This week in “The Brew”…

Texas made it through the first big freeze of the season but in Dallas things seem to be heating up. The second annual Dallas Winter Warmer is going down this weekend at the Main Street Garden in downtown Dallas. The festival will feature big bold beers and winter seasonals to warm you up in these cold temps.  Many of the Dallas regional breweries like Martin House Brewing, Lakewood Brewing and 2013 GABF Gold Medal winners Community Beer Company will be at the festival sampling their beers along with other breweries across the country. For tickets and more information be sure to check out http://dallaswinterwarmer.com/      

Austin’s own Adelbert’s Brewing has to be one of the hardest working breweries in the state. Not only are they working with famed Celis Brewing but now they have teamed up James Vaello to help Naughty Brewing Co. off the ground. Originally a wishful dream, Naughty began to take shape when James Vaello, visionary and brewer behind Naughty, met Scott Hovey, owner and brewmaster of Adelbert’s Brewery in Austin, Texas. The two quickly became friends through their shared passion of brewing and Naughty Brewing was born using James’ recipes and Scott’s knowledge of large-scale production and brewery.This month they will officially launch their first beer “I Think She Hung the Moon”, which was brewed with Belgian candy sugar and Mexican piloncillo sugar cones for a drier body, sweet pecan smoke for a bold stroke and hibiscus for a hint of tartness. The name and label pay homage to James’ wife, Katie, and features a vintage inspired brunette pinup. “We had a vision of a dark, dry, tart and smoky beer that would pair well with anything you would put on a grill. We hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed making it,” added Mr. Vaello. Kegs will precede bottles by a few weeks, releasing in early December. Bottles will be available mid-December giving them time to bottle condition. Both will be available with limited availability across Texas at retailers currently selling Adelbert’s Brewery ales. These stores include Spec’s, Whole Foods, Twin Liquors, Central Market, HEB and a wide array of local craft beer and liquor stores. Following the release of Hung the Moon, Naughty plans to release a limited release of Kentucky Streetwalker, an Imperial Vanilla Porter aged in Kentucky Bourbon barrels, and Zijden Kousen (Dutch for Silk Stockings), a delectable Belgian IPA in the coming year. So much for being nice, sorry Santa but we’re planning to end this year Naughty!

Karbach Brewing from Houston announced this week that they will be expanding. They plan to break ground next year on a larger brewery next to the existing site. Karbach is reportedly one of the fastest growing breweries in the nation which is pretty impressive for a brewery that has only been open for a couple of years. The new brewery will help Karbach expand towards the mark of 60,000 barrels of beer annually. There is even talks that the new brewery will also have a kitchen in the tap room that will be opened and serving daily. Looks like there is going to be some head to head competition in Houston between Saint Arnold and Karbach.

Also this week the San Antonio Brewers/Distillers with Ranger Creek have released their new Small Batch Series No. 7 which has hit shelves in San Antonio and Austin. The Small Batch No. 7 is an 8% ABV Imperial Sweet Potato Stout which Ranger Creek say it has a balance of holiday spices, earthiness and rich chocolate notes. Over the last few years’ pumpkin beers have dominated the Thanksgiving season, are sweet potatoes the new thing for Christmas? You will have to hunt down a bottle of No. 7 to see.

As always, if you’re looking to just get out this weekend and visit a local brewery, don’t forget that we have a list of all of the breweries near you so head over to the Breweries and Brewpubs page and go support your local brewers.