BJ's Releases Pumpkin Ale

BJ's Restaurant Brewhouse, who's beers are contract brewed by Saint Arnold Brewing, has released its Pumpkin Ale.  Brewed with "an abundance of spices", they suggest pairing it with their Sweet Pig Pizza, Picookie or Vanilla Bean Cookie.  Its available now at all BJ's locations for a limited time only. 

Other then the homebrewed pumpkin beers that I helped judge at the Pentrol Station on Thursday, I think this is the only pumpkin beer brewed in the state, so its certainly worth checking out.

Pumpkin Beer Throwdown Winners

The Petrol Station hosted a Pumpkin Beer Throwdown homewbrew competition on Thursday night as part of Houston Beer Week.  One of the scheduled judges was unable to make it, so I was asked to join the esteemed panel of judges.  Each of us sampled all 16 entries and then chose our top three beers in order.  Ben Fullelove, Petrol Station owner, then tallied the votes and announced the winners:

1st Place: Mike Hon

2nd Place: Brian Coltrin

3rd Place: Mason LeGrue

Congratulations to all the winners.  It was fun to judge the beers and a great opportunity to try some really good homebrewed beers.  Pumpkin beers don't have a specific style guideline and pumpkin itself doesn't have a whole lot of flavour on its own.  Most of the flavours that you taste in a pumpkin pie, for example, comes from the spices that are added and it can be difficult to get the correct balance of those flavours in a beer.  Some of the beers had a little too much of one or another spice and some had very little or no pumpkin flavours at all.  There were a couple of beers that stood out as well made beers, but unfortunately, they didn't have enough (or any) pumpkin flavours for them to win a pumpkin beer contest.  Thanks to Ben for organizing the first Pumpkin Beer Throwdown and asking me to be a judge, hopefully he'll have more homebrew competitions in the future.

Jennifer (@txgirlspintout) &
 Rob (@IndyBrewing Brewmaster)

Ben tallying the results




Ronnie Crocker (Beer,TX -Hou Chronicle)

Beer Dinner at Catalan with Anvil's Kevin Floyd

Kevin Floyd from Anvil

When deciding on the beer dinners to attending during Houston Beer Week, it was the one that combined Catalan's amazing food with Kevin Floyd's excellent beer knowledge that had me the most intrigued. The Executive Chef at Catalan Food and Wine, Chris Shepherd, had just won My Table's Chef of the Year Award and Kevin Floyd is the Beer Guru and part owner of the multiple award winning Anvil Bar & Refuge. It was even enough to convince my wife to come along with me.


Chef Chris Shepherd (behind my wife)

 We were met in the private dining room at Catalan with bologna sausage hor d'oeuvres and Keystone Light poured into champagne flutes.  Interesting start.  But this was Catalan's homemade bologna sausage and the Keystone Light was selected as an example of the beer style that most Americans are familiar with when they think about beer.  It was also the first beer that Kevin Floyd ever legally purchased and consumed in his younger days.  Considering how young he still is, he's come a long way in his beer knowledge and preferences in a pretty short time.

Kevin indicated at the start of evening that he had managed to get a couple of beers that are currently unavailable in this country (but will be soon) to serve during the dinner.  The first unknown beer was the Saison de Dottignies from Brouwerij De Ranke located in Wevelgem, Belgium.  Aroma and flavours of grass, lemon and pepper with a slightly dry earthy finish with a lingering bitterness.  The beer was paired, naturally, with large meaty mussels served in a creamy broth.  We all wanted some bread to soak up the delicious broth with, but that would clearly have been a bad decision based on how much food was yet to come.

The second course was fish and chips served with Left Hand Polestar Pilsner.  The Chef informed us that the fish was Gulf Hake which is apparently not normally served in restaurants. It was lightly battered and fried and served with malt vinegar chips and smoked steelhead trout roe.  The fish was light and flakey and the roe added little bursts of smoke flavour to each bite.  The Polestar Pilsner is a good example of a German Pilsner with an earthy and floral hop aroma, sweet grainy malt flavour and dry clean finish.

The second of Kevin's surprise special beers was brought out for the third course, an Imperial Dunkelwit from the Nøgne Ø  brewery in Norway.  I've never had an Imperial Dunkelwit (a strong dark Belgian wit) before and was definitely my favourite beer of the evening.  Aromas of brown sugar, coriander and orange peel.  Sweet malt flavour with a blend of coriander, citrus and roasted nuts.  It paired very well with the shredded suckling port tacos served with picked red onions and the chef's homemade hot sauce.  The hot sauce had a lingering heat which the Dunkelwit did a good job of quenching.



Goat on a bed of plantains and pork belly

 Baby goat spiced with cloves, all spice and other things (can't read my notes) served on a bed of smashed plantains was the fourth course paired with Wild Devil from Victory Brewing. Wild Devil is the the Hop Devil IPA that's been fermented using 100% Brettanomyces yeast.  The result is an already bold IPA with a spicy and mildly sour flavour.  This would be a tough beer to try and pair with food, but it went well with all the strong spices in the dish and the goat itself.

We were all starting to get pretty full by this point and wasn't sure how much of the small burger with homemade beans that I'd be able to eat when the fifth course arrived.  But oh, what a burger!  After one bite I new I wouldn't be able to leave any behind. Stuffed with cheese and served on a pretzel bun, the flavour was incredible without any condiments on it at all.  To wash it down with, Kevin selected Hop Stoopid from Lagunitas Brewing.  At 102 IBU's, its not nearly as hoppy as you would expect as it has a pretty strong sweetness to the flavour that helps to balance out all that bitterness.

And whether you had room for it or not, there was no way to resist the final course of a flourless chocolate cake with a scoop of chocolate ice cream on top.  Creamy, gooey and chocolately, it was served along side Stone Brewing's Imperial Russian Stout from 2009 that Kevin has been saving in the cooler at Anvil for just such an occasion.  As suggested by the chef, I dropped some of the ice cream in my glass of beer and let it melt into a creamy dessert all on its own.

I'd like to thank Chef Shepherd for preparing six fantastic courses and Kevin Floyd for finding beer that paired great with all them.  I'm still so full today that I've skipped both breakfast and lunch.

Foam on the Range at West Oaks Mall

The producers of the recent Brewmasters International Beer Festival have yet another beer festival coming up. Foam on the Range will take place outside behind the Alamo Draft House at the West Oaks Mall on Highway 6 and Westheimer on Friday, October 22nd from 5:00pm to 8pm. Tickets are $15 in advance or $20 at the door and there's also a $35 VIP access option.  For that price, each guest can select 24 samples from over 100 craft beers. Additional beer sampling cards good for 12 more samples will be available for $5 each.

This is another beer festival where you won't find anything you can't normally buy at Spec's or find at various beer bars around town.  However, for those people who are just getting into craft beer, its a great opportunity to try a variety of different beers in one spot for a reasonable price.

Houston Beer Week Begins Sunday

I posted about it when it was first announced, but now that Houston Beer Week is almost upon us, it needs to be mentioned again.  Starting with a kickoff party on Sunday, Oct 10th and running through to Sunday Oct 17th, the week is filled with various beer events, dinners and tastings at bars and restaurants around town.  Some are free to attend while others, like the beer dinners, require reservations.  Check the Houston Beer Week website for detailed information about the daily events.  Some the events that caught my eye that I'll be attending are:

Sun - Kickoff Party (Usual Pub)
Tues - Independence Tasting (Rockwell Tavern)
Wed - Catalan & Anvil Beer Dinner (Catalan)
Thurs - Pumpkin Throwdown (Petrol Station)
Fri - Gravity Cask 2010 (Anvil)
Sat - Fall Beer Festival (Brenner's) or Duvel-Moortgat Tasting (Ginger Man)

The week concludes with Monsters of Beer, an outdoor beer festival featuring Texas breweries and brewpubs. It takes place Sunday afternoon from noon to 5pm on the street adjacent to 13 Celsisus. Tickets are $20 online ($30 at the gate) which includes a 5oz tasting glass to try all the beers from the participating breweries. There will be music, food from Hubcap Burgers and Melange Creperie and a silent auction with rare beers, beer tours and other odd beer paraphernalia.

Check the websites and follow the @houstonbeerweek and @monstersofbeer twitter feeds for more information as it is released.