Houston Beer

[Reefmonkey]

Check out the graph of the growth of Houston's craft brewery industry in this website:

 

https://www.chron.com/business/real-estate/article/Houston-s-craft-breweries-have-quadrupled-in-five-13196392.php

[asubrt]

4 hours ago, Reefmonkey said:

What does bug me though (and I am probably going to ruffle a few feathers here), is that there are just too many craft breweries out there (both nationwide and Houston-based), and each craft brewery produces too many different varieties. I think we've reached Peak Craft Brew. Several years ago, just here in Houston, we passed a threshold after which any new brewery is just white noise. It seems like the business model for new breweries is to try to get big enough that they get bought out by a big national brand, the way Karbach did with AB InBev. That's soulless. Houston now has 52 craft breweries. 52. We're a big city, but we're not that big that we need that many. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that every craft brewery has a whole slew of varieties, so that the varieties themselves become white noise. They're doing very little to differentiate themselves from each other, so they're stepping all over each other's toes. Practically everyone makes a pale ale, a pils, some kind of wheat beer, oh, yeah, and now most of them have to do a Kolsche (and I've had real Kolsche in Cologne, sorry US breweries, none of you match the likes of Fruh), etc. Every craft brewery tries to be everything to every beer drinker. Jack of all trades is master of none. It would have been better if the breweries had each carved out a niche, stay focused on one style of brewing do one thing very well, have maybe 4 varieties that are available all year, max, plus one seasonal at a time. St. Arnold offers 12 year round beers, THREE of which are IPAs, and two amberish English style ales that aren't that different from each other. And that's not including the 7 seasonals they put out, or the limited releases (Divine reserves,  Icon, Bishop's Barrel). And I've noticed, as they grow, their quality is starting to slip.

 

I have a very different attitude toward this situation... I love the variety and options available. I like to try as many different beers as possible, and will always order something I haven't had if that's an option (though of course I have some favorites that I'll go to if that isn't possible), so I welcome the large number of breweries. And even though we have 52, I think that's still per capita less than many other cities. I don't think most breweries are trying to get bought by a big national brand, because this isn't very realistic as there are only a very small handful of breweries that reach this level. Rather, I think a lot of these breweries, especially in the suburbs, are trying to be more of a local hangout/bar type of place with some distribution but without the idea of spreading nationally. While I'm crazy and will travel all over the area to visit as many of these breweries as possible, most people frequent their nearby "neighborhood" brewery, i.e. Bakfish in Pearland, Running Walker in Richmond, Saloon Door in Webster, No Label in Katy, etc...) much more often than going to one across town, if they ever even do that at all. There are certainly some breweries in Houston that suck, but for the most part I think that we have a pretty good selection. And some do carve out a niche (i.e. Spindletap with their NEIPAs, Texian with sours, Ingenious with barrel aged stouts), but I appreciate that most of them try brewing lots of different styles. I guess everyone has a different preference, but I say keep the new breweries coming!

[Highrise Tower]

Agreed that Spindletap makes some of the best haze/juice IPAs.  Barrel aged imperial stouts are great but dangerous. Shouldn’t drive after a 2nd pour.

 

@asubrt have you had deGarde sours from Tillamook, OR?

[asubrt]

1 hour ago, ekdrm2d1 said:

Agreed that Spindletap makes some of the best haze/juice IPAs.  Barrel aged imperial stouts are great but dangerous. Shouldn’t drive after a 2nd pour.

 

@asubrt have you had deGarde sours from Tillamook, OR?

 

I haven't, but looks like they have pretty amazing ratings. Available in Houston at all?

[Reefmonkey]

13 hours ago, asubrt said:

 

I have a very different attitude toward this situation... I love the variety and options available. I like to try as many different beers as possible, and will always order something I haven't had if that's an option (though of course I have some favorites that I'll go to if that isn't possible), so I welcome the large number of breweries.

That's great if you're intrepid enough to wade through all the choices and market duplication, I'm just not sure it's the best thing for the longterm health of the industry. There is a lot of psychological research on this, including a book from about 10 or so years ago called "The Paradox of Choice", that studied consumer choice and found that consumer happiness is related to choice in kind of a bell curve, that consumer happiness increases with increased choice only to a point, after which happiness starts to decrease with increased choice. As choice increases beyond that point, consumers tend to "choose not to choose", most often by falling back on their previous choices, what they are comfortable with, rather than trying new things. I'll be interested to see what the survival rate of all these craft breweries is. Personally, I think it would be awesome if there were a bunch of local breweries that served their immediate neighborhood, I'd love to while away a lazy saturday afternoon in the beer garden of a neighborhood brewery down the street from me, very European. There is a newer brewery not far from me in Spring Branch I want to try called 4J, I like their stated philosophy about beer, about keeping it simple and not overhopping:

Quote

" Simple people = simple beer. We are simple people bringing it back to the basics by brewing simple beers.  Two light beer drinkers started home brewing with one mission – make beers that are easy to drink, a lot more flavor, and higher alcohol content. Done, done, and done. We don’t have any crazy processes or additions. That may come later when we add in seasonal or specialty brews. For now we want to keep it very simple from the brand to the logo to the foam. We make beer that tastes great and that we enjoy drinking - come enjoy it with us!

Warning: we don’t overpower our beer with hops because we want to emphasize the malty flavor and other characteristics. In other words, we hop to our own beat. "

 

Problem is brewing is high overhead, you need economies of scale to survive. It's hard enough for a bar to survive as it is, then put a small scale manufacturing facility to produce what the bar serves on top of that.  You just don't get the economies of scale you need trying to be a neighborhood brewpub (it was tried and failed in the 90s, see the HBJ article from 1998 I posted earlier), which means you need distribution beyond your home turf, which means you run into being more white noise in the craft brew marketplace, and invariably quality control suffers.

[Reefmonkey]

So since we're on the topic, does anyone here do any homebrewing?

 

I don't brew any beer, but I do make muscadine wine from vines in my backyard, and in early summer I go blackberry picking and make both a dry and a sweet blackberry wine.

 

In early september I tried my hand at hard cider for the first time. I'm not such a fan of the superdry pale yellow clear ciders with no apple flavor, or the sweet pale yellow clear alcopop grocery store ciders. Crispin makes some varieties I like - hazy, just enough sweetness, and lingering apple flavor. I used a gallon of pasteurized unfiltered organic apple juice from Whole Foods, added brown sugar, and a cider yeast. When I first tasted it, I was disappointed, but now that it's bottle-aged about a month, it's really grown on me. Despite the addition of brown sugar, its not sweet, it's just slightly off-dry (initially I considered back-sweetening, but glad I didn't), the increased sugar mostly just drove up the ABV. Now I wish I had made more, I'm down to my last few bottles.

[Highrise Tower]

On 10/15/2018 at 9:53 PM, asubrt said:

 

I haven't, but looks like they have pretty amazing ratings. Available in Houston at all?

 

No, it’s not.

 

You have to trade for it, or buy it on the secondary market.

 

I go there once a year. It’s fun. Saw the Pacific Ocean got the first time last trip

[Highrise Tower]

Here's my last trip to deGarde in Tillamook, OR.

 

My brother is into the whole beer trading scene. Collecting, and trading the rarest American small batch brews. Whales, or White Whales they are called and can reach thousands of dollars on the secondary market. Selling beer is against the cultural rules though.  You trade beer, and not sell it for a 500% markup.

 

deGarde is sour wild ales, so you take antacid medicine before you go to a beer event. Sour beers can turn your stomach!

 

 

Here is our group for the deGarde tasting

 

[Reefmonkey]

4 hours ago, ekdrm2d1 said:

 

deGarde is sour wild ales, so you take antacid medicine before you go to a beer event. Sour beers can turn your stomach!

 

I can’t imagine purposefully consuming something you have to take a prophylactic dose of medication before drinking. That seems like nature telling you you’re not supposed to drink it. With fermented food and drink, there is a thin line between transformed and just spoiled. 

[Highrise Tower]

I've heard a few sets of people talk about opening Meyerland's first brewery.  Is there a Meyerland, Bellaire, West U brewery?

[asubrt]

22 hours ago, ekdrm2d1 said:

I've heard a few sets of people talk about opening Meyerland's first brewery.  Is there a Meyerland, Bellaire, West U brewery?

 

The closest would probably be Baileson Brewing on Bissonnet just west of Greenbriar. I think it's right on the edge of West U, but not that close to Meyerland.

[Highrise Tower]

On 10/28/2018 at 6:28 PM, asubrt said:

 

The closest would probably be Baileson Brewing on Bissonnet just west of Greenbriar. I think it's right on the edge of West U, but not that close to Meyerland.

 

You seem very knowledgeable! Thanks

[AREJAY]

On ‎10‎/‎27‎/‎2018 at 8:00 PM, ekdrm2d1 said:

I've heard a few sets of people talk about opening Meyerland's first brewery.  Is there a Meyerland, Bellaire, West U brewery?

I'd be at a Meyerland / Bellaire brewery every weekend. I hope there's some truth to these rumors! That area seems to be in a dead zone for breweries. 

[Highrise Tower]

Brother is in town from Seattle. Doing a brewery crawl. Going out to Crosby to Ingenious Brewing, then Spindletap, Sigma, and finally Saint Arnold.

 

SA apparently has a bunch of old BB or Devine at their new space. Will be my first time visiting their addition. Heard it’s big.

[Avossos]

platypus and holler brewing are good too.

[Highrise Tower]

 

[mollusk]

fruit juice beer, peanut butter beer...

 

 

Edited December 7, 2019 by mollusk

[Highrise Tower]

Saint Arnold's French Press isn't bad.  Imperial Coffee Porter coming in at 9.4% ABV for only $9 a six pack. Real bang for your buck. Crushable too.  It's light like a milk stout. Doesn't taste imperial-like.

 

[Highrise Tower]

About to head to the 4th annual Naughty List 33+ tap takeover at Conservatory if anyone wants to meet up. Stopping by the Hines towers first.

 

 

[Highrise Tower]

D&Q on Richmond had some Ingenious today.  Finally trying their French Soda sour.  Tastes like a strawberry Big Red soda. 

 

[august948]

12 minutes ago, ekdrm2d1 said:

D&Q on Richmond had some Ingenious today.  Finally trying their French Soda sour.  Tastes like a strawberry Big Red soda. 

 

 

I read this with a passing glance and thought it said DQ on Richmond.  I was like, wait...where is there a DQ on Richmond and when did they start selling alcohol?  😀

[Highrise Tower]

On 12/6/2019 at 7:00 PM, mollusk said:

fruit juice beer, peanut butter beer...

 

 

 

Lots of peanut butter beers this month. Drinking a Peanut Butter & Jelly imperial stout.  Heavy on the blackberries  Smells good too.  Try it out! 

 

 

[mollusk]

At least they have truth in labeling down - it sounds demonically inspired.  #tastyaleFTW 

[august948]

I'm waiting on the pizza flavored beer.  That seems like it would be more efficient.

[Highrise Tower]

Wow.

Kroger stocks 18-packs of Saint Arnold's Oktoberfest.

A little obscene. Had to buy it!!

To be honest, I don't see much difference in authentic German Marzen beers and local, Houston Saint Arnold Oktoberfest beer.  Very, very, similar. 

[Highrise Tower]

There are countless of seasonal pumpkin spice beers.  From the tasting comparison I did with the following breweries -

- Saloon Door's Basic Biculous
- Martin House Brewing's Super Smash
- Saint Arnold's Pumpkinator

Without a doubt, SA's Pumpkinator was the best! Felt more refined and tuned.  Probably because the brewery has had more experience brewing the beer to perfection.

Saint Arnold has become my favorite brewery. I look forward to this season's French Press!

[BeerNut]

Ingenious is closing, last day 1/6/24.  Never made it out to their brewery.  

[Highrise Tower]

Sad!

My brother, last month, said expect to see more and more breweries closing.  The market is over saturated and only the best can survive.

Ingenious catered to pastry beers that were sweet and colorful.  I went a handful of times but it was too far to go regularly.

Support your local breweries, restaurants, and businesses!

[Highrise Tower]

Has anyone else notice that Saint Arnold releases their seasonal beers months in advance? In mid December, Spring Bock has been released.

Great brewery, by the way! This year's French Press is amazing.

https://www.saintarnold.com/

[BeerNut]

Houston beer shocker: Sawyer Yards brewery shutters after landlord lock out

Quote

Another Houston craft beer brewery has poured its last pint. Buffalo Bayou Brewing Company has been locked out of its facility in Sawyer Yards for non-payment of rent, CultureMap has learned.