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.

Don’t feel too bad; it’s not (entirely) your fault. But if you’re anything like most craft drinkers I know — and you’re reading this site, so you probably are — then you’re currently the proud owner of beer that is way past its prime. That thought kinda sucks, right? Well it’s not nearly as bad as opening that special bottle you’ve been saving for just the right occasion, only to take your first sniff and…BAM! Wet cardboard.

Don’t let that happen to you. If it has happened to you, don’t let it happen again. Welcome to #DrinkNow.

#DrinkNow means drinking fresh. It means drinking a beer soon after you buy it, when it’s at its (probable) peak, as the brewer intended. It means no longer aging beer.

Now, sure, there are some caveats/exceptions to #DrinkNow. I’ll get into those in a later post. For now, why #DrinkNow?

It took me a while to get here. I started aging beer essentially by default. I bought more than I could drink, and instead of slowing down the purchases, I put them in a cardboard box. That was 2008. The box turned into four by 2010. By then I was buying to age on purpose. (Remember those heady days when Houston shelves were so sparse that you could realistically buy two of every new beer, one to drink and one to age?) A couple of years later came a cabinet, and then a year later, a dedicated beer fridge. By early 2014, I had somewhere around 175 bottles aging in the fridge and the cabinet (and a couple more boxes).

Then we had the twins. Weekly trips to the store became a monthly trip, at best. Beers after work and nights out became something else entirely. If I wanted to drink beer, it had to be at home. So I went into the cellar. Some beers were still pretty good. Others had aged “interestingly”. And a select few were complete disasters — oxidized beyond belief, with no hint of the original beer left.

The tipping point came in August of 2014. To help navigate my cellar, I set up “theme weeks” (nerd alert!), with verticals, horizontals or stylistic threads. One of those was a Brett Week. Clearly a series of world-class Brett beers would’ve aged well, right? Not quite. A 2012 Green Flash Rayon Vert was really good, and a 2012 Boulevard Saison-Brett was in a bit of a sweet spot. But a 2011 Saison-Brett was weird and boozy. Worst of all, a 2011 Orval was a completely oxidized disaster. No Brett, no bite or brightness or anything resembling my favorite beer — just limp, wet cardboard.

I wasn’t quite done with aging beer. I told myself I’d stop aging Saison-Brett, and that I would be more selective. There were some hits, too — a 2011 Jester King Black Metal (OG/English Ale yeast version) was spectacular. But for every hit there were multiple misses. I’m still upset at that accidentally aged The Bruery Melange 8. Fresh, it was a spectacular coffee/bourbon blend; two years later, it had turned into a watery, ashy mess. Other misses were rarely undrinkable, but they were almost always letdowns, expected-betters, hoped-for-mores.

Most importantly, they were not as good as fresh.

By last summer, I had whittled down my cellar to about 100 bottles, and was ready to start preaching the gospel of #DrinkNow (although I didn’t coin the phrase; my friend, and fellow HBG writer Tim came up with it). I talked about it on Twitter and quickly found that many of y’all were in the same boat — maybe not at the same point of the cellaring journey, but definitely on the same path. You’d found a bottle in the back of your cellar that never should’ve been aged, or you had a well-cellared bottled that disappointed, or you realized that a beer you always age is even better fresh. Or, you finally acknowledged that a 200- or 300-bottle cellar (you know who you are) is ridiculous, impossible to manage and a waste of great beer.

I have about 45 bottles left in my cellar. Only 10 of them are being aged “on purpose”. Most of the rest are monsters from The Bruery — 750ml bottles over 12% abv that are tough to take down solo, even over a couple of nights (#HoardersProblems). I’m fully aware that the clock is ticking on them. That 2013 Black Tuesday, while likely still delicious, might have already peaked and could be getting worse by the day. Thanks to #DrinkNow, I won’t be making that mistake again.

The post #DrinkNow: why you should stop aging beer first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

The post #DrinkNow: why you should stop aging beer appeared first on Houston Beer Guide.

Photo by Andy Bouffard

I guess third time’s a charm: after being plagued by weather problems the past two years, 2015’s Untapped Festival was a perfectly sunny sweat-drencher. The weather wasn’t the only thing Untapped got right this year: from beer selection to musical talent, this year’s line-up did Houston proud.

I got there a little later than I wanted to due to events out of my control, so I missed out on a couple rare and limited-quantity tappings (looking at you, Jester King Fen Tao and Firestone Walker Helldorado), but I got to try almost everything else on my “must-hit” list.  

First up, Jester King La Vie en Rose. Made with raspberries previously tasked to make their much-beloved Atrial Rubicite, La Vie en Rose is dry and, predictably, less fruity than Atrial Rubicite. To me, that’s not a bad thing. Don’t get me wrong, I like Atrial Rubicite, but I’ve never been a fangirl. (I’m more of a Noble King kind of gal.) La Vie en Rose is vinous; add that to the dryness and subtle raspberry, and it tastes almost like a slightly sour rosé.

At the Saint Arnold tent I skipped some of the rare tappings as I’ve tried most of them before, but somehow I’d missed Divine Reserve 15 (Russian Imperial Stout), which was lovely: boozy, creamy, chocolately and pruny. I also finally tried the new Art Car IPA which had a floral nose and a crisp, fruity body with a bitter finish. I have to say I like it better than Elissa.

Too late to the party, I missed out on Pussy Wagon, but I got try Brash’s Cali Green. I’ve heard a few people criticize it for being too bitter, but I think its bitterness is well balanced with citrus and incredibly drinkable. In fact, excuse me while I go get a growler fill.

Photo by Andy Bouffard

Freetail’s Oktoberfiesta, an Oktoberfest bier fermented with Belgian yeast, surprised me: clean, slightly fruity with a hint of bitterness and a caramel finish. That may not sound like it works, but it does.

I am an equal-opportunity beer-lover. I really do like most styles, and even if I don’t, I will always try them at least once. I’ve never been a fan of smoked beers, but I like to push myself outside my comfort zone. Based on recommendation and my admiration for their venerable Hefeweizen, I decided to give Live Oak’s Grodziskie and Helles Rauchlager a try. I was pleasantly surprised.

Grodiziskie is an almost-extinct Polish style made from oak-smoked wheat. More earthy than smoky, and slightly lemony, the grodiziskie is a nice alternative to a hefeweizen that would taste great with barbecue. The Helles Rauchlager is made with beechwood-smoked barley like a rauchbier, but pale like a helles lager. It is dry and aggressively smoky, but the clean noble hops shone through and created a very refreshing, summery brew. With all the single-hop beers out right now, it was a nice change of pace to try some styles that are, as Jason from Live Oak said, “more like an orchestra than a solo.”

Moving onto beers from outside of Texas, SanTan Moon Juice, a wheat IPA with a beautifully floral and citrus nose, impressed with a nice balance of fruity and bitter, as did Founders Porter with its creamy mouthfeel, notes of coffee and chocolate, and lightly smoky finish.

I always go for favorites when I can get them on draft, so I was delighted to get some pours of Lagunitas Maximus, Victory Golden Monkey, Real Ale Devil’s Backbone, and one of my new favorites, Boulevard The Calling.

Of course, as with all festivals there are always too many beers and too little time. I missed out on several brews I wanted to try, such as 8th Wonder Mission Control and Premium Goods, Ballast Point Indra Kunindra and Even Keel, and Independence Red Bud. But, there’s always next year.

Photo by Andy Bouffard

I go to a lot of festivals. Too often you have to choose between drinking great beer and listening to crappy music or listening to great music and drinking crappy beer. What I like about Untapped is that the good folks who organize it had the bright idea to make it a no-compromise situation for people like me who appreciate both beer and music. As with the past two years (thank you Suffers and Tontons), I found a new-to-me band to add to my list of local favorites — New York City Queens, who remind me of the Dum Dum Girls with the addition of, well, guys.

Sarah Jaffe surprised me; having only heard “Clementine” and a couple of her earlier ballads, I expected a folky set and instead got a guitar-driven alt rock show. I was casually interested in her music before, but after witnessing her guitar skills and falling in love with her emotionally vulnerable songs, I am now an official fan.

I have long liked Cold War Kids, and their set had moments of glory. Nathan Willett’s voice was strong throughout, but the band’s enthusiasm lagged at times. Standouts included “We Used to Vacation,” “Drive Desperate,” “I’ve Seen Enough,” and their most well-known song, “Hang Me Up to Dry.”

New this year to Untapped Houston was the addition of the Saint Arnold Game Garden tent. While I’m not a gamer, I thought it was a great idea for geeks to have another way to enjoy themselves and stay out of the heat.

Finally, food. Festival food is often salty, fried or overcooked. Fortunately, the Untapped organizers promote the farm-to-table movement. Enter Underbelly to the rescue with the best festival burger I’ve ever had. Kind had a tent for gluten-free festival goers, with interesting new savory bar flavors. I particularly enjoyed the Sweet Thai Chili, Honey Smoked BBQ and Honey Mustard offerings.

Kudos to Untapped for getting all the festival elements right. I’m already looking forward to next year’s fest.

The post Untapped Festival 2015 – All the beer. All the music. All the sweat. first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

The post Untapped Festival 2015 – All the beer. All the music. All the sweat. appeared first on Houston Beer Guide.

Untapped Houston is this Saturday at Discovery Green, and you’re obviously going. You’re not? Oh. Well, you really should. It’s Houston’s best annual craft beer festival by far, and also doubles as a pretty cool music fest too. Plus, the weather is supposed to be awesome. So, yeah. You should buy tickets. Go. I’ll wait.

OK, now we can talk about the beer. It’s a huge list, both awesome and overwhelming at once. It’s one of those classic #beernerdproblems — you want to drink all the beers (and tick all the ticks) but you don’t even know where to start. That’s where this post comes in. I’ve been to a beer fest or four, and since I’m a nerd about these things, I never go in without a gameplan (and/or a spreadsheet). After a few hours of staring at the list, I’ve got a pretty good idea of what I want to drink. Maybe more importantly, I also know what I’m going to drink first.

–Jester King

A pretty obvious first stop, and a repeat from last year’s first stop and first beer: 分 桃, aka Fen Tao, their peach sour. In addition to having an awesome label/name/story, it’s delicious. I’m pretty confident that this will be the first keg to blow on Saturday, so it’s a no-brainer. Don’t ignore La Vie en Rose while you’re here: this farmhouse ale refermented with “leftover” Atrial Rubicite raspberries is nowhere near as famous as AR (it also looks and tastes almost nothing like it), but it’s a great beer on its own.

–Freetail

I remain bitter about the biggest tease in recent Texas craft beer history (RIP, Freetail Houston), but Freetail still rocks. I’m most excited about trying their Peach Berlinercus, a blend of Yo Soy Un Berliner (their summer seasonal Berliner Weisse) and Peche’cus (their rye wit aged in wine barrels with peaches). They’re also bringing Rye Wit (what it says on the tin) and Oktobefiesta (an Oktoberfest with a twist in the form of Belgian yeast).

–Karbach

These guys seem to be flexing their creative muscles a bit more lately, with the most exciting project (to me, anyway) being the recently announced Fieldworks series. Three of the six Karbach beers available at Untapped will be “new to me”: Bourbon Barrel Hellfighter with Vanilla, Belgian Tripel, and Belgian Pale Ale. If you haven’t tried it yet, the Fieldworks Brett IPA is definitely worth a shot, too.

–Firestone Walker

Few U.S. breweries can match these guys when it comes to the diversity of their exceptional portfolio — they make kickass “regular” beers (two of which, Pivo Pils and Union Jack IPA, will be at the fest), and they’re at the head of the class when it comes to barrel-aged monsters. They’re only bringing one of the latter to Untapped, but it’s a doozy: Helldorado, a blonde barleywine that they just released for the very first time. I missed out on a bottle, but there’s no way I’m missing it on Saturday.

–Live Oak

A huge key to surviving a long day at a beer festival is making sure many of your pours are low in alcohol. There’s no better place to do this than at the Live Oak stand. Their Hefeweizen (5.2%) is world class and on the short list of “best beers in Texas” regardless of style. They’re also bringing two rarer beers that I’m excited to try for the first time: the 3.0% abv Grodziskie (a top-fermented, smoked, hoppy, all-wheat Polish style that was nearly extinct), and the 4.4% Helles Rauchlager (a pale, smoky and bitter lager brewed using a decoction mash).

You’ll note that I’ve only suggested 15 of the 250 or 300 beers that will be available on Saturday. That’s no knock on many of the breweries/beers that went unmentioned. There’s going to be a TON of good stuff out there. Just to name a couple more:

-Saint Arnold is bringing their delicious new Art Car IPA and their eminently crushable (and also delicious) Boiler Room Berliner Weisse. They’re also serving some Divine Reserve and Bishop’s Barrel big guns at scheduled times. Expect lines for those.

-8th Wonder and Buffalo Bayou are each bringing staples (Rocket Fuel and Hopston; 1836 and More Cowbell), rarities (Mission Control and AstroTurf; Peppermint Gingerbread Stout and Whiskey’d Smoke on the Bayou), and Cream Ales (Dome Faux’m and Sam’s Daily).

-Brash has released four Houston-brewed beers (all of which are really good), and three will be at Untapped: Cortado Imperial Coffee Stout, Cali Green IPA, and Pussy Wagon Imperial IPA.

Hell, that’s just some of the Houston stuff. There’s so much more. KBS! Red Bud! Commissar! BA Narwhal! BA Bigfoot! The Calling! Saison-Brett! Yellow Rose! Sorachi Ace! Abyss! Burton Baton! 120! Zoe! La Folie! Cali Belgique! Golden Monkey! Outer Darkness!

You get the point. If you made it this far and you’re still not going, you confuse me. But I’m not giving up on you. Go get those tickets. See y’all on Saturday.

The post My first 5 stops at Untapped Houston first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

The post My first 5 stops at Untapped Houston appeared first on Houston Beer Guide.

When I think about what inspires me, regarding the future of craft beer in Houston and throughout Texas, I look toward the innovators. The forward thinkers. The entrepreneurs. I am intrigued by those who choose to blend passion, good taste, and a unique vision to change the way we think about the beverages we love along with (in this case) the process by which we acquire them. When it comes to the growth of any local craft beer scene, distribution is a key component often overlooked by consumers. It’s easy to pay attention to the producers (ISO: Whalezbro) and the retailers (cans + growlers = crowlers!). With hype exploding at either end, who has time to think about the middleman? When distribution is noticed, it’s never for a good reason. Follow any Texas beer-related legislation and you will quickly learn that our distributors are not the good guys. But what if they could be? What if a distributor came along to push the envelope in Texas as much as you pushed your palate at last week’s bottle share?

Amid Houston Beer Week, I had a chance to sit down with Kyle White of Flood Independent Distribution, Texas’ only non-BMC affiliated beer distribution company that distributes statewide. White started Flood in February of 2014 along with Brian Rod, his long-time friend, and Kevin Smith, a previous employee of Duff Beer Distributors. During my chat with Kyle, we talked about how Flood came to be, why he is so passionate about craft beer in Texas and what lies ahead in the next five years.

Happiest people are those that follow their passions.

In 2011, White was looking to enter the craft beer world through production. He had been drinking craft beer for about six years, was homebrewing 2-3 times a week, and was eager to pursue a career he felt passionate about. “Happiest people are those that follow their passions,” said White about the decision to leave behind his previous and varied pursuits, ranging from teaching in Korea to legal archiving. He applied to several breweries in Houston but found it difficult to get hired. Finally, he landed a gig to be a driver for Duff Beer Distributors. “Ash Rowell was the best boss I ever had,” said White of the former Duff owner who passed away in early 2013. “Probably the best boss I’ll ever have,” he continued. White worked as a driver for Duff until the company was acquired by Dallas-based distributor Favorite Brands. It was then that White felt he was presented with the opportunity to make a big impact on the community he cared so much. He contemplated the idea of creating a beer distribution company in Texas that was unlike any other in the state. With encouragement from several local craft beer scene influencers, including Kevin Floyd, White took the plunge and partnered with Brian Rod and Kevin Smith. In February 2014, Flood Independent Distribution was born. With Flood, Kyle and his partners set out to do three things: try to do right by Ash Rowell and his influence in the beer community, provide an alternative option for distributorship within the three-tier system by offering breweries open-door contracts, and, of course, bring amazing new beers to Texas.

There is is no exit plan. This is our statement to the craft beer community.

If you are unfamiliar with the three-tier system in Texas, it’s a process that was put in place to keep the market even-handed across producers, wholesalers, and retailers. At their core, beer distributors are not evil. They take on the operating costs and business responsibilities that small breweries would have a difficult time handling on their own. So why do they get such a bad rap? “What happens is a lot of distributors get tied down to whatever their largest brewery wants them to do,” said White. This means if a craft brewery partners with an Anheuser-Busch InBev or MillerCoors-aligned wholesaler, they could easily be overshadowed and neglected. However, with the growth of craft beer and the slow but inevitable decline of big beer, boutique and craft-focused distributors are gaining traction across markets in the U.S. “Independent distributors have more flexibility and are able to be more reactionary,” said White.

Working to keep their operations customer-centric, to do what’s best for their accounts, and to influence the sophistication of craft beer in Texas, Flood has grown into a small but fierce distributor in the 14 months it has been in operation. The partners each contribute their knowledge and expertise in a way that creates a balanced three-pronged approach to their agile business. In addition to running a sales route to build up new launches across Houston, White manages brewery acquisition and relations, ordering, social media, and sales management. Smith manages operations, logistics, warehouse management, and overseas accounting. Rod oversees bigger picture business such as budget forecasting, capital expenditure planning, permitting, and infrastructural growth. “Flood isn’t owned by a bunch of investors,” said White. “There is no exit plan. This is our statement to the craft beer community.”

And what a statement it has been. In the past year, Flood has built a remarkable portfolio that has brought to Texas impressive (not to mention some of my personal favorite) brands, such as Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales, To Øl, and Mikkeller. When I asked Kyle what else was in store from Flood, I was excited to hear that they have only just started digging into the Shelton Brothers stash. Apart from engaging imports, Flood has also partnered with several Austin-based breweries, such as Jester King Farmhouse Brewery, Oasis Texas Brewing Company, and Strange Land Brewery. In Houston, White is excited about partnering with the highly-anticipated Brash Brewing Company, headed by Petrol Station owner Ben Fullelove and former Saint Arnold brewer Vince Mandeville. “It’s the first time we will be distributing Houston beer in Houston, and that’s something that really means a lot to me,” White said. “Ben is a really intuitive and thoughtful visionary. I’m very excited to work with him.” Beyond their current brands, White’s primary goals with the Flood portfolio are keeping it diverse, unique, and high quality. “The last thing I want is to get into a war with other distributors about who has the best IPA in Texas,” Kyle said. Flood will continue to be selective about which local brands they choose to partner with as they continue to diversify their portfolio.

As we got ready to wrap up, I asked Kyle to describe the craft beer scene in Houston in the next five years. “Texas is a craft thirsty state,” he said. “I see an influx of quality brands and talent as we add layers of sophistication to our beer scene.” White believes the out-of-state demand for breweries like Jester King and Lone Pint will help create a beer renaissance in our state. “With more breweries willing to take risks, more Texas beer will start leaving the state, and esteem will grow nationally.” Really, there is no crystal ball, and even though I asked Kyle to close his eyes as he described the future of craft beer in Texas to me, he can’t see into the future any more than I can. And, you know, that’s okay, because as long as there are people who believe in craft beer and all that it stands for, as long as there are people who wake up each morning and work to make that dream a reality, my heart is flooded with hope.

The post Are You Prepared for the Flood? first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

The post Are You Prepared for the Flood? appeared first on Houston Beer Guide.