Rahr & Sons in Star-Telegram

BREWERS IN THE NEWS

Rahr & Sons was featured in a pair of stories this week in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, both entitled "Rahr & Sons microbrewery boosting production in Fort Worth." The stories detail the installation of two new fermentors and the struggle the brewery has had keeping up with demand for product.

The articles also feature a short profile of the microbrewery and discuss the return this summer of owner Fritz Rahr after an extended absence on a contract job in the Virgin Islands.

Flying Saucer Coming to Garland

A new Texas location of the Flying Saucer chain is planned for the Dallas suburb of Garland, adjacent to Lake Ray Hubbard. This location is scheduled to open in late July.

Rahr & Sons Expanding

Fort Worth's Rahr & Sons has just purchased two new 120-bbl fermentation tanks from the Old Dominion Brewing Company of Ashburn, Virginia.

These two tanks are twice the size of any of Rahr's present tanks, and are expected to be in place before the end of the summer. With this addition, the capacity of the Rahr & Sons brewery will reach 6000 barrels per year.

Covey, Rahr Win Medals

Both Fort Worth brewers The Covey Restaurant & Brewery and Rahr & Sons won medals at the 2009 Los Angeles International Commercial Beer Competition held last month in Los Angeles, California.

The breakdown of the awards is:

• American-Style Hefeweizen: Bronze for Texas Wheat from The Covey
• Belgian-Style Strong Specialty Ale: Silver for 100 from The Covey
• Münchner-Style Helles: Bronze for Rahr Blonde from Rahr & Sons
• Smoke-Flavored Beer: Silver for Smokestack Stout from The Covey
• Strong Scotch Ale (Traditional): Gold for Scotch Ale from The Covey
• Vienna-Style Lager: Bronze for Vienna Lager from The Covey

The Los Angeles International Commercial Beer Competition is an annual BJCP-certified competition organized by the Los Angeles County Fair. It is open to any commercially licensed brewpub or brewery, with awards given for 69 different style categories plus a number of substyles.

A full listing of awards is available from the Los Angeles County Fair website.

Update: Rahr & Sons also won a medal at the 2009 North American Beer Awards, an annual competition sponsored by the North American Brewers Association. Rahr & Sons' Ugly Pug won a bronze medal in the Schwarzbier (Black Beer) category.

The North American Beer Awards is held in conjunction with the Mountain Brewers Beer Fest each summer in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

Saint Arnold Turns Fifteen

Tuesday, June 9th, marked the fifteenth anniversary for Houston's Saint Arnold Brewing Company. As the oldest Texas microbrewery from the robust number of operations that began throughout the 1990s, Saint Arnold marked the occasion on the Saturday prior with a large anniversary party at the present brewery, as well as several smaller events planned for this week.

Construction still continues at their new facilities just north of downtown Houston. Saint Arnold expects to move into their new brewery location this fall.

Circle Brewing Launches New Website

The planned Circle Brewing of Austin launched an updated version of their website on Friday. The brewery is still in the fundraising and planning stages, with only a few shares left before they can break ground on construction of their facility.