The Line for Spon on Friday at Jester King.

I’ve read the articles against standing in line for beer. Thrillist recently wrote one, and there’s an entire thread devoted to debating the subject on Beer Advocate, but here I sit, in my second line in a week for beer. The question you may ask is why? Do I not believe there are great beers sitting on the shelf at the local supermarket or Specs? Well, I know there are, probably ones that are better than whatever my line waiting ends up with. So what drove me to wake up at 5 AM this morning to drive the 30 minutes to wait in line at Hay Merchant? What drove me to caravan 3 hours to Austin for the Jester King Spon release last weekend? Why am I doing this when, right now, sitting on a shelf somewhere, is an equally amazing beer that I could have slept several more hours and picked up at my leisure? Why?! My wife really wants to know…

Reason 1: I’m an obsessive personality. I imagine many of the people in these lines are. People like me get an idea in their head and it’s tough to beat it out with things like logic or reason. Those things are for other people to worry about. I want a bottle of Atrial!!

Reason 2: They can actually be quite a bit of fun. This isn’t waiting in line at Disney World with your daughter constantly reminding you how bored she is. No, this is community. Something about that guy next to you drove him to do this as well.

Reason 3: Odds are someone is sharing something. In the Jester King line, I stood with several other HBG writers and as we took turns getting beers, other people we knew came around and shared something. The best beer I had that whole day wasn’t Spon, it was someone’s home brew that was being passed around. It was outstanding. I would have never have had that opportunity to meet that person, but maybe I run into him again somewhere else down the road. There were bottle shares going on all over the place in the line as we waited, and the atmosphere was fun and jovial. Even the early morning Hay Merchant line had a few beers popped; I stuck to the free donuts at that one.

Reason 4: The anticipation. Remember as a kid when you were pretty sure you knew what you were getting for Christmas, but you were still excited about it? At the end of that line, there is beer, and maybe you pop that bottle that night, or maybe it’s months from now, but you have it and you can be excited about it until you do. You can take it to that share you got invited to and feel you have something unique and interesting, but most importantly you have a story to share.

Reason 5: You make friends or you spend time with friends that go with you. I stood next to the same few people for 4 hours on a Friday morning at Hay Merchant. We talked beer almost the entire time, but you sprinkle in some getting to know them. At the end of the day you probably have a new social media friend or a few. Maybe you stick around and have a beer with them. I can guarantee you learn something about beer by the end of the time. I still chat from time to time with the guy I stood next to in last year’s line. Even if they aren’t near you, you recognize people from other beer related events. That guy with the Brash hat, yeah, he wears that hat everywhere, bad ass!

The line for Black Friday at The Hay Merchant.

If you’ve never stood in line for beer, let me pass on a couple of tips. First, take a chair, that ground or concrete won’t be that comfortable. Do make sure that chair is easily foldable though, and definitely have a way to carry it over your shoulder when the line starts moving. Second, bring something to eat if nothing is being sold. It can be a long wait. Many times even though something goes on sale at a certain time, it can be quite some time after that before you get your beer and pay for it. Keep that in mind. Third, be friendly, and don’t dare think of cutting. This isn’t elementary school, we’re all adults, be courteous of those behind you. If someone needs to go to the bathroom or get beers, that’s cool. You know who is standing around you. Just don’t be that guy that rolls in a few minutes before the release time and hops in line with his friend at the front. Fourth, be nice to the people dealing with the crowd or selling the beer at the end of the line. They’re working pretty darn hard on days like this. Fifth, think about bringing a bag, especially if you’re going to be buying more bottles than you can carry. Odds are they’ll have a carrier or box for you, but I’ve seen beer dropped or fall through a battered box too many times. It’s brutal to watch, you don’t want to be the person that waited for a few hours to drop his beers as he tries to unlock his car, or as happened to my friend, stain his carpet when the beers fell through the bottom of his box when he got home.

With that, I know this isn’t for everyone. Do you want to chat about beer for a long period of time? If you’re social like me, then probably yes. If you’re not, then take a friend. If this sounds like torture, then maybe it’s not for you. Are you in it only for the beer? Then maybe this isn’t for you either. Like I said, there is  probably equally as good stuff on the shelf. However, if you’re looking for an experience, and something to have a story for as you pull that prized bottle out of the fridge, I challenge you to give it a shot. Worst case, you hate it, you hate the beer, and you wish you had those hours of your life back, but hey, you’ll still have a buzz.

The post Is it Worth it to Stand in Line for Beer? first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

The post Is it Worth it to Stand in Line for Beer? appeared first on Houston Beer Guide.

Diners may be one thing, but any question of whether children should be present invariably leads to those procreating monsters who bring their children to bars. First thoughts tend to run to that pinnacle of cinematic achievement, Sweet Home Alabama, but then come rational-sounding arguments from both camps until they devolve into ad hominem attacks.

“Bars are for adults, and when I’ve had a long day at the office, I want to enjoy a drink without feeling like I’ve sat near the ball pit at Chuck-E-Cheese.”

“Well, parents are adults too, we’d like a drink after a long day, and sometimes this is the best or only place to see our friends.”

“Then you should’ve thought of that before you decided to reproduce.”

“Sorry we’re keeping the human race a going concern.”

Ad infinitum. Ad nauseam. Some outlets have tried to present this as a level-headed debate, with contributors presenting pros and cons. But as I read one such commentary, I got to the point where a Dad answering the question in the negative said, “But as soon as I brought a finger to my lips and gestured sheepishly toward my sleeping infant when someone started talking too loudly, I knew I’d crossed a line.” Hold the phone. That’s precisely where the case fails, and to me suggests a simple solution to the whole debate.

Thou shalt respect the atmosphere of the place you inhabit.

I’m not going to have my garage band practice at the library, nor do I expect to get my needlepoint done in a mosh pit. Some bars are more kid-friendly than others, to be sure, and many that may allow them during the day ban them after dark. The drinking age is 21, after all. But scenesters should be able to enjoy happy hour without a cacophony of caterwauling cockerels, while breeders can have a drink with friends as long as they don’t expect their child to get a nap in or avoid the errant F-bomb. Can’t we all just get a beer?

Where is all this headed? Houston’s newest brewery, Brash, has been successively rolling out their offerings in recent weeks, and tomorrow the official release of Cortado – an imperial coffee breakfast stout – will be held simultaneously at Southside Espresso and the Hay Merchant, where brunch will start at 8 am for the occasion. Full disclosure: I’ve got a 16-month-old toddler. No matter what shenanigans we might try to get into the night before, he’ll be up by 7:00 wanting milk, and he’ll normally be eating fruit and waffles by 8:00 or 8:30. If I’m on morning duty tomorrow, why can’t we all have breakfast at Hay Merchant and try some Cortado? Kidding. He’s on the wagon. But as long as he’s not running around the place knocking people’s snifters on the floor, no harm no foul, right? 8:00 am breakfast is probably too early for those childless denizens tripping the light fantastic on a Friday night, anyway.

Where do you stand on the question? Can everyone live by my single commandment? Brash is doing some exciting things on the Houston beer scene, so maybe you’ll see me tomorrow morning. And maybe you’ll see mini-me.

The post Pub-escent first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

The post Pub-escent appeared first on Houston Beer Guide.

@GoodBeerHouston

These guys have been at it for a number of years, and just do a damn fine job of keeping up with the amazing diversity of beer events, releases, tappings, and general goings on across the vast geography that is Houston. If there’s one account to plug into on a visit to Houston, it’s this one. They’ll get you to a great spot with good beer and good people to talk to.

@FlyingSaucerHou, @SaucerSugarLand, @Petrol_Station, @HayMerchant, @Cottonwoodbar, @DandTIceHouse, @nobipub, @GrowlersMontros

Every craft beer bar in Houston has a social media presence, but these bars stand out to me for their interaction with customers, frequent tweeting of specials (and special tappings), and just overall participation in the social media fabric of H-town’s beer scene

@Specs_Beer_Dept, @TheBeerStation, @CornerFoodMart

Again, many supermarkets (especially the HEB locations around town) and the Whole Foods do a nice job of tweeting out special releases and allocations, but these 3 guys have been at it a long time and, like the bars I listed above, are interactive with their customers on Tha Twitterz.

So let’s say you’re at that craft beer bar or store, and you just scored an incredible pint/bottle of tasty Houston craft beer…but there’s no one to talk about it with! The HBG crew is a great place to start — they’ll always be willing to send a few @replies into your timeline …

@HoustonBeer, @astrosguy, @beernoulli, @beer_chris, @nathanmmiller, @beernerds, @LushtasticTX, @ehnovelty, @TheBeerGentlmn, @Jack_Around, @TimSpies, @codyhaskell, @ManuelTransmssn, @Lake_Speed

The post A (very) short guide to who to follow on Houston beer Twitter first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

The post A (very) short guide to who to follow on Houston beer Twitter appeared first on Houston Beer Guide.