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."

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.

Texas Brewers in the News

March brought a lot of coverage for Texas brewers, with most focused on the direct sales bills pending before the State legislature:

• "Tiny brewers thinking big: Move would allow them to sell beverages at their plants," Houston Chronicle
• "Microbreweries want consumers to be able to buy beer at breweries" (also appearing as "Heads up: Microbreweries want Legislature to clear the way for sales on site"), Fort Worth Star-Telegram, along with the accompanying video piece, "Brewers want to sell beer at the brewery"
• "Beer drinkers could purchase direct from local breweries under compromise plan," TexasWatchdog.org
• "Regulation, legislation and fun you can't have with Texas beer," Austin American-Statesman
• "Souvenir beer: We'll drink to this bill!" Houston Chronicle editorial
  

In other news, Lee Nichols featured an interview with Mike Renfro and his book, Shine On: 100 Years of Shiner Beer, in the Austin Chronicle piece, "Shiner at 100: Spoetzl Brewery."

Also, Saint Arnold's North Texas sales rep Kendra Harrell was briefly profiled in the Dallas Observer food blog "City of Ate" as "10 Questions: Kendra Harrell."

Texas Homebrew Club Report

Just as we recognize Texas microbreweries and brewpubs, the Texas beer industry also owes a debt to the legions of active homebrewers in this state. To make sure that each club receives its share of recognition on this site, this annual Texas Homebrew Club Report will be posted every year at the time of the largest homebrew competition, the Bluebonnet Brew-Off (March 21st).

Total: 19 local homebrew clubs

North Texas

Cap and Hare Homebrew Club (Fort Worth)
Horsemen of the Hopocalypse (Fort Worth)
Knights of the Brown Bottle (Arlington)
North Texas Homebrewers Association (Dallas)

Central Texas

Austin Zealots (Austin)
Bexar Brewers (San Antonio)
Brewers of Cove and Killeen (BOCK) (Killeen)
Hill Country Homebrew Club (Austin)

West Texas

Ale-ian Society (Lubbock)
Basin Brewers Homebrew Club (Midland)
Big Country Homebrewers Association (Abilene)
Wichita's Only Real Tasty Suds (WORTS) (Wichita)

East Texas

Bay Area Mashtronauts (Houston)

Brew Bayou Homebrewing Club (Clute)
Cane Island Alers (Katy)
East Texas Brewers Guild (White Oak)
Foam Rangers Homebrew Club (Houston)
Kuykendahl Gran Brewers (Houston)

South Texas

Bay Area Society of Homebrewers (BASH) (Corpus Christi)

(512) Brewing Spring Open House

(512) Brewing will hold their Spring Open House on Saturday, March 21st, from 2pm to 5pm at their brewery facilities in Austin. This open house will include a live local band plus the release of their newest beer, the (512) Alt.

Second Yard House to Open in San Antonio

A second Texas location of the California-based beer bar chain Yard House is scheduled to open in San Antonio by October. The new bar will be located on the north loop at The Shops at La Cantera shopping center.

Originally scheduled to open by March, the Houston location of the Yard House at CityCentre has been moved back to December.

Texas Brewers in the News

A busy month for media coverage of Texas brewing. An op-ed piece appeared in UNT's North Texas Daily as a local guide to the best of Denton's liquor stores and other retailers entitled, "Beer Snob's guide to Denton booze shops."

J.R. Labbe of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram mentions Rahr & Sons in an editorial about HB 1062 in another op-ed piece entitled, "Easing restrictions on microbreweries."HB 1062 is current legislation in Austin known as the Texas Brewers Parity Amendment that would allow Texas brewers to sell their product direct to the public.

The Covey's brewmaster Jamie Fulton and Head Chef Sean Merchant again appeared on the cooking portion of the Dallas morning show, WFAA's "Good Morning, Texas." They appeared in a segment called "Valentine's Day Dishes with The Covey," promoting their Valentine's Day specials for both food and beer.

Austin's breweries also received some national media attention with a piece on National Public Radio (NPR) concerning the economic effects within the brewing business entitled, "Brewery Business Hopping Despite Tanking Economy." Featured in this story were Josh Wilson of the Draught House and Kevin Brand of (512) Brewing.

Barry Schlacter of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram posted a review of Spoetzl's Shiner 100 entitled, "Flavorful beer marks Spoetzl's centennial." And Patrick Beach provides a suitable tribute in the Austin American-Statesman to Austin's relocating Ginger Man with his homage, "There's a tear in my beer - the Ginger Man is moving."

Wimberley Brewing Company Open

The Wimberley Brewing Company & Brew Pub opened for business last month in Wimberley. It is part of The Junction, an area of collective restaurants in Wimberley owned and operated by former San Francisco 49ers offensive lineman Bruce Collie.

About four of their house beers are currently available at the brewpub and a few of the surrounding restaurants in The Junction, with more planned. Other regional craft beers are also offered.

A separate brewpub website is still under development.

Austin Ginger Man Move Delayed

The relocation of Austin's Ginger Man has been known for some time, but its move date has been pushed back several months due to financial delays in the development of the new property to replace it. No definite date has been announced for the move but it will not happen at least until after the annual SXSW music festival in March.

The Ginger Man's new location is 301 Lavaca St, less than a block south than its current and original location of 15 years.

Iron Thistle Wins USBTC Grand Champion

Rahr & Sons' Iron Thistle Scotch Ale has been named the Grand Champion in the Scottish-Style Ale category at the 15th Annual United States Beer Tasting Championship (USBTC). It shares this status with 12 other beers in the Winter 08/09 tasting session, the only Texas beer to do so.

The USBTC is a national blind-tasting competition for commercial U.S. brewers, and attracts several hundred entries each year for judging in 22 different categories. Rahr & Sons beers have won awards at the USBTC for the past four years for their Blonde Lager, Ugly Pug and Summertime Wheat. This is their first Grand Champion award at the USBTC.

Update: The Rahr & Sons Blind Salamander also won first place in the Brown Ale category in the Rockies/Southwest region.

Direct Sales Bill Introduced

Representative Lon Burnam of Tarrant County has introduced legislation to the Texas House of Representatives that would legalize the sale of beer directly from the brewery. Filed February 4th, the bill known as HB 1062, or the Texas Brewers Parity Amendment, includes the language

The holder of a brewer's permit whose premises is located in an area where the sale of ale and malt liquor is legal and who produces at least 1,000 barrels of ale or malt liquor a year may sell ale and malt liquor manufactured or bottled on the permitted premises to ultimate consumers: (1) in unbroken packages for off-premises consumption in an amount that does not exceed 35,000 gallons annually; and (2) for consumption on the brewery premises if the brewery is located in an area where the sale of ale and malt liquor for on-premises consumption is legal.

An identical bill SB 754 was filed today in the State Senate by Senator Wendy Davis, also of Fort Worth.

Current TABC law requires that brewers sell only to distributors and prohibits any direct sales to the public. The direct sales of wine from Texas vineyards was legalized several years ago with no negative consequences to winemakers, distributors or retailers.

Similar legislation was sponsored by Brock Wagner of Saint Arnold two years ago but was defeated.

Update: A slightly modified competing bill, HB 2094, has also been filed by Representative Jessica Farrar of Houston. Farrar sponsored the previous similar legislation that was defeated two years ago.

Rahr's Irish Red Ale

Rahr & Sons has brewed their next seasonal, a robust Irish red ale. The Rahr's Irish Red Ale should be available on draft only at select locations around St. Patrick's Day.

Southern Star Sponsors Next Seasonal

Southern Star is hosting a public amateur homebrewing competition whose winner will be adopted and brewed as their next commercial fall seasonal. The winner will also be entered in the 2009 Great American Beer Festival (GABF) Pro-Am competition.

The entry deadline is May 2nd, with full rules and details available on their website.