Although this beer was new to us at the time, it was the very first beer that Valle Kauniste, owner and brewmaster of Vallensons’ Brewing Company has ever brewed. After serving our country abroad, Valle landed in northern California on a search to find beers similar to what he was drinking in England. At the time, Sierra Nevada and other large craft beer breweries were flooding the beer market with new beer styles but Valle could not find any beers similar in taste to those beers he was craving from overseas. Being primarily a stout and porter fan, Valle set out to recreate that familiar beer style he loved and remembered. Over the years, grains and brewing techniques have evolved but the recipe for this beer still remains unchanged. As a result, the Settler’s Oatmeal stout is leading the pack for being the ‘most decorated’ stouts in the City.

The first time this beer awarded was back in Valle’s early homebrew days. Valle entered a new brewer competition called the ‘Mississippi Mashout’ and much to his surprise, took home a gold medal. In 2000, he moved to Houston and got involved with the local homebrew scene, established a homestead with his growing family and started the plans for a family owned brewery operation with his wife, Lori Kauniste. Valle scaled up his 5 gallon electric brew system to a 30 gallon system and quickly, craft beer became a big part of the Kauniste family lifestyle. The current 3BL system is pushing overtime, brewing new beer recipes each month and will soon be replaced with a custom built 7BL brewhouse to compliment the new expansion of the taproom and new event space in April. Did someone say VIP tours? Yes, please!

Additionally, Valle’s Oatmeal Stout has won…

Gold in the US Open Beer 2019

Silver in the US Open Beer 2020

and the big one, the 2020 Great American Beer Festival “Oatmeal Stout” Category – Gold.

“This is a beer that I really enjoy making and we are so glad that the community likes it. I feel like I am the new guy on the scene so taking home a gold medal at GABF this year is mind blowing to me. Two golds and a silver in two years – I am planning to call an upcoming beer “Validation” because we must be doing something right! – Valle K.

So, how does it taste? This beer features a rich roast flavor with a touch of residual sweetness that will delight any stout drinker. The body is medium to full with a slick velvet texture making it super easy to drink. At 5.9%, this beer is a perfect companion to your morning coffee to kick start your day with a buzz. On New Year’s Day, this beer was released in 16oz cans (4-packs) for the first time and cans quickly sold out over the weekend. But don’t fret – this beer will always have a spot on the Untappd tapwall and cans are back in restock each week.

Take a trip down south to Vallensons’ Brewing in Pearland on a nice Sunday afternoon, and enjoy a tulip pour of this award winning stout. While you are there, snag a beer flight and take advantage of the creative beers Valle and his team are creating each week.

AUDIO BONUS!

For more ‘behind the scene’ discussion about the story of this beer, check the Draught Queens audio segment with Valle Kauniste available here .

The post Beer Spotlight: Settler’s Oatmeal Stout first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

The post Beer Spotlight: Settler’s Oatmeal Stout appeared first on Houston Beer Guide.

The Saint Arnold booth at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver, Colorado.

The Great American Beer Festival is the largest beer festival in the United States. 2,404 breweries entered beers into the competition portion, and 8,864 beers were judged. Outside of the competition, the entire Colorado Convention Center is filled with hundreds of breweries pouring thousands of beers. As a first time attendee, it was a bit overwhelming with the quantity involved. The balance between the hype breweries like Bottle Logic and Weldwerks that required waiting in line, versus many of the small breweries that may be a highlight waiting to happen made decisions difficult. The buzz about certain beers made their way around the convention center like a middle school hallway. It was exciting and exhausting all at the same time. 

The Buffalo Bayou booth at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver, Colorado.

Since this is Houston Beer Guide, let’s talk about Houston. Houston was represented well on the serving floor. Buffalo Bayou, Saint Arnold, BAKFISH, and Texas Leaguer all had booths. 8th Wonder had a booth in the heavily advertised Jameson Caskmates Barrel-Aged Beer Garden, where Rocket Fuel took on the Jameson barrel. For the Houston booths, it was a highlight. I’m not the biggest fan of Jameson in general, but I felt Rocket Fuel was one of the few beers in the area that could handle it and meld well. Many of the other Jameson collaborations by some very big named breweries were overwhelmed by the barrel. The Jameson based Rocket Fuel will be appearing around Houston in the not too distant future, so be on the lookout.

After last year’s success, this was a rather quiet year for Houston at the festival. (Last year Houston area breweries brought home 6 medals and Saint Arnold won Mid-Size Brewing Company of the Year.) Austin won more than half of the 18 Texas-based awards, including multiple wins for the Austin Beer Garden Brewery, but the Houston area took home only two awards. Saint Arnold was the honorary of both medals, taking home a bronze in the Ordinary or Special Bitter category for their Amber Ale followed closely in the awards by a silver for Oktoberfest in the Scottish Style Ale category. This brings the Saint Arnold total medal count to 26 all time, a record for a brewery in the south. This would normally be the point in the article where I would have tasting notes for both of the winning beers, but if you’re reading this article there’s a 99% chance you’ve had these beers. If you haven’t, a trip to your local grocer or liquor store is in order, they’re in the cooler and both solid offerings. 

8th Wonder had a booth in the heavily advertised Jameson Caskmates Barrel-Aged Beer Garden.

What should we take home from such a small amount of awards for the Houston area? Not much in my personal opinion. Breweries can only enter in 4 beers. The beers that won awards for Houston last year may not have been entered this year at all. We’re still making our way up on the best American markets, but that climb is happening regardless of medals. As long as more breweries continue to push the envelope, and most importantly make good beers, Houston’s name will continue to grow. More medals and awards are on the way for Houston as long as drinkers demand great products. Keep drinking and demanding great beer Houston. 

Texas Leaguer at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver, Colorado.

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To be fair, Texas’ haul as a whole dropped, from fifteen to twelve. But the fact that Houston failed to take home even a single Bronze evokes a lot of questions, chief among them: is the city being left behind, as far as beer is concerned?

I intend to explore this question, and other tangential thoughts, in depth in future articles, but for now I have just two thoughts to touch upon. First, it’s possible that this conclusion is spot on. After all, Saint Arnold Weedwacker has been a big winner in the past, garnering two Bronze medals and one Gold. This year, the German-Style Wheat category actually had fewer entries than in 2015, so one would expect the back-to-back-to-back medalist to place again. (Interestingly, the Gold medal went to AlpenGlow from Ohio’s Fat Head’s Brewery, a brewery that took home five medals.) Second, and perhaps more importantly, these competitions aren’t perfect. Sure, the judges this year included Saint Arnold brewer Aaron Inkrott, but like any other subjective competition, there are whims and preferences that vary from person to person.

Ultimately, I don’t personally believe that medals at events like this matter all that much. But I do think there’s something to be said about the fact that a city that previously had shown an impressive trend of improving in the medal standings each year, by either quantity or position, has just fallen off, hard. I think the silence says quite a bit.

(Featured Image Photo © Brewers Association)

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Speaking of Saint Arnold, they managed to win a Gold Medal, their first since 2010, for Weedwacker, in the German-Style Wheat Ale category. Weedwacker is clearly a huge hit at GABF, as this is not the first medal it has garnished, and this Gold joins two years of straight Bronze in the same category.

Weedwacker’s Gold was one of nine Gold Medals that Texas took home this year, out of a total of fifteen overall medals. Though that’s a slight drop in the overall count from last year, it represents the best showing in the Gold position that Texas has ever had. In fact, only California took home more golds, showing that the appetite for Texas beer is clearly strong.

In addition to the Weedwacker Gold, Houston also earned one other medal this year: Karbach took home the Silver in American-Style Amber Lager for Karbachtoberfest. This marks the third year in a row that Houston has earned 2 medals after a two-year drought; clearly, I’m good luck.

But it wasn’t just on the award stage that Houston’s spotlight shone. The convention floor was full of people sampling the new sours at Texian as well as beers from Buffalo Bayou, No Label (I finally tried What the Hatch, and, yes, it’s as awesome as I expected), Texas Beer Refinery, and Saint Arnold. And, as expected, Saint Arnold did once again erect their famous wedding chapel and assist quite a few couples in love.

After a successful but exhausting GABF, I’m looking forward to a little rest. But more importantly, I’m looking forward to what the next year will bring.

Featured image courtesy of the Saint Arnold Twitter account.

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Courtesy of Texian Brewing

This year, Texian Brewing is debuting four brand new beers at the Great American Beer Festival (GABF). Three of them are mixed culture fermentations, a first for Texian.

Texian has been rolling out a new Wild Texas series of beers that showcase funky and sour flavors, along with names that reference little-known Texas trivia. The first beer in this series was “Donkey Lady”, a sour with apples and cinnamon that is as close to liquid apple pie as you can get without blending up an actual apple pie. The beer is named after an early settler that was burned in a fire and now haunts a bridge south of San Antonio.

Josh Haley, an Admiral in the Texas Navy, was kind enough to send me some information on the new sour and wild beers, along with the banner they are using for GABF, seen at the top.

FM359 is named after the Farm-to-Market road the brewery is located. Josh says, “We fermented this beer with a blend of Saccharomyces & Brettanomyces yeast strains as well as Lactobacillus bacteria. The combination creates a dry finish, a little fruitiness and a slight bit of tartness.” This sour and funky saison will be a base for fruited versions that Texian plans to release throughout the year. It is likely that the “plain” version won’t be found outside of their taproom or special events. The first fruited version will have raspberries and blackberries, and it should be available in 22 ounce bombers soon.

Courtesy of Texian Brewing

Aurora is the second in the “Wild Texas” series. It is a Golden sour brewed with Lactobacillus and Brettanomyces. The beer was then racked onto apricots and aged on oak. “The result is a tropical, fruit forward beer that is slightly tart and has a light hint of oak character”, says Josh. Aurora is named after the alleged UFO crash in Aurora, Texas, just north of Fort Worth.

Black Jesus will be the third beer in the “Wild Texas” series. Josh says it is “a dark sour beer that is fermented with a blend of Brettanomyces and Lactobacillus. After primary fermentation, it is aged on tart cherries. The result is a tart beer that has a great cherry flavor and a slightly roasted flavor from the dark malts.” It is named after full-sized bronze statue of Jesus in the Oakwood Cemetery in Huntsville (resting place of Sam Houston). The statue has darkened over time, and rumor is if you stare at it, the statue will switch from palms up to palms down.

For the sour beer nerds and homebrewers: These three beers are brewed with Brettanomyces and Lactobacillus, pitched alongside the Saccharomyces in primary. They will have live cultures in the bottle, unlike Texian’s other beers Donkey Lady and Charlie Foxtrot, which are kettle sours.

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