August is Houston Beer Month. 

Yeah….we just made it up. Isn’t that how all great ideas are started anyways? In fact, this project is so new that we don’t even have an official logo finalized yet!  But those things will come later, much later!   So why are we doing this?

In deemed craft beer cities across the nation, it’s common to see a week-long schedule of events and things to do around town.  These beer weeks are catered breweries hosting taproom events, locals-only pours/taproom takeovers at local beer bars and the loyal beer drinkers (both residents and tourist travelers) celebrating the delicious beer we have to offer.  With being the largest city in Texas and the ever expanding melting pot of styles selection in beer, we have no choice but to go BIG with a month long celebration, sticking by the place we call home.  

Wanna get involved?  That’s easy!  Drink up and speak up!  We are asking all Houston beer folk to show mad love to their local breweries in celebration all month by sharing their social media posts, tagging locally made beer on their socials and show love for all things Houston beer! Houston Beer Guide is also accepting guest community contributors all month for those that want to share their love for Houston beer with us. We are happy to feature your work and are excited to hear your perspective. Check out our writing guidelines below and tell us why you love Houston with beer reviews, photography and stories of great craft beer and comradery. Don’t forget to tag us at @HoustonBeer and use hashtag #HoustonBeerMonth for reposts and giveaways! 

Breweries! Tell us about your upcoming Houston Beer Month events – We will share it with our readers as a special thank you for contributing to Houston Beer Month. 

In the meantime, help us get the word out and encourage your local Houston brewery/bars to get involved.  After all, it’s a celebration of all the amazing beer served in this city!  As beer fans, we hope you will join us year after year in this deserving endeavor in support of Houston beer.  Once August is completed into planning next year, our work continues on to grow this but we gotta start somewhere. It’s time we put our city in the spotlight it deserves. 

Houston Beer Month and Houston Beer Guide marketing assets are available upon request by email at cheers@houstonbeerguide.com.

Cheers Houston!

PS. Want to see where I am drinking? Follow my adventures all month on Instagram.

-Sylvia

@HoustonBeerMother

Guest Contributor Writing Guidelines for August

• Articles should be at least 2-3 paragraphs max
• Articles should be focused on your honest experience about beer or brewery, ideally positive with an engaging story or subject
• Must include an original photo with our article. Submitting multiple photos is also accepted
• We are publishing articles daily for the month of August – email your submissions to cheers@HoustonBeerGuide.com along with your full name, city of residence and featured photo of yourself.

The post Celebrating Houston Beer Month in August first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

The post Celebrating Houston Beer Month in August appeared first on Houston Beer Guide.

My new Founders mug, included with the flight!

Back in August, I asked, “Where are Houston’s flights?” Since then, many breweries have begun offering flights, and slowly, my vision for a small-drink Houston brewery scene is coming true. At the same time, a few bars have begun offering flights, including what is probably the greatest flight program in Houston at Mongoose versus Cobra in Midtown.

You’re likely familiar with the traditional flight structure at bars that offer them: in contrast to a brewery highlighting their beers all at once, a bar flight usually allows you to “pick and choose” from a list of beers that cost around the same amount in order to try multiple things. Flying Saucer, for example, offers a “Build your own” flight, in addition to some pre-designed flights such as “Hop Head,” “Texas,” or “World Taster.” However, the flights at Mongoose are a different paradigm altogether: they are offered only once, they highlight a single brewery at a time, and they include beers that, if you asked for them as part of a flight at most bars, would get you a laugh and a head shake.

Take for instance the December Founders Brewing Flight, a flight I was happy to partake in. Participants on December 3 (these special flights occur on alternating Thursday nights only) received six-ounce pours of Curmudgeon Old Ale, Founders Imperial Stout, Founders Breakfast Stout, and Kentucky Breakfast Stout. The last one was poured into a beautiful mug which participants got to keep. The total cost? $15. Considering the lengths to which many in Houston went to try to even taste KBS, this was a crazy steal. Add the awesome mug in, and you’ve got an irresistible flight.

The flight that started it all: Houston Beer Week’s inaugural flight.

Other Thursday MvsC flights, all of which are between $10-15, have featured similar incredible offerings:

• Clown Shoes flight featuring a special firkin of Space Cake (yum!)
• A No Label/Ballast Point flight that included the only cask of Nightmare on First Street aged on Ballast Point Three Sheets Rum oak chips
• A $10 Texas Beer Refinery flight including the incredible Cranberry Gose
• Bourbon County flight including the very-chased-after 2014 BCBCS and two of the “Sister” sours.

As a lover of flights, I urge you to make your way “under the ivy,” as they put it, for the next Thursday night flight on Jan 28. And you’re in for a treat: my favorite brewery in Texas, Real Ale, is the focus of a flight that includes TWO Mysterium Verum beers this Thursday. Devil’s Share (wine barrel aged Devil’s Backbone Tripel – this is a rare treat), and Codex Triplex (Brett. Brux. steel-aged WT3F?! – I recently tried and was blown away by this one) both are the stars of the show, joining two other Real Ale delights. Don’t miss out!

The post Mongoose versus Cobra has the best flights in Houston first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

The post Mongoose versus Cobra has the best flights in Houston appeared first on Houston Beer Guide.

Houston Beer Week is not just another week; there’s fifty one of those sprinkled liberally throughout the year already. No, HBW is a shining beacon of hope, an oasis in the desert, a sign of beauty and glory, and a lot of other overly vibrant metaphors.

When I think back on HBWs of the past, I think back on wonderful experiences with new friends, drinking new beers, at new-to-me places. That theme, of newness in beer, is one that continually draws me back to this wonderful beverage. Newness is exciting, and if you can find new excitement (and I certainly do), if you can find new thirst, then that initial wonder upon tasting your first “favorite beer” doesn’t have to be a thing of the past. Thus, I present to you, a short list of events I’ve chosen to highlight for Houston Beer Week 2015 with the theme “new again.” I hope you’ll join me at these or many other events this week.

New To Houston

Alpine Beer Company has been around since 1999, but only in the last month have they entered our fair city. They’ll be at many events this week, including a tap takeover at Whole Foods Voss and special west-coast takeovers at both Petrol Station and Hop Scholar. But as for me, I’m most excited for the “Westside Connection” at Flying Saucer Downtown. Not only for delicious new-to-Houston Alpine brews, but for wonderful West Coast rap music.

New Beer

Karbach is going hard for HBW this year, and in addition to a new Pilsner and Blood Orange Ale, they’ll also be supplying a keg of their new imperial stout, Three Legged Lab, to Mongoose v Cobra for their “Mongoose Versus Houston” flight. Because this flight is available all week long, I’ll be able to stop in after work one day and also try the new 2522 Hefe from Southern Star. Two new beers in one shot. Hot dang.

New To Me

I have a confession to make and I’m not proud of it: I’ve never had Dairymaids cheese. I freaking love cheese, and somehow I’ve missed out. But soon this shall not be true! A new-to-me venue, Siphon Coffee, is hosting a BB9 cheese pairing with new-to-me Dairymaids cheese. I’m stoked.

New Breweries

11 Below doesn’t open officially until May, but the upcoming Houston brewery is hosting a sneak peek and three-beer tasting during HBW. And obviously I’m very excited for that, because with names like “Oso Bueno,” how can their beer be anything but exciting? But one new brewery isn’t enough for one week, so Brash, the newest brewery as of this week, will bring two kegs of their freshly-brewed hoppiest beers to Beavers for a speakeasy night. And there’s live music too.

These are obviously only a handful of the many, many events going on this week, so get yourself over to the official Houston Beer Week events calendar or live map and find some beer to drink!

The post Houston Beer Week 2015 first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

The post Houston Beer Week 2015 appeared first on Houston Beer Guide.