Studs & Suds Microbrew Festival

The second annual Studs & Suds Microbrew Festival was held on Monday at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie. The event was again sponsored by craft beer distributor Ben E. Keith, along with a few beers by Andrews Distributing.

Again, no local brewers were invited, and no beers were offered that are not easily found at local commercial retailers. Attendance was variable as people wandered between the festival and the nearby races but the crowd seemed about the same size as last year.

Rahr & Sons Wins Business Award

Rahr & Sons won the Clear Channel Outdoor Excellence in Business Award in April at the 2009 Fort Worth Entrepreneur Expo. The award recognizes the success of a local small business, with Rahr & Sons' revenues growing 31% in 2008 and currently 71% over the same Q1 of last year.

The award consists of a marketing package valued at $25,000 that includes local billboard advertising with 24 weeks of coverage and the services of Clear Channel Outdoor's creative team in the design of promotional materials.

Southern Star Saison

Southern Star's next beer will be a saison, the winner of their first annual homebrewing competition. Of the 43 beers entered, the winning brewers Mark Kizer and Scott Wells of Austin will have their recipe produced and sold by Southern Star, as well as entered on their behalf at the Pro-Am competition of the Great American Beer Festival next year.

The as-yet unnamed saison should be brewed and canned around June or July, and released for sale toward the end of summer.

Direct Sales Bill Misses Calendar

Even with it's recent success reaching the Calendars Committee, the latest version of the direct sales for breweries bill, HB 2904, failed to appear on the schedule published last week for the current legislative session. This ends the progress for the proposed bill and any attempts to change brewery sales restrictions this session.

The bill's sponsor, Representative Jessica Farrar of Houston, has pledged to attempt this bill once again in the next session in 2011, just as she did two years ago.

Shiner Smokehaus

Spoetzl finally announced the release of their newest beer, Shiner Smokehaus, via their Facebook page on Monday, May 4th. The Smokehaus will be a German helles style brewed with mesquite-smoked malt.

Shiner Smokehaus should be available as a summer seasonal in six-packs starting June 1st.

Direct Sales Bill Out of Committee

The bill to allow breweries to sell direct to the public, HB 2094, moved out of the House committee on Licensing & Administrative Procedures yesterday with a 5-2 vote, as reported by the Houston Chronicle in "Small breweries get closer selling on-site."

The bill now moves to the Calendar Committee and still faces the challenge of entering the schedule for a full House vote before the legislature adjourns on June 1st.

Direct Sales Bill Stuck in Committee

The latest status of the direct sales bill HB 2094, which would allow breweries to sell directly to the public, is reported in the Houston Chronicle's piece "11th-hour push made to get changes to help small brewers."

As detailed, the bill is currently stuck in committee and has only a "50-50" chance of moving to a vote before the legislature adjourns on June 1st.

Shiner 100 in New Jersey Media

BREWERS IN THE NEWS

Spoetzl's 100th anniversary beer, Commemorator, received a review yesterday in a New Jersey online news source, the Asbury Park Press. The piece is entitled "Commemorator is worthy of a 100th anniversary."