salty, fried or overcooked. Fortunately, the Untapped organizers promote the farm-to-table movement. Enter Underbelly to the rescue with the best festival burger I’ve ever had. Kind had a tent for gluten-free festival goers, with interesting new savory bar flavors. I particularly enjoyed the Sweet Thai Chili, Honey Smoked BBQ and Honey Mustard offerings.

Kudos to Untapped for getting all the festival elements right. I’m already looking forward to next year’s fest.

The post Untapped Festival 2015 – All the beer. All the music. All the sweat. first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

The post Untapped Festival 2015 – All the beer. All the music. All the sweat. appeared first on Houston Beer Guide.