Poll Results 2009

Poll 8 (January): Monthly Spending for Beer?

1. $20 to $50 (38%)
   
2. $50 to $100 (23%)
   
3. $100 to $200 (17%)
   

Total 34 votes


Poll 9 (February): Best Session Beer in Texas?

1. Rahr & Sons Ugly Pug (60%)
   
2. Spoetzl Shiner Bock (13%)
   
3. Live Oak Big Bark Amber (11%)
   

Total 45 votes


Poll 10 (March): Best Beer Store in Texas?

1. Hall's (37%)
   
2. Whip-In (18%)
   
3. Specs (16%)
   

Total 48 votes


Poll 11 (April): Best Spring Beer in Texas?

1. Rahr & Sons Bucking Bock (55%)
   
2. Live Oak Hefeweizen (16%)
   
3. Real Ale Devil's Backbone (14%)
   

Total 54 votes


Poll 12 (May): Favorite Beer Style?

1. Other (52%)
   
2. India pale ale (22%)
   
3. Stout (11%)
   

Total 68 votes


Poll 13 (June): Best Brewery in Texas?

1. Rahr & Sons (57%) #3 in 2008
   
2. Real Ale (25%)
3. Saint Arnold (12%) #1 in 2008

Total 64 votes


Poll 14 (July): Best Summer Beer in Texas?

1. Rahr & Sons Summertime Wheat (59%)
   
2. Live Oak Hefeweizen (18%)
   
3. Real Ale Fireman's #4 (13%)
   

Total 61 votes


Poll 15 (August): Is Spoetzl a Craft Brewery?

1. No (57%) 47% in 2008
2. Yes (35%) 47% in 2008
3. Perhaps (7%)
   

Total 40 votes


Poll 16 (September): Best IPA in Texas?

1. Rahr & Sons Stormcloud (42%) #1 in 2008
2. Saint Arnold Elissa (18%)
   
3. (tie) Live Oak Liberation (16%)
   (tie) Real Ale Lost Gold (16%)
   

Total 49 votes


Poll 17 (October): Best Oktoberfest in Texas?

1. Real Ale Oktoberfest (29%)
2. Saint Arnold Oktoberfest (25%)
   
3. Rahr & Sons Oktoberfest (22%) #1 in 2008

Total 27 votes


Poll 18 (November): Best Brewpub in Texas?

1. (tie) Uncle Billy's Brew & Que (36%)
   (tie) Freetail Brewing (36%)
   
2. The Covey (18%) #1 in 2008

Total 22 votes


Poll 19 (December): Most Anticipated New Brewer for 2010?

No response

Shiner 101

SHINER - Spoetzl will continue its anniversary series of beers past its centennial, with the next beer being a Czech-style pilsner designated Shiner 101. This new Shiner beer will be available in January 2010.

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.

Shiner Fröst

SHINER - Spoetzl's newest seasonal product will be the Shiner Fröst, a Dortmunder-style lager. It will be available January through March of 2010 and follow the Shiner Holiday Cheer as an annual offering.

Three New Austin-Area Brewers

AUSTIN - Three new potential brewers are looking to enter the Austin area within the next couple of years.

Flix Brewhouse, a new brewpub with a movie-tavern model, is planning to open in Round Rock by the summer of 2010. They plan to offer six house beers as well as a selection of 32 microbrews on tap, with an ultimate brewing capacity of 1000 barrels per year.

The Hops and Grain Brewery is currently in the fundraising stage for a microbrewery in Austin. A tasting of their beers is planned for December 10th at Rogue Equipment athletic store.

Pedernales Brewing Company of Spicewood seems to be developing labels for future products. No other information about this venture is available at this time.

No Label Brewing Leases Site

KATY - The Houston-area start-up No Label Brewing Company recently leased a location that will eventually become their brewhouse. The location includes old rice silos in Katy and will require cleanup and renovation to bring up to city code.

No date is available for when No Label Brewing plans to open.

Real Ale Phoenixx Double ESB

BLANCO - Real Ale Brewing has just received label approval from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) for bottles of their seasonal Phoenixx Double ESB.

Bottles of this ESB should follow once their Coffee Porter is out, and be available at retailers by the end of the year.

Cypress Street Station Opens

ABILENE - The Abilene Brewing Company opened last month operating as Texas' newest brewpub, the Cypress Street Station in downtown Abilene.

Owner and brewer Brian Green decided to open as a brewpub due to his present low-volume capacity. Cypress Street currently brews and serves four house beers with rotating seasonals but has room to expand, if successful.

Southern Star Buried Hatchet Stout

CONROE - Southern Star Brewing has just received label approval from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) for cans of their Buried Hatchet Stout.

Twelve-ounce cans of this foreign export-style stout should be in stores before the end of this year, and available year-round thereafter.

Jester King Funding Complete

AUSTIN - The Jester King Brewing Company took a major step toward opening as they announced completion of their fund raising goal and have secured land and a warehouse for their planned brewing operations.

The new brewery will sit on four acres of land in southwest Austin off of Fitzhugh Road, with plenty of space for food, beer and entertainment. Jeffrey Stuffings, owner of Jester King, expects to be open and brewing by the summer of 2010.

BJ's Opens in Hurst

HURST - The newest Texas location of BJ's Restaurant & Brewery opened today in Hurst, along Loop 820 outside of North East Mall.

Black Star Announces Location

AUSTIN - The Black Star Co-op Pub & Brewery announced its new Austin location to be at Midtown Commons at Crestview Station at the junction of North Lamar and St. John's Avenue. This location takes advantage of present Capital Metro lines and planned MetroRail transit.

Black Star's Saturday event to formally present to the public this new future location for their co-op brewpub is still planned for 1pm to 4pm.

Circle Brewing Purchases Brewhouse

AUSTIN - Start-up brewer Circle Brewing Company has raised enough capital to purchase a 30-barrel brewing system for their future microbrewery in Austin.

Circle Brewing is still in the fundraising stage of operations, and no physical location yet has been secured for their brewery. This new brewing system should arrive within the next four months.

Divine Reserve Release Date

HOUSTON - Saint Arnold has announced that the official release date for the next beer in their Divine Reserve series, No. 9, will be December 1st.

Yard House Opens in San Antonio

SAN ANTONIO - The first Texas location of the California-based beer bar chain Yard House opened this past week at The Shops at La Cantera in San Antonio.

The Houston location of the Yard House is scheduled to open on November 22nd.

Black Star Co-Op Brewpub

AUSTIN - The world's first cooperatively owned and operated brewpub, Black Star Co-op Pub & Brewery, is hosting an event to unveil their new Austin location with a beer social on November 14th.

Although not yet prepared nor licensed to brew and sell beer commercially, Black Star is offering the event for media and members to introduce the worker-managed brewpub concept, as well as to show off the future home of the co-op.

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.

Saint Arnold Move Complete

HOUSTON - Saint Arnold reports that the move to their new downtown facilities are nearly complete, and that the weekly tours will be held at the new location from now on beginning this Saturday, October 31st. The tour price has increased slightly to $7 per person, but due to its popularity they are planning to eventually offer a late afternoon tour as well.

Saint Arnold's new brewery is located at 2000 Lyons Avenue just north of Houston's downtown.

(512) Featured in Rare Magazine

BREWERS IN THE NEWS

AUSTIN - (512) Brewing earned a feature in the October issue of the Austin lifestyle and entertainment magazine Rare. The feature is a profile of Kevin Brand and (512)'s operations and beers entitled, "Brew (512)."

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."

Jester King Tasting in Austin

AUSTIN - The newest brewery currently under development in Austin, the Jester King Craft Brewery, is holding a free tasting of their beers hosted by The Draught House on October 8th at 7pm.

Jester King Craft Brewery is still in the fundraising stage prior to constructing their own microbrewery in Austin. They expect to open their own brewery facilities and begin brewing commercially in 2010.

Update: This event has been canceled.

Texas Brewers at 2009 GABF

DENVER, CO - Three Texas brewers won medals at this week's 2009 Great American Beer Festival. The winners were announced yesterday at an awards ceremony of the annual event in Denver, Colorado.

Recognized Texas brewers include:

• Saint Arnold: Gold for Summer Pils as a Munich-Style Helles
• Uncle Billy’s Brew & Que: Gold for Hell in Keller as a Kellerbier/Zwickelbier
• The Covey Restaurant & Brewery: Silver for Weizenbock as a German-Style Wheat Ale
• The Covey Restaurant & Brewery: Silver for 100 as a Belgian Style Strong Specialty Ale

Sponsored by the Brewers Association, the craft beer industry's professional organization, the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) is the largest professional competition in the United States. This year's competition set records despite a lagging economy, including more than 3308 beers from 495 brewers with an overall attendance of 49,000.

Awards are given in 78 different style categories of beer plus pro-am categories, with the top three beers recognized with gold, silver and bronze medals.

Wimberley Brewing Company Closes

WIMBERLEY - The months-old Wimberley Brewing Company closed this week due to financial and family pressures. Owner and brewer Bruce Collie sold the facilities to the former chef, who intends to reopen as a German restaurant.

Collie still has plans to soon reopen his brewpub nearby as a pizzeria and continue to expand its brewing capacity.

Correction: Wimberley Brewing has not closed permanently but has only shut down temporarily while relocating to new facilities nearby.

Fourth Annual Fall Beer Fest

FORT WORTH - The Fort Worth Flying Saucer has scheduled its fourth annual Fall Beer Fest for Saturday, October 17th, from 2pm to 10.30pm in the Sundance Square parking lot adjacent to their downtown location. Five tents will feature more than 20 specialty beers on draft, usually including a rare surprise or two.