2017 was a transformative year for craft beer in Houston.

• We saw the rise of the NEIPA (thanks in large part to Larry’s “Who will be Houston’s Tree House or Trillium?” essay) with 8th Wonder, 11 Below, B-52, Baa Baa, Copperhead, No Label, Spindletap, Texian, Whole Foods Market, and others trying their hand at the style.
• Saint Arnold celebrated their 23rd anniversary and 5 local breweries made their own versions of classic Saint Arnold beers.
• We saw Texian and 160ft Beerworks close up shop. Texian plans to return.
• Baileson, Bearded Fox, Great Heights, Texas Leaguer, Vallensons’, and Wicked Boxer opened their doors to the public.
• Both Buffalo Bayou and Saint Arnold are (still) offering Free Beer For Life.
• Chris complained about the lack of on-demand craft beer delivery, and HopDrop delivered in response.
• And in the wake of Hurricane Harvey our city came together, reached out to one another, and got to work helping each other recover. Just about every brewery stepped up in a variety of ways. 8th Wonder used their high clearance vehicles for water rescues. Eureka Heights, Saloon Door, and countless others became donation centers. Saint Arnold spearheaded #ReliefBeers, and breweries from around the country donated $1 per beer sold to the Houston Food Bank, raising $35,000. Spindletap became a local distribution center, even attracting the superstar of Harvey relief – JJ Watt – into the tap room to sort and load supplies on to trucks. Hurricane Harvey will be a rallying point for our community for years to come.

Our Favorite Beers

We like to wrap the year up by sharing our the best local and non-local beer we had in the last year. It’s not an original idea, but it’s fun. We’d love to hear your picks as well!

Chris White

Eureka Heights ‘Mini Boss’ – To think, there was a time I didn’t think much of Eureka Heights’ beers. Dumb names, I said. Boring styles, I said. I was wrong, and Mini Boss represents everything I was wrong about. This beer explodes with citrus, finishes with a balanced bitterness and is enjoyable all the way through. Eureka took the megatrend of 2017 – hopping late with Mosaic and other big flavorful hops (in this case Citra) and hit it out of the park. It’s become a beer I seek whenever a new batch is released.

Listermann Brewing Company ‘Tricky’ (Cincinnati, OH) – I love all of Listermann’s series of NE-style IPAs with old school rap names, but I think Tricky has become the single example by which I have come to judge all comers in this style. Blending the aromatic elements of Mosaic with the pineapple/tropical flavors of Galaxy, it brings hop flavor and aroma from first pop of the 16 oz can and has very little perceptible bitterness – just a soft, clean, juicy finish. Listermann has a special place in my heart because 2017 was also the year I established a beer trading partner in the Cincinnati area (THANKS SAM), and so have been fortunate enough to get my hands on these delicious goodies.

Honorable mention: Galveston Island Brewing DIPA #7, MIA Brewing MEGA MIX Pale Ale, Urban Artifact Gaslight, Societe The Swindler, Odell Rupture Pale Ale, Grand Teton Brewing Teton Range IPA

Tim Spies

Saint Arnold Brewing ‘Icon Red Märzen’ – I am always excited to try a modern take on a classic style. And while there are many misses in the world of beer, Saint Arnold Brewing has proven more than capable in the handling of such styles. So as I expressed in my review of Icon Red Märzen, I was more than pleased with the results. A great representation of the style, and one that I hope will return with their regular fall lineup every year.

The Answer Brewpub ‘I Like Turtles’ (Richmond, VA) – Maybe it’s just me, but rarely do collaborations work out as well as I hope or expect. Two great breweries combining must always produce great outcomes, right? But sadly, seldom do such high expectations equal results. I Like Turtles is an extraordinary gem that greatly exceeds such desires. This collaboration between The Answer Brewpub and Bottle Logic Brewing is a delightful stout with caramel and southern pecan coffee and toasted coconut. This beer sets a deliciously high standard I hope more collaborations can meet.

Alice Hicks

Eureka Heights ‘Mini Boss’ – In short: liquid gold. I should not be surprised how good Mini Boss is given the strength of Eureka Heights’s output so far, but I was struck by its deliciousness at first sip. A grapefruit nose gave way to crisp, clean citrus and tropical flavors dancing on my tongue. At 6.8% ABV I am glad I don’t have to worry much about crushing too many of this double dry-hopped wonder, but it’s still dangerously drinkable.

Great Notion ‘Double Stack’ (Portland, OR) – I confess I had never heard of Great Notion Brewing before a friend mentioned it, which is actually a bit of a surprise since I visit Portland, Oregon and the surrounding area every other year. But with 70 breweries in Portland proper alone, it’s not hard to miss one. Now I know where I am going next time as soon as my plane hits the tarmac! Double Stack is a decadent treat. An imperial breakfast stout brewed with Portland’s Clutch coffee and Vermont maple syrup, Great Notion nails the flavor: the brew makes me feel as if I have been transported back to childhood and stuffed myself with stacks of syrup-doused pancakes.

Nathan Miller

B-52 ‘A Tart Frenchie – Peach & Apricot’ – Admittedly, I didn’t get to try as many new Houston beers this year as I’d like, but most of the ones I did try in my few trips back home or from boxes sent to me were very good. I think that my favorite was probably B-52’s “A Tart Frenchie – Peach & Apricot,” which was lightly tart, very well-balanced, and extremely refreshing, without hiding any of the delightful fruit flavor. It reminded me a little of some of the beers I’ve had from California’s Good Beer Co, which are absurdly delightful for many of the same reasons. It’s clear from this beer and others that I’ve now had from the growing Conroe brewery that B-52 is a force to be reckoned with, having already earned my vote for Houston’s second best brewery, rising with a bullet.

Cantillon ‘Nath’ (Brussels, Belgium) – December 1st, 2012, I was sitting at the Avenue Pub awaiting my taste of that year’s “Zwanze,” a special beer created by the Brussels brewery once a year. That year, it was a lambic with rhubarb added, and I recall not getting a lot of rhubarb flavor but still immensely enjoying it. Fast forward to August 26 of this year, and I’m sitting at Cantillon, trying my first bottle of Nath, the newest rhubarb lambic. This time, there’s a lot more rhubarb, with a fantastic balance, an incredible aroma, and an amazing lambic “canvas.” I was fortunate enough to try Nath one more time this year, on tap a month later (again at Avenue Pub for Zwanze day), and found the rhubarb slightly more muted, serving as a bridge to that memory from five years ago. And of course, it doesn’t hurt that it has such a great name…

Jose Luis Cubria

Eureka Heights ‘Mini-Boss’ – My favorite Houston IPA, and the beer that made me forget about Yellow Rose’s quality-control issues. It’s deliciously fruity, and the tropical/citrus notes hit you the moment you start pouring. It’s scary how quickly a crowler of this can disappear. (Honorable mention: the various barrel treatments of Saint Arnold DR17.)

Boon Geuze ‘Mariage Parfait’ (Halle, Belgium) – On the short-list for my desert-island beer, and an insta-buy every time I see it. The fact that this is now a Houston shelf beer blows my mind. For my tastes, it’s a perfect gueuze, and a perfect beer.

Kenneth Krampota

The post Our Favorite Beers of 2017 first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

The post Our Favorite Beers of 2017 appeared first on Houston Beer Guide.

1st Course: Autumn Kolsch paired with smoked trout and bean puree, picked carrot, and a pretzel crostini

This beer has an Oktoberfest grain and hop bill, but it is fermented with a Kolsch yeast strain. Due to the Oktoberfest grain bill, it’s much darker than a traditional Kolsch. It has a light body and a sweet biscuity finish. It’s quite balanced and easy to drink. They brought this beer out well in advance of the first course, and I had to pace myself so that I would have enough beer left to drink alongside the food. The smoke of the trout added to the “fallness” of the beer. It made me look forward to enjoying that first backyard campfire of the year. I didn’t really notice the lingering sweetness of the beer until I got to the carrot. The vinegar cut the sweetness and in the next sip of beer, the sweetness was accentuated. This became a fun little game of killing and accenting the sweetness until I ran out of carrot.

2nd Course: Real Deal Stout & a duck confit stuffed potato dumpling in broth

This beer was a collaboration with Real Ale Brewing Company in Blanco. Along with the typical roasted malt, they included oats in the grain bill. This isn’t the thick bodied stout that Houston’s beer nerds have been clamoring for, but it’s very close. In stouts, there’s an ideal ratio of chocolate and coffee flavors. Too much coffee can be harsh and too much chocolate can turn an otherwise full bodied beer cloyingly sweet. This hits that ratio right down the centerline. From the first sip, I knew we were taking home a crowler. The dumpling was the size of a baseball and it was very hearty. The combination of a stout and a meaty dish almost always works. After a stein full of beer and a 9% stout, the crowd definitely got louder and the atmosphere softened quite a bit.

3rd Course: Hop Explorer VI & a veil schnitzel, potato/celery root puree, and a runny quail egg

In the Hop Explorer series, WFM Brewing takes the same grain bill and plays with different hops. As the name suggests, this is their sixth variation, brewed with Equinox, Citra, and Centennial hops. I haven’t had any of the other 5 in the series to compare, but this is one is very well executed. It has pine in the aroma, it’s a little cloudy, and it has a juicy orange-forward flavor. It’s not NEIPA IPA juicy, but it’s definitely juicy by Texas standards. I can’t say this is the best IPA in Houston, but it’s good enough that I took home a crowler after the event. This pairing was fun to play with. Runny eggs are usually breakfast food for me, so I’ve never considered how they pair with beer. The yolk cut the carbonation and bitterness of the beer, resetting my palate. The veal and the potatoes didn’t bring much to the pairing, but they were very tasty. It felt like the schnitzel was added to check the “Oktoberfest” box, but I think something with a spicy mustard, to accentuate the bitterness of the beer and spiciness of the mustard, would have been a lot of fun here and paired better with the beer overall.

4th Course: Peach Nectar Honey Wheat Ale & a rolled vegetable salad and golden beet vinaigrette

This beer demonstrates what makes WFM Brewing unique. Bruised peaches that would not have sold in the produce section were pulled aside by Dave, steamed, and added to the beer. The peach was a subtle, but noticeable presence and complemented the honey malt backed grain bill. (Side note: if you’ve never tried honey on fresh peaches, you’re missing out.) I was surprised that this only had honey malt and not actual honey because this beer finished very sweet. Other than the fruit & vegetable theme, the vegetables didn’t add much to the beer. The vinegar component of the golden beet vinaigrette again cut the sweetness of the beer, which I thought was just a touch too sweet overall.

5th Course: Barleywine & Apple Strudel

Normally, I’d be disappointed to get such a good beer in a 9oz snifter, but at this point we’d had 4 courses of food and almost 3 full pints worth of beer. We were very full. The barleywine takes you on a roller coaster of sweet up front, bitter in at the middle and a sweet finish. It’s more in the vein of an English barleywine than the overly hopped American versions. The finish left nuances of figs and dates. And apple pie and barley wine? Those definitely work well together. The Chantilly whipped cream was especially delicious.

I’m generally dismissive of beer dinners. I usually find them to be overpriced, with small servings of needlessly fancy food and small servings of beer that I can easily find at a bar or a store shelf. This one blew me away. Each of the 5 courses had a full serving of food and a normal sized pour of beer. While not every pairing was perfect, my wife and I left stuffed and a little buzzed.

I’ll be honest, a few months after WFM Brewing started up, I tried a variety of their beer and I wrote them off as a corporate gimmick. Between then and now, something drastic has changed. The beers are phenomenal. After the dinner was over, we walked down to the bar and bought 2 crowlers to go. If you haven’t been to check out their beers, or you went a while ago and wrote them off like I did, please go back. If you’re skeptical, most draft pours are $2 on Thursdays. These beers deserve to have people talking about them.

Whole Foods provided me with a ticket to this event, and I bought an extra for my wife.

The next Whole Foods Market beer dinner is Wednesday, December 7th featuring beers by Real Ale Brewing, including the Real Deal Stout collaboration beer mentioned above.
Tickets are available here.

Follow Whole Foods Market Houston on social media to find out about other events:

https://www.facebook.com/WholeFoodsHOU
https://twitter.com/WholeFoodsHOU

The post Whole Foods Market Beer Dinners: What to Expect first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

The post Whole Foods Market Beer Dinners: What to Expect appeared first on Houston Beer Guide.