The beer came out a mahogany brown with a slightly tan head with an aroma that was milk chocolate with a hint of roastiness that balanced out the sweetness. On the first sip, I was blown away by how light the beer was. The weather was just warm enough for me to be sitting outside, but this beer is light enough it could have been 90 degrees and I would still have enjoyed drinking it outside. After I got past the lightness, I was struck by a slight citrus note that quickly gave way to the chocolate and roast I had picked up on the aroma. This finally led to a slight toasty spice, reminiscent of rye toast, that rounded out the whole beer. 

While I was visiting, I had to have what is one of my favorite lagers in the Houston area, Loggerbier. To make it even better, they had it on slow pour. I am typically hesitant to order a slow pour as sometimes bars and breweries don’t actually pour it slowly, just use a side pull tap but pour like a normal beer. Equal Parts does it right. The beer took about 8 minutes to pour as they layered the frothy, meringue like head with patience. When they handed it to me, the foam jiggled like a dollop of hand whipped whip cream. The beer itself was a clear hay color with a sweet white bread aroma with a hint of lemon. On my first sip, I got loads of water cracker maltiness with a hint of that lemon, finished with just a hint of minerality. The mouthfeel was super light. Every time I have a good slow pour, I am amazed at how much it changes the beer. I tend to get a little more of the hop aroma than is in the beer normally, while the bitterness is toned down. The lower carbonation in the beer doesn’t make the beer heavier though, if anything it is almost light on my palate. 

With how mercurial Houston winters are, it is tough to have a beer I would recommend as a perfect beer for the season. Neo-noir is just that beer, light enough for a warm day in shorts, roasty enough for a cold night around the firepit. My only complaint is that it is taproom only, so you are going to have to head over to their brewery and grab it while you can!

The post A perfect beer for a Houston Winter first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

The post A perfect beer for a Houston Winter appeared first on Houston Beer Guide.

Photo: Larry Koestler

With the six-month anniversary of my challenge to local breweries to start brewing the hottest beer style in the country — the New England-Style IPA (NEIPA) — rapidly approaching, now seemed like as apt a time as any to check in and see where things stand, especially in light of the unexpectedly impressive amount of style-related activity we’ve seen during this timeframe.

It’s worth noting that there seems to be something of a dividing line among local breweries, with some fully embracing the NEIPA nomenclature — and it’s not going anywhere, with sites like BeerAdvocate and Untappd recognizing its ubiquity and distinctiveness from the classic West Coast-Style IPA and opting to finally categorize it as its own thing — while others seem reluctant to hop on what they presumably perceive as a regional bandwagon phenomenon, and instead have chosen to offer up their own interpretations that are generally described with non-location-based adjectives like “hazy.”

Regardless of what school of thought you subscribe to on the topic of “NEIPA” taxonomy, there have been a slew of beers released in the past six months that many would agree live up to the hallmarks of the NEIPA — aromatic, juicy, soft, creamy, hazy, massively citrus/tropical-forward, and relatively minimal bitterness. Also, while some consider “milkshake”-style beers to be a part of the NEIPA canon — which is totally fine by me! — I personally do not, as I find the flavor profiles of those beers to be different enough that I’m not quite convinced that they belong in the same category (though I could very well be persuaded otherwise! Admittedly I do not have anywhere near as much experience with milkshake IPAs), and so this list does not include those beers.

By my count — and, try as I might, it’s possible I may miss a few, as there really have been a lot of releases — the following should be a mostly comprehensive list of local beers that have been brewed in the style (this list only includes officially released beers, not pilot batches):

• 8th Wonder – S.L.A.B.
• B-52 – Wheez the Juice (16-oz. cans)
• Baa Baa Brewhouse – Cat and the Fiddle
• Baa Baa Brewhouse – Cow Jumped over the Moon (12-oz. cans)
• Baa Baa Brewhouse – Ennie (12-oz. cans)
• Baa Baa Brewhouse – The Little Dog Laughed
• Copperhead – Feeding Frenzy (12-oz. cans)
• Copperhead – Kangaroo Killer
• No Label – Sittin’ Sidehaze
• Sigma – 4X DH Medina Sod
• SpindleTap – Houston Haze (16-oz. cans)
• Whole Foods Market Brewing Co. – Detonate
• Whole Foods Market Brewing Co. – DL Double (hasn’t historically been one, but recent Untappd checkins would seem to indicate a revised recipe)
• Whole Foods Market Brewing Co. – Haze Phaze
• Whole Foods Market Brewing Co. – Hop Explorer X
• Whole Foods Market Brewing Co. – Hop Explorer XI
• Whole Foods Market Brewing Co. – NEAF
• Whole Foods Market Brewing Co. – Overcast
• Whole Foods Market Brewing Co. – Scattered Showers
• Whole Foods Market Brewing Co. – Spottie Oaty
• Whole Foods Market Brewing Co. – Steady Sippin’
• Whole Foods Market Brewing Co. – Tropical Storms

Which ones do I like best? Drop me a line on Twitter and I’d be happy to have a conversation about it.

The above doesn’t even include forthcoming Ingenious Brewing Co., which expects to open in Humble later this summer, and which I previewed back in February. The duo has had a busy spring, setting up free tastings across the greater Houston-area and further tweaking their already-delicious recipes while adding a slew of additional beers to their portfolio. Highlights include a revised Hop Delivery System, which is now a Double IPA, and Northeast Houston IPA, also retooled as a DIPA.

Photo: SpindleTap Brewery

And lastly, I’m excited to announce that I’m collaborating with SpindleTap and Boston homebrewer Rich Wein on a hazy, juicy double NEIPA called Juiceton, which should be out in cans in the first half of August. Juiceton will be a hazy, juicy AF DIPA clocking in at 8.0%, with the creamy, soft, pillowy mouthfeel you love, propping up heroic quantities of Citra, Mosaic, and Simcoe. Hit with multiple rounds of dry-hopping, this worthy successor to Houston Haze will deliver that massively tropical and fruit-forward hop flavor we all crave.

The post Houston Embraces the Haze Craze first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

The post Houston Embraces the Haze Craze appeared first on Houston Beer Guide.