The flight at Drake’s in San Leandro, CA – One of my favorite flight presentations

Last week, I drove from my lovely Midtown castle to the faraway lands known as “The Heights” in order to sample the new beers at Town in City Brewery. Though the journey was far and perilous (traffic on 45N), I rested easy knowing that soon, I’d get to try some new-to-me and new-to-Houston beers, almost making the prospect of driving worth it.

As a responsible driver and frequent ticker, I had two goals: drink every beer that Town in City offered and subsequently drive home sober. So I asked the same question I ask every brewery I visit: “do y’all offer flights?”

The answer, sadly, was no. Town in City offers three sizes for on-premise consumption: 10 ounces, 20 ounces, and 60 ounces. With five beers on tap, that meant I either had to consume 50 ounces of beer (not driving-friendly) or send a lot of half-drank glasses back to be poured out. Because my desire to be safe trumps my desire to drink, I opted for the latter.

Thankfully, my friendly bartender at TiC understood my dilemma and rather than waste beer, poured me smaller samples. I was able to solve all my problems through the benefit of excellent customer service. However, it immediately brought a question to my mind: where are Houston’s brewery flights?

I am fortunate enough to travel frequently, for work or pleasure, and when I do, I visit breweries. According to untappd, I’ve been to 155 breweries since August 2012. And at those breweries, in places as wide-ranging as London, San Diego, Miami, and Boston (and many places in between), the answer to my question above, “do y’all offer flights?” is usually, “Of course! The details are…”

To illustrate my point, here’s a breakdown of the most recent 15 breweries I’ve visited, in 7 locations:

• Town in City; Saint Arnold; 11 Below — Houston, TX — No flights or tasters offered
• Galveston Island — Galveston, TX — Flights of four at a time
• La Cumbre; Marble; Nexus; Chama River; Bosque — Albuquerque, NM — Flights of four/five at a time
• Firestone Walker; Barrelhouse — Paso Robles, CA — Flights of four at a time
• Ladyface Alehouse — Agoura Hills, CA — Flights of five/six at a time
• Oasis Texas; Pinthouse Pizza — Austin, TX — Flights of five/six at a time
• Other Half — Brooklyn, NY — Single 4oz tasters

Obviously this is a small list, but notice something interesting here: only the three Houston breweries stand out as not offering flights or tasters. Even our neighbors a county over in Galveston have flights (and they come in little adorable Ball jars), and our friends in Austin offer tasters or flights as well. Yet, for some reason, Houston seems to be missing this typical brewery offering.

Admittedly, Whole Foods Market offers flights. And as a ‘brewpub’-style establishment, I’d be shocked if they didn’t. But otherwise, I can think of no Houston brewery that offers flights. If we’re going to get serious about beer tourism in this city, I think that our breweries need to address this gap. Especially in a city as car-centric as Houston. So rather than asking “do y’all offer flights?” at my next Houston brewery visit, I intend to ask: “where are Houston’s flights?”

Update: A couple of breweries have reached out over Twitter. Saint Arnold offers flights during their regular lunch hours and 8th Wonder offers flights Sunday-Thursday. A Twitter user tells us Southern Star also offers flights.

The post Where are Houston’s flights? first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

The post Where are Houston’s flights? appeared first on Houston Beer Guide.

There’s been a lot of talk in the Houston beer community about how the “solution to our problems” will be neighborhood-focused breweries. Houston’s urban sprawl makes it unlikely that we will duplicate the brewery-every-mile format of more developed beer cities, but that also makes it the perfect environment to have a brewery (or two or three) catering specifically to their neighborhood. While some newer breweries have been getting all the attention, Gordon Street Tavern has been quietly building this exact kind of ultra-local brewpub in Alvin.

Located in a beautifully restored 100 year old building, originally home to a hardware company, Gordon Street Tavern has been quietly brewing their own beer since mid-April. When owner Henry Dillmann bought Gordon Street 2 years ago, chef Jay Peek convinced him to keep the craft beer selections. Well, the craft beer bug bit Henry hard, and he is now fulfilling many beer drinker’s dreams: owning a brewery and sharing the craft beer gospel. He’s doing good work too, craft currently makes up 60% of their beer sales and that percentage is constantly increasing. To top it off, their Hefeweizen is their top selling craft beer, an honor well deserved.

Owner Henry Dillmann has done a great job tying the history of the city of Alvin into the identity of Gordon Street. As you walk in, you can’t help but see the arial photo of old Alvin filling up an entire wall. The tap handles used for the Gordon Street beers are railroad spikes, a tribute to Alvin’s history as a railroad town. One of their flagship beers, “Shep N John’s Golden Ale” is named after local celebrities: Shep the dog and John the goose, pets of town founder Alvin Morgan. All this makes Gordon Street feel less like a bar or restaurant and more like your friend’s living room. Adding to this feeling is the kindness of the staff and customers. Henry’s wife sat at the bar and ate dinner with my wife and I, and the ladies to the other side of us filled us in on the last 3 bands to play at Gordon Street during their live music Wednesdays. We didn’t make it very far into the menu before ordering 4 appetizers. My favorite were the pretzel sticks, with some very spicy, house made, Hopadillo Mustard, but they had some stiff competition.

They can fill up 2 large kegs, or 6 slim kegs, per batch.

We talked Henry and Jay into giving us a tour of the brewery while visiting for the afternoon. Tucked away in the building next door is a 1 barrel electric brewery. Their fermentation room is a walk in freezer, with the temperature set in the high 60‘s. Although this is his first professional brewing job, Jay has been brewing at home for around 25 years, and the knowledge gained shows through in his operation. During our visit, they had their Hefeweizen and Shep N John’s Golden Ale on tap.

The Hefeweizen is a traditional Bavarian Hefeweizen brewed with pilsner malt and wheat malt, noble hops, and a traditional Hefeweizen yeast strain. It is very light and easy to drink. The flavor is a very present but delicate banana which is followed by a clove spice, all flavors created by the yeast during fermentation, not additives. The sweetness of the grain comes in at the end to balance it all out. Shep N John’s is their Golden Ale targeted at craft converts. It is an exceptional gateway beer. I could definitely see myself drinking a pint or two on the patio listening to some live music, especially in our summertime heat. It’s a perfectly balanced golden ale, something that is much harder to execute than you may expect. It has a sweet malty aroma and flavor and a moderate amount of fruitiness from the American hop profile. It’s brilliantly clear despite the fact that I didn’t see any filtration equipment during our tour.

Based on these two beers, you may think they’re brewing only “basic light beers” and playing it safe in the shallow end of the ocean of craft beer styles. While good execution of light styles is something all palates can enjoy, they are also brewing “beer nerd” beers. Tapping soon, they have a SMaSH (Single Malt and Single Hop) IPA, brewed with Vienna Malt and Amarillo hops. In the fermenter, they currently have an Oud Bruin, a sour brown ale Jay is aging until their 1 year brewing anniversary. They also recently brewed a Gose, a tart beer brewed with coriander and salt. The salt for that small batch came from the Galveston County salt domes, ancient underground salt deposits.

In addition to their house beers, their tap list is a well curated list of classic favorites and newer locals. When I visited they had Live Oak Hefe, Saint Arnold Endeavor, Lone Pint Yellow Rose, Texas Beer Refinery Gose, and the first Fetching Lab tap I’ve seen around town. And they’re not afraid of sours and Brett beers either. Their current tap list has 5 of them. They keep their TapHunter page up-to-date, because they use tablets with the TapHunter app for their beer list. The drawback to this is they don’t list prices, but everything is in the $4-6 range.

Gordon Street Tavern is a neighborhood pub. It’s where people gather to watch the game, meet friends, and share stories. No matter where you’re from, it feels like home. The next time you’re in Alvin, whether you’re picking strawberries at Froberg’s Farm, passing through, or heading home, stop in at Gordon Street for a pint.

Shep N John’s Golden Ale (Left) & Hefeweizen (Right)

The post History is Being Brewed in Downtown Alvin first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

The post History is Being Brewed in Downtown Alvin appeared first on Houston Beer Guide.