Texas Beer Dinner at Pappas Bros. Steakhouse

Pappas Bros. Steakhouse is hosting a Texas Beer Dinner on May 20th & 21st, at 7:00pm. The dinner will feature five courses paired with a variety of beers from Texas breweries. The cost is $65 per person (plus tax and tip) and reservations are required.

Pappas Bros. hosted their first beer dinner last fall which featured of variety of beer styles from different breweries.

Tour and Tasting Day at Independence Brewing

This Saturday is the monthly Tour and Tasting Day out at Independence Brewing in Austin, TX. I'm actually heading up to Austin for it this weekend, so I'll be there wandering around and helping to pour beer.

Independence just recently expanded into the Houston market and began self-distributing around the area last week. Sixpacks are now available at various HEB's on the North side of Houston and kegs have also been delivered to the Petrol Station, Flying Saucer and the Ginger Man. Look for their beers to begin appearing on tap at those locations soon (if not on already). The Flying Saucer is also scheduled to be the first to get the new Mandarin Saison seasonal on tap. The Spec's downtown location also has the full range of Independence beers in bottle.

Red Green's Beer Holder

This video has been making the rounds on the Internets lately and its been emailed to me from a few different people. Being from Canada, I grew up watching Red Green and that includes when he was just one of the many characters performed by Steve Smith on the Smith & Smith comedy sketch show that he did with his wife. They both did a variety of different characters, but Red Green was always the most popular.

As funny as it is, it's not actually that bad of an idea (assuming you actually use a brand new one). You could even put some ice in it to keep the beer cold. Remember, if women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.

Smoked Porter wins Southern Star Pro-Am Competition

Southern Star Brewing of Conroe, TX announced that the winning entry of their 2nd annual Pro-Am competition was a Smoked Porter. The winning beer will be brewed at Southern Star and added to their Pro-Am line of beers. It will also go on to be entered into the Pro-am competition at the 2010 Great American Beer Festival. The winning entry last year was Saison style ale.

Tickets on Sale for the Great Austin Beer Festival

Tickets are now on sale for the Great Austin Beer Festival. If you're wondering what exactly it is, then you're not alone. They have a website and a FaceBook page, but further details are scarce. We do know that it's scheduled for June 26th and will apparently take place at the Austin Music Hall, but that's about all the information that has been released. Considering tickets are $30 in advance and $40 at the door, I think most beer drinkers are going to want to at least know what breweries have committed to attending before putting down any cash. The description on the Austin Music Hall ticket information hints at a little more:

The Great Austin Beer Festival is our opportunity to celebrate everything we love about beer. With so many great breweries in Austin and beyond, you will get your chance to sample some the finest local beers and explore beers from our best breweries from all over the world. The event offers multiple opportunities to learn everything you want to know about beer. Join us in downtown at the Austin Music Hall on June 26th. Admission is $30 online and $40 day of event. It includes unlimited 4oz samples. Food will be sold separately.

I'm curious what "our best breweries" means. I've seen other "beer festivals" around the state that have turned out to be nothing more then a showcase of the brands from a particular distributor. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I'd like to know that before hand. I've seen multiple attempts to organize a beer festival in Austin fail over the years. This one has already got a little further by selling tickets. There hasn't been a true craft beer festival in Austin since the very last Texas Craft Beer Festival in 2005. I look forward to learning more about the Great Austin Beer Festival and hopefully it turns out to be everything that everyone is hoping it will be.

*** UPDATE - 04/26/2010 ***

I sent an email message to the organizers requesting additional information about what breweries are attending and their response included the following:

"I know of at least 4-5 larger craft breweries that are expecting to attend. We expect to have a broad range of local and regional offerings, along with most of the major craft breweries that are distributed in Austin."

The email also went on to say that the TABC has been giving them a really tough time lately which has also taken away from time they could have been spending on rounding up more breweries to attend. However, they are continuing to contact breweries about the event and working on trying to bring in beers that are not usually available in Texas. They hope to have a list of breweries that are attending sometime next week.