The party is officially getting started at Flying Saucer Monday evening. NOLA will have several of their flagship beers, as well as Piety, a sour beer aged in red wine barrels with tart cherries. Since it’s a Monday at Flying Saucer, all draft beers are $3, giving you the opportunity to check out NOLA’s range of beers without breaking the bank. Central Market is setting up their NOLA display Monday, and a demo tasting will follow Tuesday. For our College Station beer loving friends, West End Elixir Company will have a mix of Funk Series and IPAs on draft. I recently drank the Out Tequil-Ya tequila barrel aged sour at the brewery and I can assure you that their offerings are legit.

Drinking Out Tequil-Ya while watching boats float down the Mississippi | Photo: Britt Antley for Houston Beer Guide

Tuesday will feature a tap takeover at Moon Tower Inn. Funk Series kegs will be served along with a special on the Coonass dog with the purchase of a NOLA pint. The Louisiana spirit will be running strong at the East End staple.

For the Southsiders, Flood Independent Distribution is putting on a pub crawl around 4 NASA area bars featuring every beer NOLA is sending to Houston. The party starts at J. Henry’s Draught House at 4:30 PM, moves to Beers Looking at You at 6 PM, heads to Nobi Public House at 7:30 PM, and wraps up at the “OG” Nobi Asian Grill from 9 PM to 10:30 PM. The first 12 people to get their cards punched at all 4 stops will have an opportunity to purchase a batch #1 bottle of Desire, a raspberry sour ale. Only 5 cases of this beer made it to Texas. (Click here for more details, including the taplist at each stop.)

Wednesday brings a slew of events throughout the city. Downtown Flying Saucer will be having another event, this time offering flights of NOLA’s finest, including releases from their Funk Series. Flying Saucer Sugar Land is debuting 5 of NOLA’s beers on their Elvis Glass night. Drink of Ages is featuring NOLA on their radio show starting at 7 PM, and will also be serving their lineup of liquid offerings.

On Thursday, The Hop Stop will be releasing NOLA’s brews, including a case of the limited release Desire raspberry sour ale.

In addition to the events listed above, retail locations throughout the city will be receiving their shipments of NOLA’s beers throughout the week. Expect their mainstays, a healthy selection of IPAs, and a limited selection of Funk Series bottles around town.

Representatives from the brewery – Dylan Lintern (COO), Derek Lintern (Director of Funk), and Ryan Veuthey (Brand Manager) – will be in town this week to share their love and knowledge of NOLA’s beers. They are not holding anything back from the Houston market, and this week of launch events shows their commitment to our beer scene. Kirk Coco, Owner / CEO of NOLA says, “We are excited to bring a little NOLA Funk to the Texas market!” Let’s return that love with a solid showing at these events and a full sampling of their offerings. I promise you won’t be disappointed.

The post NOLA Brewing Launch Events first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

The post NOLA Brewing Launch Events appeared first on Houston Beer Guide.

There’s a new beer festival making its debut in Houston on August 22nd. Organized by Jon Denman, host of the local craft beer and craft spirits focused radio show Drink of Ages, Houston Funk Fest will feature “over 50 wild, farmhouse and sour ales”. Inspired by a recent trip to the South Denver Beer Fest, and a few funky beers, Denman convinced himself to turn his love for the beer style into a party.

Houston Funk Fest owes its name to the “funky” flavors found in beers made with wild yeast and bacteria. To continue the theme, there will be funky cheeses as well as funk and soul music from local musicians The Journey Agents and DJ Muskratch.

For those worried about the heat, Denman says the party will be held inside “in the nice, cold air conditioning! We are in Houston and it is too damn hot to have a beer fest outside right now. Plus the sound in Firehouse [Saloon] is fantastic and with the live music, the dance floor is going to be grooving.”

Fans of farmhouse ales (for which I’ve already admitted my affection), sour beers, and beers brewed with Brett won’t want to miss this event. Denman has gathered an incredible selection of beers. There are beers from local brewers that I’ve never seen before (Saint Arnold’s* Sorachi Ace Dubbel aged in red wine barrels, Texian’s Texianer Weisse to name a few), breweries that to my knowledge have never been available in Houston (Funkwerks Brewing and Collective Brewing from Fort Collins and Fort Worth, respectively), and beers that are so expensive by the bottle that I’ve never tried them (Rodenbach’s 2012 Vintage and Caractere Rouge).

Your ticket gets you a 7 ounce snifter and 8-3oz pours of your choosing. If you want to make a bigger dent in the beer list, an additional $5 gets you an extra 8 pours. I’ve already picked out my first 8 pours (and probably my second 8).

They are only selling 250 tickets, so get yours before they run out! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/houston-funk-fest-tickets-17693248984

Check out the taplist and give the Houston Funk Fest Facebook page a “like” while you’re there: https://www.facebook.com/houstonfunkfest/

*Proper use of the possessive apostrophe

The post Houston Funk Fest Preview first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

The post Houston Funk Fest Preview appeared first on Houston Beer Guide.