Buffalo Bayou Brewing Opens

HOUSTON - Buffalo Bayou Brewing Company became the fifth craft brewery to open in Houston this week with a kick-off party at the downtown Flying Saucer.

Owner Rassul Zarinfar and brewer Ryan Robertson started off with only one beer named 1836 but plan on brewing more traditional styles with their own unique touches. A grand opening is planned at the brewery in mid-March.

Houston Breweries in Chronicle

HOUSTON - A good summary of the past year's growth of the Houston craft beer scene is found in the Houston Chronicle in a piece by Ronnie Crocker entitled "2011: A year for beer to flow in Houston."

Karbach Brewing Opens

HOUSTON - Karbach Brewing Company became the newest Texas craft brewery as it officially opened at an event this week. Beers should now be available commercially at select places around Houston.

Karbach Sympathy for the Lager

HOUSTON - New brewer Karbach Brewing Company just received approval for their labels of Sympathy for the Lager, which may indicate the brewery is close to beginning commercial brewing.

Of note, this is the first Texas beer label seen to include the QR code on the label for the product.

Freetail Suspends Location Search

SAN ANTONIO - Freetail Brewing has suspended indefinitely its plans for a second brewpub location, citing "an increasing level of resistance in capital markets."

Owner and brewer Scott Metzger had previously announced plans to expand this past spring, with Houston being the location of choice.

Saint Arnold Santo

HOUSTON - Saint Arnold will release a new beer, Santo, on September 1st as reported recently by Craft Austin. This beer will be a limited-run dark koelsch-style ale around 4.9% ABV.

Rumors suggest this may be the beginning of a new series of limited-release beers by Saint Arnold, but no official word has yet been released.

Karbach Brewing Company

HOUSTON - Another new brewery is currently under development in Houston, the Karbach Brewing Company, and hopes to open sometime in 2011.

Eric Warner, originally of Colorado's Flying Dog Brewery, is rumored to be their head brewer.

Heady Brewing Company

HOUSTON - Another Texas craft brewery has been found in the early stages of development, Heady Brewing Company of Houston. They are currently scouting locations within the 610 loop and expect to be open by mid-2011.

A brewery website is still under development.

Houston's TwoRows Closing

HOUSTON - TwoRows Restaurant & Brewery of Houston has announced it will close on October 2nd, as reported by Ronnie Crocker of the Houston Chronicle on his blog Beer, TX.

The closure is due to rising rent prices for the prime Rice Village site that TwoRows has occupied for the past 14 years, and the owners being unable to sign an acceptable lease agreement. Currently, there are no plans to reopen or attempt to move to a new location.

TwoRows was the last operating independent brewpub in the Houston metro area. Hired just this past April, brewer Ray Mitteldorf has expressed interest in partnering to develop another new brewpub.

Gulf Brewing Company

HOUSTON - Another Houston microbrewery has surfaced recently, the Gulf Brewing Company of Houston. Owners Joel Moore and Tip Strickland are looking to follow the historic Gulf Brewing built by Howard Hughes at the repeal of Prohibition.

No word yet on a final location or when they may be operational.

Saint Arnold Resumes Tours

HOUSTON - City permits were finally obtained this past week for the new Saint Arnold location north of downtown Houston, allowing the brewery to resume their Saturday tours after occupying the building in late October.

Weekly tours will be held each Saturday from 11am to 2pm and will cost $7. Weekday tours will start on December 28th from 3pm to 3:30pm, but this weekday schedule will be subject to changes depending on how it progresses.

Saint Arnold's New Brewery

BREWERS IN THE NEWS

HOUSTON - With a small amount of ceremony, Saint Arnold officially opened their new brewing facility north of downtown Houston with a ribbon-cutting on Wednesday. Ronnie Crocker covered the event at the new brewery for the Houston Chronicle with "End of a drought: A brewery is back in city center." Photos of the event are also available from the Chronicle online at "A New Home for Saint Arnold."

Houston Mayor Bill White presented Saint Arnold with an formal proclamation declaring Wednesday, October 28, 2009, Saint Arnold Brewing Company Day in Houston.

Due to occupancy permits, Saturday tours at the new brewery are canceled until the matter can be resolved with city inspectors.

Divine Reserve No. 8 Released

BREWERS IN THE NEWS

HOUSTON - Saint Arnold released its eighth and latest edition in its Divine Reserve series today amid crowds of eager fans and some significant press coverage. Ronnie Crocker of the Houston Chronicle covered this anticipated event with the piece, "Beer fans poised for Divine release."

This release also garnered television coverage, as KIAH (Channel 39) of Houston ran a short feature entitled "There's a New Brew in Town," which includes interviews with Saint Arnold representatives and local retailers.

Taps House of Beers

A new independent beer bar named Taps House of Beers has opened in the Washington Avenue area of Houston. Taps House of Beers features over 90 taps of domestic and imported beers in a style similar to the Flying Saucer establishments.

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.

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.

Hurricane Ike Brewery Report

In the aftermath of Hurricane Ike that slammed into Texas last week, two Texas brewers were situated directly in the path of that storm, Saint Arnold of Houston and Southern Star in Conroe.

Both breweries have reported minor to no damage to their facilities, and no loss to brewing capacity or storage. However, like most of the region both Saint Arnold and Southern Star remain without power, and brewing operations and tours are suspended until further notice.

The release of Saint Arnold's Divine Reserve No. 7 will continue as scheduled, as that product is already in the hands of distributors. However, availability in the Houston area may be delayed.

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.

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.

Copper Thieves Hit Saint Arnold

Last week, thieves stripped open refrigeration and A/C systems on the roof of the Saint Arnold brewery in Houston and stole the copper elements inside. The thieves disabled the cooling systems and did about $75,000 worth of damage.

Production at the brewery was down for about five days, but no beer was lost.