SpindleTap Juiceton, a leading example of the NEIPA style in Houston. | Photo: Larry Koestler

It’s hard to believe it’s been a year since Houston Beer Guide was kind enough to publish “Who Will be Houston’s Tree House or Trillium?” It’s even harder to believe how much progress has been made since I wrote that essay.

My initial hope was that a newcomer to the Houston craft beer scene would come online sometime in 2017 with a near-exclusive focus on New England-Style India Pale Ales. It turns out we’re inching ever closer to the launch of a brewer that has indeed stated its desire to make the NEIPA a core focus, alongside huge Imperial Stouts, in the form of Humble’s Ingenious Brewing, whose long-anticipated doors will hopefully be flung open sometime during the first quarter of 2018.

What I didn’t expect was how many already-existing Houston breweries would not only embrace the style in 2017, but end up making some of the most memorable beers of the year, several of which could hold their own among the upper echelon of brewers of the style. And perhaps the most surprising sidebar of all surrounding Houston’s NEIPA craze of 2017 is that this is one of the few instances I can recall where Houston is not only ahead of Austin in a craft beer category, but absolutely smoking our rival to the west. Outside of Pinthouse Pizza, Austin’s breweries seem to be mostly reluctant to explore the style.

While we’re not quite at what I would consider the best-case scenario: fresh cans of NEIPA available seven days a week, something only Boston can currently claim, Houston has made impressive strides in a very short amount of time. For a period of time over the summer into the fall, Brookshire’s Baa Baa Brewhouse was canning a new NEIPA on a near-weekly basis. Conroe’s Copperhead removed some of the most annoying parts of NEIPA culture, the lines and FOMO, and implemented a wonderful online ticketing system. And SpindleTap began to ramp up its production of new iterations of the style while also helpfully adopting the online-ordering & pick-up-at-your-convenience route, delivering some of my favorite beers of the year in the process.

Progress in 2017

In light of all of the progress Houston has made, here’s a quick look at some of the breweries that have helped build a local world of NEIPA (even if some of them would rather not refer to the style under that nomenclature) that didn’t even exist a year ago:

– B-52, technically the very first in the greater Houston area to produce a hazy, juicy IPA back in November/December 2016, continued to delight palates in 2017, first by canning its popular Wheez the Juice, and following that with subsequent crowler and can releases throughout the year. The brewery has also added milkshake variants of many of its NEIPAs to its offerings.

– Whole Foods has been the city’s most steady producer of NEIPAs, along with accompanying milkshake versions of their beers, with new releases more or less weekly since early summer. Whole Foods and B-52 teamed up several months back to produce a hugely dry-hopped DIPA called Whole Payload, and rumor has it that both breweries will be teaming up again in the not-too-distant future, perhaps with some additional friends.

– Sigma Brewing made waves with its 4XDH Medina Sod, and recently released its most-hopped beer ever, The Apparatus.

– Great Heights became the first Houston brewery ever to launch with an NEIPA, Fruity Pellets, and recently released a more amped-up version, Fruitier Pellets.

– No Label threw its hat into the ring, releasing the successful Sittin’ Sidehaze over the summer, and delivering a second NEIPA at the end of he year, Phaze Two.

– Copperhead brought several big, juicy IPAs to the table while still staying true to the brewery’s DNA, with Feeding Frenzy, Citraddicted and Alpha Serpentus all whetting hophead whistles.

– Baa Baa Brewhouse, one of the the smallest breweries in the greater Houston area, went from brewing the first beer in Houston specifically referred to as a New England-Style India Pale Ale, to creating a small frenzy over the summer with its (very) limited canning runs of its small-batch NEIPAs. I know I’m not the only one hoping that the owners, who still run the brewery as a part-time endeavor, decide to go all-in, especially if they keep producing beers of the caliber they delivered in the second half of 2017. An increase in the hours they are open would certainly be welcome. Baa Baa is one of the most difficult breweries for me to pick up beers from, despite being the second closest brewery to my house. Their typical hours, Saturday from 5-8pm, fall right around dinnertime for those of us with young families. And they often underestimate the demand for their beer, leaving folks out of luck upon arrival, but they should be commended for taking advantage of online ticket sales when demand is expected to be exceptionally high. While I’m wary of stoking the hype fires too dramatically, the leveling up in beer quality and the discomfort caused by limited production that Baa Baa has been going through reminds me of the early days of Tree House in 2012. I suppose there are worse problems to have.

– SpindleTap was the first locally to really nail the hallmarks of what I look for in the NEIPA style with Houston Haze, and things only got better from there. After spending the first few months post-Haze focused on production of their new flagship, the brewery started branching out this past summer, and has since released some stellar examples of what the style can be, including the recently re-released Hops Drop, Draped Up, 5% Tint, and Operation Juice Drop and Juiceton, the latter two of which were my top two local beers of 2017. With the brewery set to release its most heavily-hopped beer ever at the end of January, Heavy Hands DIPA (plus another batch of Juiceton), 2018 is already off to a stellar start.

Raising the Bar in 2018

Now with all said, there’s still plenty of work to be done. For every successful local NEIPA, there’s been at least one that didn’t quite work out the way the brewers likely intended it to. That’s to be expected any time an entire city’s worth of producers begins trying its hand at something that no one had really taken a stab at before, but there’s also going to be less room for error going forward. While I’ve never been afraid to call it like I see it, I’ll also admit to occasionally going into cheerleading mode because I want the style to succeed locally.

Going forward, simply brewing a beer that may carry some of the characteristics of the style without the depth and flavor to back it up may not be good enough. There will be less room for forgiveness for stumbles as the beer drinking community gets increasingly exposed to top-tier examples of the style. With several very good NEIPAs having been brewed locally, not to mention geographical rival Parish elevating its game to what many would consider an elite level, Houston’s breweries will have to continue to iterate on and perfect their techniques while developing new and even more flavorful recipes to continue winning the hearts and minds of the city’s juice fiends.

The good news is, a very solid foundation has been laid, and (I still can’t believe I feel this way from where my head was at 365 days ago) I’m confident that Houston has the talent and passion to not only meet the needs of the city’s lovers of the style, but enter the national dialogue as a sought-after destination of juice bombs as well.

The post One Year Later: Houston Breweries Have Risen to the NEIPA Challenge first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

The post One Year Later: Houston Breweries Have Risen to the NEIPA Challenge 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.

Even the fine print is awesome:

• This special is valid at every location with a bar in the greater Houston area. (I think that’s all of them, but feel free to correct me in the comments.)
• This only applies to draft beers served in 8-16 ounce pours. (Again, I think that’s the vast majority of the beers they have on tap.)

As of the time that I am posting this, I found Whole Foods bars with Karbach Brewing F.U.N. beers, Brash Brewing Abide, various Funkwerks beers (one of my current favorite breweries), 8th Wonder Brewery Instant Classic (one of my favorite new local beers), and 12% ABV Founders Brewing Devil Dancer (if you really want to get your money’s worth). If you haven’t been to the brewery in the Post Oak location, you no longer have an excuse!

Check out the Tap Hunter links below for semi up-to-date tap lists at each location.

Whole Foods Market Montrose
https://www.taphunter.com/location/whole-foods-market-montrose/6011610797703168
Whole Foods Market Kirby
https://www.taphunter.com/location/whole-foods-market-kirby/5608335833300992
Whole Foods Market Post Oak
https://www.taphunter.com/location/whole-foods-market-post-oak/5816669442146304
Whole Foods Market Bellaire
https://www.taphunter.com/location/whole-foods-market-bellaire/5611821199261696
Whole Foods Market Voss
https://www.taphunter.com/location/whole-foods-market-voss/5260785151377408
Whole Foods Market Wilcrest
https://www.taphunter.com/location/whole-foods-market-wilcrest/6349803686461440
Whole Foods Market Sugar Land
https://www.taphunter.com/location/whole-foods-market-sugar-land/6188749960511488
Whole Foods Market Champions
https://www.taphunter.com/location/whole-foods-market-champions/4851873712439296
Whole Foods Market Katy
https://www.taphunter.com/location/whole-foods-market-katy/5406849322975232
Whole Foods Market the Woodlands
https://www.taphunter.com/location/whole-foods-market-the-woodlands/5224272202039296

The post If It’s Thursday, Whole Foods Market Has the Best Beer Deal in Town first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

The post If It’s Thursday, Whole Foods Market Has the Best Beer Deal in Town appeared first on Houston Beer Guide.

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.