Thursday, July 31, 2008

Ginger Man Hosts "Texas Breweries" Tasting

The Ginger Man will host a "Texas Breweries" tasting at its Austin location on Monday, August 4th.

The tasting will include selections from five different Texas breweries such as Real Ale, Live Oak and Saint Arnold, as well as a few surprise guests as yet unannounced. Head brewers from the Austin-local breweries will also be present to lead the tasting and field questions.

Update: One of the unannounced breweries will be (512) Brewing, with owner and brewer Kevin Brand attending.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Covey Brewer on Morning Television

Jamie Fulton and Sean Merchant, respectively the brewer and chef at The Covey Restaurant & Brewery, are scheduled to appear this week on the local Dallas/Fort Worth morning show, "Good Morning, Texas," to talk about the brewpub and Fulton's recent win at the World Beer Cup.

The piece is scheduled for this Friday, July 25th, around 9am. "Good Morning, Texas" airs on WFAA (Channel 8), the local ABC affiliate.

Update: The piece has been rescheduled for Friday, August 8th, around 9am.

Update: The piece has again been rescheduled for Friday, August 22nd.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Texas Brewers in the News

Just clearing out some minor news items, along with one significant beer article. Lee Nichols of the Austin Chronicle wrote the article entitled, "Microbrew Renaissance," a near-encyclopaedic review of current Texas breweries and brewpubs that appeared over the Fourth of July weekend. Nichols also includes beer recommendations for each of the brewers featured, as well as a small quote from this blog.

Also in the Austin media was a piece from News 8 Austin entitled, "Beer may become the new gas, in price." This article features Austin's Winemaker's and Beermakers Supply and the rising price of brewing ingredients.

And nearly beer-related is this article from the San Antonio Business Journal announcing the "Pearl Brewery site is set to be home to Texas' largest solar energy project," focusing on new commercial development of the old historic downtown Pearl Brewery site.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Live Oak at the Smithsonian

Live Oak Brewing has been invited to the Smithsonian Institute's Beer Gazetteer 2008 series next week. The invitation includes a tasting of Live Oak beers at the famous Brickskeller pub in Washington, DC, as well as a lecture by owner and brewer Chip McElroy.

The Smithsonian Resident Associate Program presents their Beer Gazetteer series each summer. For six weeks, various microbrewers from around the United States and Canada are invited to present their beers and short lectures for the public. Invited breweries this year include Live Oak, Capital Brewing of Wisconsin, Southampton Publick House of New York, Full Sail Brewing of Oregon and the Canadian brewery Unibroue.

McElroy and Live Oak will be featured on Monday, July 14, from 7pm to 10pm. Availability of event tickets is questionable, as the series has already started.

Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Port Aransas Brewing Now Open

The newest native Texas brewpub, Port Aransas Brewing Company, opened in Port Aransas during the last week of June in time for the Fourth of July holiday.

However, early response to this latest independent brewpub has been less than favorable. Comments by local customers range from "never try a new restaurant on opening day" to "the local brewpub just opened... and they suck." There is also speculation that the brewing operations are not actual beers brewed on-site but instead some sort of pre-packaged mixed products.

No opening announcement or review has been located, nor has any official response been found from the owner, Bob Pettit.