New BJ's Planned for 2009

At least two new BJ's Restaurant & Brewery locations are planned for Texas in 2009. New locations are planned for the Dallas area in Mesquite near Town East Mall, as well as one in north Fort Worth near the Alliance Town Center.

BJ's Restaurant & Brewery is a California-based brewpub chain that has entered the Texas market in only the past few years. Because of a quirk of Texas law, the beer at Texas BJ's locations is all brewed under contract with Saint Arnold of Houston.

Both locations are expected to open by late summer 2009.

Edelweiss Brewpub Closed

The Edelweiss Brewery & Restaurant in Alpine has shut down operations indefinitely for reasons yet unknown. Unconfirmed rumors suggest health concerns among the brewer's family.

TexasBeerNews.com

The Texas Beer blog here at texasbeer.blogspot.com is now TexasBeerNews.com. Same blog, same content, but now with a snappy new domain name.

Brock Wagner on Houston Talk Radio

BREWERS IN THE NEWS

Brock Wagner of Saint Arnold was the featured guest in Hour 3 of the Michael Berry Show on April 9th on Houston's NewsRadio 740 AM (KTRH). The profile was part of their "Day in the Life" series of interviews with local Houston personalities.

The broadcast is available as a podcast at the KTRH website.

Austin Microbreweries in Daily Texan

BREWERS IN THE NEWS

A short guide to the Austin microbreweries appeared in the University of Texas' The Daily Texan as "Beer me: Mandy's guide to Austin microbrews." The piece includes brief profiles of Live Oak, Independence and (512) Brewing.

New Winery Bill Introduced to Sell Beer

As reported by Barry Shlachter of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in "Craft brewers want to sell packaged tours along with samples," another new bill has been introduced to allow Texas wineries to sell beer on-premise.

Sponsored by State Senator Jane Nelson of Tarrant County, SB 1333 was filed on March 4th and is currently in committee. This bill does not include allowing the same privilege for Texas breweries.

Rahr & Sons at Rangers Ballpark

BREWERS IN THE NEWS

Rahr & Sons made another media appearance in an online video at Dallas' D Magazine entitled, "Rahr Brewery Makes Special Texas Red Beer For The Rangers." This video features Tony Fornby introducing the Texas Red, a beer brewed especially for the Texas Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

Rahr & Sons in FW Weekly

BREWERS IN THE NEWS

Rahr & Sons is featured in this week's Fort Worth Weekly with "A Rahr Breed" by Dan McGraw, including a profile of the brewery and its involvement with the pending state legislation to allow direct sales at breweries.