Texas Debut of Alpine Beer Company

Another week, another out of state brewery makes its debut in Texas. This time it's Alpine Beer Company from Alpine, California (sort of).

Alpine was founded in 1999, but initially had their beers contract brewed at AleSmith Brewing Co until they opened their own brewery in 2002. Alpine's beers have been highly regarded, particularly their IPA's, but were difficult to find as they had a maximum production of around 1500 bbls a year and distribution didn't reach far from home. But that started to change in November 2013 when Green Flash Brewing Co. began brewing some of Alpine's beers (Nelson, Hoppy Birthday and Duet) at their facility in San Diego.  The increase in production and sales of Alpine beers would help raise capital that Alpine desperately needed in order to expand. Apparently that relationship worked out pretty well because in November 2014, Green Flash bought the Alpine Beer Company. And with the production capabilities and resources of Green Flash, beers from Alpine are now finding their way to Texas.  The Flying Saucer in Downtown Houston is tapping a different Alpine beer every night from March 9th to the 13th, including the highly sought after Nelson (apparently the Flying Saucer is the only location in Houston to receive a keg). The following is the tapping schedule:

Mon, March 9: Duet
Tues, March 10: Hoppy Birthday
Wed, March 11: Alpine Ale
Thur, March 12: Nelson
Fri, March 13: Irish Red

I'm happy to see that Alpine was able to find help from within the craft brewing industry.  I'm sure we'll be seeing more mergers and takeovers in the future as the older craft breweries continue to expand and seek new markets and revenue streams.  And this is definitely preferred over a takeover by ABImBev.

Beers From Sweetwater Begin Flowing in Houston

Sweetwater Brewing, named for a tributary of the Chattahoochee River, was founded in Atlanta, GA in 1997 by two former college roommates. It has since grown to be the 19th largest craft brewery thanks to their most popular beer, 420 Extra Pale Ale, and the rest of their regular lineup which includes the Sweetwater IPA, Georgia Brown Ale and Take Two Pils along with Blue (a light bodied ale with a hint of blueberry) and Hop Hash Double IPA (made with the hop resin scraped out of the hop pelletizer).

There are various events around town this week to celebrate their launch and it shouldn't be too difficult to find it on tap, but here's a few that I know about:

In addition to those, I also found events at Hay Merchant today and Ladybirds on Thursday.

8th Wonder Celebrating 2nd Anniversary

8th Wonder is celebrating two years of brewing beer in the shadow of the Houston skyline with a party on Saturday, March 21st at 3:00pm. Tickets are available online and priced at $100 for VIP or $25 for General Admission. Only 200 of the VIP tickets are available and prices will increase after March 1st. Further details about what the VIP level gets you hasn't been released yet, but a post on their Facebook page indicated "rare tappings, private bathroom, merch, light bites, pint glasses and more". The event also includes musical performances by: The Suffers, Earphunk, Stooges Brass Band, Wild Moccasins, DJ Sun and Fox & Cats.

Hay Merchant's 3rd Anniversary

The Hay Merchant is celebrating their 3rd anniversary on Thursday, February 12th. The doors open at 3:00pm, but there undoubtedly be a line forming way before then. Their Facebook page indicates Kevin has dug deep in their cellar and come up with a bunch of special beers to mark the occasion. The same post also includes a great parody of the recent Budweiser commercial:

Post by The Hay Merchant.

Adelbert's Set to Release a Bière Brut

Adelbert’s Brewery has announced that it's latest release, Sundowner, is a Bière Brut, a style not commonly produced in this country.

A Bière Brut (also known as Bière de Champagne), is a style where the brewing and fermentation process is similar to how a champagne is produced, including using a champagne yeast and aging in the bottle for many months. Some of the more traditional Bière Brut brewed in Belgium and France are even put through the same process as champagne to remove the yeast (the bottles are stored inverted so the yeast collects in the neck of the bottle and that yeast is then frozen and driven out by pressure). The result is a beer that is typically light and very bubbly and tastes and looks more like a champagne or sparkling wine. DeuS (Brut Des Flandres) is probably the most well known of the style, but some may remember Infinium that Boston Beer Company released a few years ago. Adelbert's is excited to be the first brewery in Texas to produce one:

“Since our founding, we have sought to create traditional Belgian-inspired ales,” said Scott Hovey, Adelbert’s Founder and Brewmaster. “We are excited to not only be introducing a style that is rarely produced internationally, but to be the first Texas brewery to produce it. We look forward to introducing Texans to this style and eventually the other markets we distribute to as well.”

Sundowner is a blend of the spicy, fruity notes of a Belgian ale balanced with the mouthfeel and body of a sparkling wine. Brewed with champagne yeast, this effervescent ale possesses hints of white grape and green apple with a crisp, bone dry finish.

Sundowner begins distribution across Texas in early November and would make a great alternative to popping a bottle of champagne on New Years Eve.