Thursday, June 26, 2008

(512) Brewing Now Open

The latest operational Texas brewery is now (512) Brewing in Austin. Built and owned by Kevin Brand, (512) Brewing has brewed its first commercial beers in the past few weeks.

The first beers that will be available from (512) Brewing are their IPA, an American pale ale and a Belgian-style witbier. These beers should be available in keg only in the Austin area for now; there are no plans to bottle or can in the immediate future.

(512) Brewing is still awaiting final TABC approval before selling to the public.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

More Texas Brewers in the News

June is proving to be a busy month for media coverage of Texas breweries. Saint Arnold has all but dominated local press this week with two additional stories, one in the Houston Chronicle entitled "More than just brew: Saint Arnold knows beer, but it also knows community." The Houston Business Journal also covered Saint Arnold's purchase of their new facilities in "St. Arnold drafts former HISD building for brewery."

Saint Arnold also takes a prominent spot in the June issue of Texas Highways magazine. A partial of their print feature "On Tap: Texas' Top 5 Microbreweries" is available online.

Franconia Brewing also received some notice this week with a piece in the Dallas Morning News entitled "Franconia owner banks on beer budgets."

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Yard House Coming to Houston

The California-based beer bar chain Yard House is planning their first Texas location in Houston. The bar and restaurant is scheduled to open in March 2009 at the new CityCentre district under construction in west Houston.

The Yard House joins the native Texas establishments Flying Saucer, Ginger Man and Draught House with the same theme of "World's Largest Selection of Draft Beer" plus several hundred more available on a bottle list. The Yard House will offer full bar service and a lunch/dinner menu.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Texas Brewers in the News

More news items have appeared recently featuring native Texas breweries. Saint Arnold and Austin homebrewer Kerry Martin appeared in an Austin American-Statesman piece last week entitled "Houston's Saint Arnold pronounces local homebrewer's Wiezenbock recipe Divine." Martin's winning recipe at the recent Big Batch Brew Bash competition in Houston is scheduled to become the next beer in Saint Arnold's Divine Reserve series.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram reporter Barry Schlacter brought the world's most expensive beer for a review by professional brewers in "How good is a $400 beer?" Carlsberg's Jacobsen Vintage No. 1 was sampled and reviewed over the weekend by Fort Worth brewers Jamie Fulton of The Covey and J.B. Flowers of Rahr & Sons.

And just today, a Houston ABC affiliate featured a profile of Southern Star Brewing in a news segment entitled "What's brewing in Conroe?" The video includes brief interviews with Southern Star brewers Brian Hutchins and Dave Fougeron.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Saint Arnold Begins Work on New Brewery

Saint Arnold has finalized the purchase of the building that will house their new brewing facility. With the purchase, work can begin this week to restore and build their new brewery.

The new location is at 2000 Lyons Ave, just north of downtown Houston, in a building that dates from 1914. Saint Arnold will include additional brewing equipment purchased from a German brewer, enabling them to quadruple their current brewing capacity.

Development is expected to take a year and cost $6 million.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Divine Reserve No. 6 Released

The latest in Saint Arnold's Divine Reserve series, No. 6, was released for sale this week. The official release date is Thursday but bottles of this limited-edition beer should be appearing at selected retail locations throughout the state all week long.

Divine Reserve No. 6 is a hoppy American barleywine that measures 10% ABV. A total of only 1172 cases were produced, and previous releases have sold out state-wide within days.