Sour Beers - Houston Beer Guide

A taste of the tamarind sour at Turkey Forrest Brewing

Ronnie Risner — Thu, 11 Aug 2022 23:59:24 +0000

Agua frescas have long been a popular way to keep cool in the summers for many mexican american children and Turkey Forrest Brewing has taken that idea and made it into something that will bring you right back to childhood. Already in their line up of fresca beers include Northside Red a hibiscus (jamaica) sour, Issavibe – a pineapple (piña) sour, a horchata stout, and more recently the re-release of the tamarind (tamarindo) sour. The tamarindo sour is a combination of sweet and tart flavors – reminding me of the popular Mexican glass bottled sodas they were envisioned after. If you’ve never had this Asia and Africa fruit called tamarind, it’s best described by an apricot like flavor, a little tangy with a molasses like finishing taste. The tartness makes you want to click your tongue and exclaim NOICE! The tamarindo may be my favorite of the sours offered but the collection of agua frescas line up are all very balanced. The beer has a light body and a mouthfeel that waters your taste buds making it perfect for this hot Houston weather. Speaking of hot, I got an insider tip they’re working on something very special with our favorite michelada supplier – Space City Snax! Cucumber lime anyone?

Tamarindo Sour at Turkey Forrest Brewing – Big Owl Craft Beer House

Agua frescas inspired beers are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to diversity at Big Owl Craft Beer House. The fact that both the brewery (Turkey Forrest Brewing) and Big Owl have turned their love for craft beer and love for the hispanic culture into a fun and embracing environment makes it a place to catch familiar faces of the beer community hanging out. The bar hosts Millennial Loteria every Tuesdays at 7 pm for the chance to win prizes from different breweries or if music night life if your thing, join them for their Tejano nights that are held there frequently. Rumor has it Big Owl and Turkey Forrest Brewing even have a luchador that roams the halls from time to time to greet people enjoying the beers and spreading the joy of craft beer while embodying the spirit behind their line of beers they craft with so much pride.

Hibiscus Sour & Tamarindo Sour

I really love stopping out at Turkey Forrest Brewing located inside Big Owl Brew House and the bar staff always makes me feel like right at home. Hanging out in the air conditioned taproom for hours at a time to catch a game or just catch up with friends is a routine activity I find myself going out of my way to do often. If you happened to catch an Astros game there, make sure to remind Louie the Astros are better than the Dodgers. He needs a friendly but constant reminder of who we beat to win the World Series in 2017.

Anyways, go check out the full selection of #Houstonbeer rotating at Turkey Forrest. It doesn’t disappoint. Turkey Forrest Brewing will also be present at the Houston Beer Block party happening August 27th – swing by their block and try their beer. Get your tickets online today!

Also, spoiler alert, the luchador is me.

The post A taste of the tamarind sour at Turkey Forrest Brewing first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

The post A taste of the tamarind sour at Turkey Forrest Brewing appeared first on Houston Beer Guide.

NOLA Brewing to Launch in Houston

Britt Antley — Wed, 14 Jun 2017 12:26:59 +0000

I am honored to be collaborating with Houston Beer Guide. If you get a chance, check out my website BrittskiBeers.com where I write about my beer travels around Texas, America, and the world. Cheers!

The New Orleans vibe oozes from NOLA’s brewery on Tchoupitoulas

Not long ago, it seemed that all beer in New Orleans was mopped up from the gutters of Bourbon Street and served to patrons who didn’t know a good beer from swamp water. Thankfully, the times changed when NOLA Brewing burst onto the scene in 2009. Since becoming the first brewery located in New Orleans post-Katrina, NOLA has continually offered an impressive year-round lineup of beers along with an increasing array of seasonals, sours, barrel-aged beers, and various one-offs.

NOLA Brewing plans to start distributing in Houston with Flood Distribution in the next month or so. Apparently the Big Easy attitude even carries over to brewery launches outside New Orleans. I had the opportunity to talk to both NOLA and Flood about the impending release, and all parties including myself are very excited. NOLA originally reached out to Flood because they wanted to make their Texas splash by first releasing their beer in a fellow bayou city with which they have shared Gulf Coast culture and history. They also have great respect for Flood’s portfolio and their independent craft-centric approach to business. The pair are choosing to release some unique year-round beers with their 7th Street Lemon Basil Wheat, tallboys of the Irish Channel Stout, a selection of tasty IPAs, as well as their seasonal releases. In addition to these standard beers, Houston will be seeing the full selection of NOLA’s excellent Funk Series and some other limited release barrel aged beers.

Mardi Gras dragons meet you in the brew house

When I met up with Davis Cranford, VP of Sales for NOLA, at the brewery, he gave me a taste of the New Orleans hospitality and brewing creativity that Houston can expect from NOLA. I sampled the Blues Tent blueberry sour, the Bramble On blackberry and boysenberry sour, and Rubikcubism, a funky Mosaic dry hopped IPA aged in chardonnay barrels. I even had the chance to pull some nails in their sour barrel room with Dylan Lintern, COO and barrel wrangler extraordinaire. He offered me a taste of an in-progress sour stout, and my socks were sufficiently blown off – Jester King Funk Metal may soon have some competition in its home market. Kyle White of Flood told me that they eventually plan for NOLA to hit all of Texas, but both he and NOLA want to make sure that the Houston market is properly taken care of before expanding.

As a Houstonian of 12 years, craft beer nerd, and a frequent New Orleans visitor and soon to be resident, I am super pumped for NOLA to come to Houston. The geographical and cultural connection to the Big Easy is already very tight, and the beer connection is about to become a lot closer. NOLA will be bringing some great beers to our market, and any visitor to New Orleans should absolutely stop by their brewery to check out what they’re doing. They often have tap room only one-offs along with a great environment for hanging out. And free beer on Fridays! Tell them Brittski sent you and prepare to receive confused looks and perhaps even a drunken shout out from myself across the bar. My only lingering question is who will be the first Houston brewery to collaborate with our I-10 neighbors? Whoever delivers, I promise that I’ll drink a lot of that beer!

The post NOLA Brewing to Launch in Houston first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

The post NOLA Brewing to Launch in Houston appeared first on Houston Beer Guide.

Houston Funk Fest Preview

Josh F. — Wed, 12 Aug 2015 00:28:03 +0000

There’s a new beer festival making its debut in Houston on August 22nd. Organized by Jon Denman, host of the local craft beer and craft spirits focused radio show Drink of Ages, Houston Funk Fest will feature “over 50 wild, farmhouse and sour ales”. Inspired by a recent trip to the South Denver Beer Fest, and a few funky beers, Denman convinced himself to turn his love for the beer style into a party.

Houston Funk Fest owes its name to the “funky” flavors found in beers made with wild yeast and bacteria. To continue the theme, there will be funky cheeses as well as funk and soul music from local musicians The Journey Agents and DJ Muskratch.

For those worried about the heat, Denman says the party will be held inside “in the nice, cold air conditioning! We are in Houston and it is too damn hot to have a beer fest outside right now. Plus the sound in Firehouse [Saloon] is fantastic and with the live music, the dance floor is going to be grooving.”

Fans of farmhouse ales (for which I’ve already admitted my affection), sour beers, and beers brewed with Brett won’t want to miss this event. Denman has gathered an incredible selection of beers. There are beers from local brewers that I’ve never seen before (Saint Arnold’s* Sorachi Ace Dubbel aged in red wine barrels, Texian’s Texianer Weisse to name a few), breweries that to my knowledge have never been available in Houston (Funkwerks Brewing and Collective Brewing from Fort Collins and Fort Worth, respectively), and beers that are so expensive by the bottle that I’ve never tried them (Rodenbach’s 2012 Vintage and Caractere Rouge).

Your ticket gets you a 7 ounce snifter and 8-3oz pours of your choosing. If you want to make a bigger dent in the beer list, an additional $5 gets you an extra 8 pours. I’ve already picked out my first 8 pours (and probably my second 8).

They are only selling 250 tickets, so get yours before they run out! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/houston-funk-fest-tickets-17693248984

Check out the taplist and give the Houston Funk Fest Facebook page a “like” while you’re there: https://www.facebook.com/houstonfunkfest/

*Proper use of the possessive apostrophe

The post Houston Funk Fest Preview first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

The post Houston Funk Fest Preview appeared first on Houston Beer Guide.