Houston Two Rows Closing

When I moved to Houston in the mid 90's, there was at least half a dozen operating brewpubs in the area (click here for info and history of Houston's brewpubs). However, by the early 2000's, they were all closed except for Two Rows which has continued to brew beer in their Rice Village location for almost 14 years. Unfortunately, as reported today by Ronnie Crocker at Beer, TX, they've lost their lease and will be closing on Oct 2nd.

I was a frequent customer of Two Rows during the first half of its life and even still have one of the mugs you see hanging above the bar. However, the quality and consistency of the beer started to slide and it finally came to the point that I just stopped going entirely. But things started to change when Ray Mittledorf was hired as the brewer back in March of this year. I got a chance to hang out with Ray one afternoon this summer and drink a few of the beers that he had brewed since he took over. The beers were definitely a huge improvement and I was looking forward to the seasonals he wanted to brew. Unfortunately, it appears that they've lost their lease after negotiations with their landlord, Weingarten Realty, failed. They may look at moving to a new location, but in two weeks, the fourth largest city in the U.S. will be without an operating brewpub.