Fort Bend Brewing Planned

SUGAR LAND - A new brewery is planned for the southwest Houston area, Fort Bend Brewing Company, with an opening expected in spring of 2012.

As reported by Houston Craft Beer Examiner Brian Carey, Fort Bend Brewing is to be a retooled effort of Jeff King, Ray Self and the former Kreuz Creek Brewing, a craft brewery start-up that failed to materialize as planned in 2011 for undisclosed reasons. The new brewery is to be located in the Sugar Land area and should package beer in kegs, bottles and cans as early as April.

Of interest to North Texas consumers is the former owner and brewer of Fort Worth's award-winng The Covey Restaurant & Brewery, Jamie Fulton, will be involved in Fort Bend Brewing as a consulting brewer.

Correction: Fort Bend Brewing is not associated with the former Kreuz Creek Brewing but is a separate effort by Ty Coburn of the same area, bringing King and Self on board as a new venture.

The Covey Closes

FORT WORTH - Fresh off a medal at this year's GABF, Fort Worth's The Covey Restaurant & Brewery abruptly closed Friday night with only hours notice.

Owner and brewer Jamie Fulton has accepted an opportunity with a new brewpub project called Farmers & Brewers based in Washington, DC. No news yet on what will become of The Covey's equipment or location.

Update: The Covey's brewhouse equipment has been sold to a start-up brewpub in Bangalore, India, and Fulton will be consulting with them for a few months as they get operations underway.

Profile of Rahr, Covey on DFW.com

BREWERS IN THE NEWS

FORT WORTH - Local brewers JB Flowers of Rahr & Sons and Jamie Fulton of The Covey were profiled by Barry Shlachter for the local entertainment and lifestyle website DFW.com in a piece entitled, "2 local brewers have caught lightning in a bottle."

Shlachter also profiled brewer Alan Sparkman of Arlington's brewpub Humperdink's in an accompanying piece entitled, "Humperdink's brewmaster Alan Sparkman started as a banker."

And Shlachter provides a short guide to the local beer scene in Fort Worth in a third piece, "6 burning questions about our beer sphere."

Texas Brewers in the News

More Texas brewers and retailers have appeared in various media throughout the state, including several video segments. Austin's Fox television affiliate (Channel 7) covered the grand opening of the new (512) Brewing with the piece, "New Austin Brewery Opens its Doors."

The Dallas/Fort Worth morning program, "Good Morning, Texas," of WFAA (Channel 8) carried a segment interviewing Jamie Fulton of The Covey Restaurant & Brewery with the piece, "Local Brewer wins the 'Super Bowl' of beer brewing."

Houston's CBS affiliate KHOU (Channel 11) broadcast a piece featuring Brock Wagner and Saint Arnold regarding the rise in keg thefts with "Metal thieves tapping beer kegs."

Also noted in the Austin-American Statesman's Food & Drink section is a brief paragraph announcing that Whip In has expanded with a small in-store restaurant (including wine and beer sold by the glass) with "You go there for beer, but Whip In now whips up fresh Indian food."

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.

Texas Brewers in the News

More news items have appeared recently featuring native Texas breweries. Saint Arnold and Austin homebrewer Kerry Martin appeared in an Austin American-Statesman piece last week entitled "Houston's Saint Arnold pronounces local homebrewer's Wiezenbock recipe Divine." Martin's winning recipe at the recent Big Batch Brew Bash competition in Houston is scheduled to become the next beer in Saint Arnold's Divine Reserve series.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram reporter Barry Schlacter brought the world's most expensive beer for a review by professional brewers in "How good is a $400 beer?" Carlsberg's Jacobsen Vintage No. 1 was sampled and reviewed over the weekend by Fort Worth brewers Jamie Fulton of The Covey and J.B. Flowers of Rahr & Sons.

And just today, a Houston ABC affiliate featured a profile of Southern Star Brewing in a news segment entitled "What's brewing in Conroe?" The video includes brief interviews with Southern Star brewers Brian Hutchins and Dave Fougeron.

Texas Brewers in the News

More news items have popped up recently about various Texas brewers. Rahr & Sons was featured in a local NBC piece last week entitled "Beer Prices Rise With Grain, Fuel Demand" regarding the rising costs associated with brewing, and thus for many other small businesses.

Bringing home a gold medal at the World Beer Cup has fueled local coverage of The Covey and its brewer, Jamie Fulton, appearing recently in both the Fort Worth Star-Telegram with "Tops in hops: Fort Worth restaurateur's beer is the toast of the 'Olympics of brewing'" and the Fort Worth Business Press in "Aging well: Local brew master perfects his beer."

Also, a profile of recent Conroe start-up brewery Southern Star appeared recently in the local Montgomery County's The Courier entitled "Commence pouring."