Achouffe Gnome Party at the Flying Saucer

On Wednesday, Oct 27th, the Flying Saucer will be featuring some of the beers from Brasserie d’ Achouffe.  Show up dressed like a Achouffe Brewery gnome and you could win a 2ft gnome and a $50 saucer gift card.

Independence Anniversary Party and 6 Words Twitter Contest

The 6th Anniversary Braggot in the anniversary mug
next to a few of Indy's other beers.

Independence Brewing celebrated their 6th anniversary on Saturday with a party at the brewery.  The full lineup of beers were available to sample as well as a cask of the Stash IPA that had been dry-hopped with Amarillo hops, a cask of the Convict Hill Stout and the '09 Jasperilla Old Ale.  The special anniversary beer that was produced this year was an orange braggot made with Good Flow wild flower honey. If you couldn't make it out to the party to try it, a few kegs of the braggot will appear around town this week.

And in case you hadn't already heard, the brewery currently has a Twitter based contest called 6 words that runs until Oct 30.  Follow @indybrewing on Twitter and tweet exactly 6 words that describe your love of beer and include the tag #indy6words. Entries must be received before 12 am October 30th. All entries will be judged by the brewery staff and the winner will be awarded a VIP private beer tasting for up to 10 people at the brewery.

Independence Brewing 6th Anniversary Party Oct 23rd

Independence Brewing of Austin, TX is celebrating six years of brewing quality handcrafted beers in South Austin with an anniversary party at the brewery on Saturday, October 23 from 4:00pm ~ 8:00pm. Admission is free, but bring some cash to buy one of the commemorative anniversary glasses that will be available for purchase. The special anniversary beer this year is an Orange Braggot brewed using local Good Flow Wildflower Honey and Texas Clementine orange zest.  The rest of the Indy Brewing lineup of beers will also be available for sampling as well as some rare aged and cask beer.  Come out and enjoy live music, games and great beer and help celebrate 6 years of Independence!

Rob adding the Good Flow Honey
while brewing the Anniversary Braggot.


The anniversary party is also a great way to kick off Austin Beer Week which runs from Oct 24th to Oct 30th.  Check the website for the full listing of beer events taking place around Austin throughout the week.

Houston Beer Week ends with a Roar

The first ever Houston Beer Week ended on Sunday with a beer festival called Monsters of Beer. Nine Texas craft breweries were featured, allowing the approximately 600 attendees to sample beer from both established breweries and a couple of the new startups:

(512) - IPA, Pecan Porter
Independence - Stash IPA, Saison
Jester King - Commercial Suicide Mild
Live Oak - Pilz, HefeWeisen
No Label - Pale Horse Pale Ale, El Hefe Hefeweizen, Ridgeback Amber
Rahr and Sons - Ugly Pug Black Lager, Salamander Pale Ale, Oktoberfest, Winter Warmer (Cask)
Real Ale - Oktoberfest, ESB, Lost Gold IPA
Saint Arnold - Amber, Elissa IPA
Southern Star - Buried Hatchet Stout, Bombshell Blond, Pine Belt Pale Ale

Ranger Creek was scheduled to attend, but was unable to due to a combination of technical difficulties at the brewery and TABC labeling laws.

The festival was held in the parking lot at 13 Celsius wine bar and the closed off street in front of it. It was a bright sunny day for most of the festival, making it quite warm at times unless you were able to find some of the limited shade available. Representatives from most of the breweries were on hand to answer questions and talk to people, but were unable to pour beer due to some odd TABC rules. The lines for beer were long at times, but the volunteers pouring kept things moving pretty quickly. Since everyone had tasting cards and were only allowed one sample of each beer, the long lines would appear and disappear from the booths as people got their samples and moved on to the next brewery.

Unfortunately, there was also long lines for the food which never seemed to get shorter. The Hubcap Grill burger truck was unable to make it to the event, leaving the Sylvia's No Borders truck and the Melange Creperie table the only two food vendors. Several times I overhead people wondering how difficult it would be to order a pizza for delivery.

Overall, I think the event went pretty smoothly and was a great success. I got to meet and talk with a lot of other beer folks, including a few who I've communicated with via twitter but never in person. It was a great opportunity to try beers from some of the new breweries and be able to compare and contrast them with other locally brewed beers. Although I heard a few complaints regarding the lack of special releases or one-offs brought by the breweries, I would suspect a larger selection next year if this is made an annual event. By this time next year, there should also be a few additional new breweries open and operating that would be able to attend. I'm already looking forward to next year's festival.

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.