Final Visit to Two Rows Houston

I made what is most likely my final visit to Two Rows brewpub yesterday after work.  I went to enjoy a few final pints and pick up my mug that's been hanging above the bar for a dozen or so years.

It was actually very quiet when I arrived with only a few people scattered around the bar and restaurant areas, but both bartenders indicated the place has been packed every night since the announcement was made that they'll be closing on Oct 2nd. Everyone has been coming in for a final beer, including a couple who drove in from Austin just to pick up their mugs. There's still plenty of beer flowing though, including the new Oktoberfest that was just released. A chalkboard near the bar indicates an "Art of Darkness" series of beers that Ray Mittledorf, Brewmaster at the Houston location, was apparently working on which was to include an espresso stout and a porter. Unfortunately, those beers won't be brewed. Ray wasn't around when I was there, but I was told he is looking around Houston for locations to potentially open a new brewpub. I definitely wish him lots of luck and hope that he's able to do it.

While I sat and sipped on some of the last freshly made beers in Houston, the bartender indicated that they had also just received 140 new growlers on Friday, the first new batch that includes Ray's name on them as the brewmaster.  I couldn't resist picking up another great souvenir to go with my mug and asked for one filled with the Oktoberfest.

By the time I left a few hours later, the place was filling up and two very large groups had filled the bar area.  I'm sure it will be a complete madhouse this evening during the final $1 beer night.  If you get a chance, I recommend stopping by for a pint.  The growlers could even be a collectors item one day.

The remaining mugs above the bar

GABF Award Winning The Covey in Fort Worth Closes its Doors

While scanning through Twitter early this morning for any interesting updates, I noticed this rather surprising announcement from @TheCoveyBrew:

Yes, The Covey closed tonight. Bittersweet. The most beautiful thing of it all: my true friends remain.

WTF? I just watched them win yet another medal at the GABF last week.  According to their updated website, Jamie Fulton, the owner and Brewmaster of The Covey, is moving on to a new project called Farmers & Brewers in Washington D.C. Its great that he's got something else to go on to, but it means Texas has lost a second brewpub in only a week.

Recap of the 2010 Great American Beer Festival

Another Great American Beer Festival has come and gone. Over 455 breweries served more then 2,200 different beers in the festival hall to over 49,000 attendees. Just over 3,500 beers were entered into the judging competition which is up from the 3,300 last year.



I did prepare a little for the convention in that I created a list of the breweries that I definitely wanted to try beers from, but I really didn't take the time to write them all down as I sampled. I started to, but that got tedious and cut into my sampling time. I'll just say that there were a lot of great beers, but also quite a few that were not. There were definitely some very unique beers that I was very impressed with that I'll mention though. The Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Brown Ale from Cigar City Brewing (all the beers they were pouring were excellent) was just like drinking a cookie. The Hoppin' Jalapeno Cream Ale from Wasatch Brewery was smooth and creamy with the full flavours of a jalapeno but with only a little of the bite. Rocky Mountain Brewery had beers that can only be described as dessert in a glass. Taking a sip of their Tatonka Blueberry Cobbler, Eat a Peach or Da Yoopers (cherry) and you got a mouthful of fruit and crust flavours as if you just bit into a pie. The Key Lime Pie from Shorts Brewing was another highly talked about beer. All their beers were very popular and they ran out of beer early every night of the session.

Of the four sessions at the GABF, the Thursday night and Saturday afternoon sessions are my favourite. Since Thursday is the first session, everyone is full of energy and excited to be there. Most of the brewery reps are behind their booths and all the different beers are still available. Saturday is great because you get to watch the awards being announced and if you're quick, try some of the beers that won that you haven't already tried (before they run out). Friday is still fun, but a lot of the brewery folks are often off at other events and parties, leaving only the volunteers to answer any questions about the brewery and the beer. The Saturday night session can often just be a mad house (although I didn't see any fights this year). Almost all of the beers that won an award are long gone and quite often so are all the beers at the popular breweries. The brewery reps that are actually there are tired and ready to go home. But its still hard to pass up being there for all four sessions just to be able to soak it all in and enjoy the atmosphere.

One of the hidden gems on the festival floor is the booths for the various brewers guilds. They were moved from the side wall to the center of the festival this year, but most people still seemed to ignore them. What's so special about them? The booths pour beer from the breweries that are members of that guild and in some cases, beers that are not even available at the brewery's booth. Stone's Vertical Epic 070707 was one of the beers pouring the first night along with beers from Lost Abbey/Port Brewing, AleSmith and Jolly Pumpkin to name but a few. If you missed the guild booths this year, I highly recommend you check them out next time.

I spent some time behind the Independence Brewing booth again this year helping to pour beer and answer questions. It was great to see how many people made the trip up from Texas for the festival and there many former Austinites stop by to say hi when they saw where the brewery was from. The Saison was a huge hit and the second keg of it had to be brought out during the first session. It actually had to be rationed during Friday's session to ensure there would at least be some to pour on Saturday afternoon. The Stash IPA was another crowd pleaser and T-shirts for it were for sale at the GABF merchandise booth and it was cool to actually see people wearing them around the festival and out on the streets. There may not have been any medals for Independence this year, but the beer was a bit hit with festival goers.

Overall, it was another great festival experience.  The 2011 Great American Beer Festival will be held Sept 29th ~ Oct 1st.  Circle the dates on your calendar and start making your plans now.

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.

Texas Winners at 2010 GABF

Texas Winners at the 2010 Great American Beer Festival:

Category 27: Munich-Style Helles (42 Entries)
Bronze - Cowboy Lager - The Covey Restaurant & Brewery, Fort Worth, TX

Category 41: German-Style Kölsch (46 Entries)
Gold - Fancy Lawnmower Beer - Saint Arnold Brewing Co., Houston, TX

Category 52: Ordinary or Special Bitter (47 Entries)
Gold - Rio Blanco Pale Ale - Real Ale Brewing Co., Blanco, TX

Category 53: Extra Special Bitter or Strong Bitter (42 Entries)
Silver - Elissa IPA - Saint Arnold Brewing Co., Houston, TX

Category 54: Scottish-Style Ale (22 Entries)
Silver - Oktoberfest - Saint Arnold Brewing Co., Houston, TX

Texas medal winners from the 2009 Great American Beer Fest is available here.