Tickets on Sale for Denver Rare Beer Tasting IV

Tickets for the Denver Rare Beer Tasting IV, an awareness event and fundraiser for the Pints for Prostates campaign are now on sale. The event takes place during the Great American Beer Festival on Friday, Oct. 12th from 1:00pm ~ 4:00pm at the Wynkoop Brewery in Denver.

The price has increased this year to $100, but each attendee receives a commemorative tasting glass, t-shirt, program and pen as well as a three issue trial subscription to All About Beer Magazine. I've attended the previous three events and although the price has increased each year, I still think its worth it. The money goes to a very worthy cause and you get the opportunity try rare beers and meet the brewers who made them. The list of beers that will be served is not available yet, but is typically released closer to the day of the event.

*** UPDATE 08/01/2012 ***
From Pints for Prostates Facebook page:
The Denver Rare Beer Tasting IV is completely sold out! We are looking forward to reaching men through the universal language of beer on Oct. 12 and appreciate the loyal support of craft brewers and beer fans.

Hubbell & Hudson's 3rd Annual Beer & Cheese Festival

On Saturday, June 30th, Hubbell & Hudson is hosting its 3rd annual Beer & Cheese Festival.

The Beer & Cheese festival is a great way for Houstonians to become acquainted with new and unique pairings of different styled beers and cheeses. Throughout the event, beer and cheese experts will be available to answer questions. Featured local Texas Breweries include Rhar & Sons (Fort Worth, Texas), St. Arnold (Houston, Texas), Karbach (Houston, Texas), Independence (Austin, Texas) and Southern Star (Conroe, Texas).

The event takes place in the store located at 24 Waterway Avenue in The Woodlands from Noon to 5:00pm and admissions is granted with any cash donation to Montgomery County Youth Services.

I attended the Beer & Chesse Festival last year and although it got a pretty crowded in the store, it was still a good event that helped promote craft beer and demonstrate its versatility.  If you're going to be up The Woodlands, I definitely suggest checking it out.

2012 Houston Beer Festival

Everyone remembers the first Houston Beer Festival last year, whether you actually attended it or not. Thanks to Facebook and Twitter, you were able to experience the complete fail as it was happening. With all those very public issues and problems, many were quite surprised to see that the organizers had began planning for a festival in 2012 almost immediately after the first one ended. At least they'd know what not to do.

I wasn't at the festival last year, but I attended this year to help setup and work in the Independence Brewing booth.  And although I was a little concerned that we'd encounter some of the problems reported at the previous festival and other recent festivals in Austin, I really didn't see any of the issues that caused such an uproar last year. During setup there was some confusion about where specific vendors were supposed to be located and the beer for a few breweries remained locked in a refer trailer until after the gates were open because no one could find the person who had the keys, but everything eventually got sorted out. There were entrance gates all around the park and other then the initial surge of people when the gates first opened, the lines appeared to be pretty short and everyone seemed to be entering pretty smoothly. Water stations and bathrooms were in abundance and there was definitely lots of cups, ice and more importantly, beer. The booths for all the Texas breweries were located in a part of the park that was separate from the main festival area (you had to cross under Rusk to get to it) which was good and bad. It was cool in that it gave that area the feeling of a being at a small Texas craft beer festival, but I wonder how many people may not have even known that section was there or bothered to wander over to it in the hot sun. In the main festival area, the brewery booths and the other vendor booths (food, games, jewelry, etc) were mixed together which made it more difficult to find the breweries. In between Brewery Ommegang and Brooklyn Brewing was a booth for a dog poop scooping business. Nothing against their business, but its not exactly what I'd expect to see when attending a "beer" festival.

Look, as long as Bud Light is being served and Beer Pong is featured, this festival is never going to appeal to the beer geeks out there. However, it was a great festival to introduce new people to the wonderful world of craft beer. There were a lot of people that came to the booth who were already familiar with the beers, but there was also a lot who were trying craft beer for the first time and liking it and that's a good thing.

Below are a few photos I took around the festival during setup and after it was in full swing. Feel free to leave comments about your experience if you were at the festival as well.

Texas Breweries Area

Texas Breweries Area

Line at Independence booth

Texas Breweries Area

American Craft Beer Week

American Craft Beer Week kicks off today with events in all 50 states. From simple tastings to beer dinners to beer festivals, America is celebrating its continuing love and support for Craft Beer this week.  The official website has a list of events in your area, but also check with your local beer bars and breweries as all events may not have been added. And don't forget to sign and proudly display your copy of the Declaration of Beer Independence.  If you're an active user on Untappd, be sure to check in this week while enjoying an American Craft Beer to receive the special badge.

Local Craft Beer and Burger Pairing at The Counter

Earlier this year, I posted about the The Counter featuring a special Beer and Burger Pairing Menu. At that time, I also indicated that I would have liked to see more local craft beers used in the pairing. I received a pretty quick response on Twitter from them after my post indicating they would use more local beers in their next pairing. It looks like they held true to their word as I just received notice that their Beer and Burger Pairing Menu for May and June features four beers from No Label Brewing of Katy, TX:

Pairing 1
Burger: Beef mini, shaved cucumber, kalamata olives, feta, tzatziki sauce
Beer: El Hefe - A traditional German Hefeweizen.  This beer is light and refreshing with strong notes of banana, cloves, and citrus. Pairs well with the fresh summer flavors of this Greek inspired mini-burger.

Pairing 2
Burger: Beef mini, carrot strings, shiitake mushrooms, red bell pepper, scallions, kung pao sauce
Beer: Pale Horse Ale - Pale Ale with a significant amount of malts and hops.  The hop bite accentuates the kick in the kung pao and the bitterness in the malts balances the earthy meatiness of the shiitake mushrooms.

Pairing 3
Burger: Beef mini, lettuce blend, tomato, sharp provolone, fried onion strings, sun-dried tomato vinaigrette
Beer: Mint IPA - This IPA has 11 hop additions using 5 different hops. The bouquet is of strong citrus and pine with a hint of spiciness and soothing mint at the back end.

Pairing 4
Burger: Beef mini, thinly shaved celery, blue cheese, fried onion strings, buffalo wing sauce
Beer: Ridgeback Ale - Dark American Amber with strong flavors of roasted malts. The bitter notes from the malts pairs nicely with the tanginess of the blue cheese and spiciness of the buffalo wing sauce.

The new pairing menu runs from May 3rd to June 28th, but is only available on Thursdays. The owners of No Label Brewing, Brian and Jennifer Royo, will also be on hand at The Woodlands location on May 10th from 6:00pm - 8:00pm and the Washington Ave. location on May 24th from 6:00pm - 8:00pm to answer questions and talk about their beer.