This week in The Brew, spring is just around the corner and it’s time to see things bloom and were not talking about plants. We check out the latest release from St. Arnold, see who has announced their head brewer and finally see who’s coming to Texas.
Houston – Saint Arnold has really made a name when it comes to special releases. The days when Divine Reserve hits the shelves you can find people calling in “sick” to work just so they can go hunting for the elusive release. Now Saint Arnold has the state going crazy for their specialty Bishop Barrel releases and the Bishop Barrel 6 hit shelves last week. Bishop Barrel 6 finds their wildly popular Pumpkinator, imperial pumpkin stout that has been aged in rum barrels. The 10.4% ABV stout grows into a beautiful beast at a whopping 13% ABV after barreling. Let the hunting begin and best of luck getting your hands on a bottle or two. Also, Saint Arnold’s seasonal Spring Bock is currently on shelves and they are celebrating by hosting their Spring Bock Pub Crawl in The Heights on Saturday, February 22 in Houston. For more information be sure to check out: http://www.saintarnold.com/news/index.html#heights
Houston – As we reported last month we reported that Brash Brewing is heading to Texas and on Valentine’s Day they announced their head brewer is Vince Mandeville. Vince was formerly the head brewer for Saint Arnold and has been such a huge asset to the Houston brewery. Now he is making his new home with Ben Fullelove and Brash Brewing Co. We wish Vince all the best of luck and we can’t wait until Brash is up and going. No official word on who will be replacing Vince at Saint Arnold but we know they will bounce back quickly.
Denver- Wait a minute, Denver? What does Denver has to do with Texas beer? Not much but it is worth mentioning that the wait is finally over, Odell Brewing Co. will be hitting shelves across Texas next week. In a press release sent out today, Odell Brewing has partnered with Ben E. Keith to distribute their beers. Starting Monday Feb 24th the beer will be found on tap across the state and the product will hitting store shelves starting March 1st. Odell Brewing plans to bring its IPA, 90 Shilling, Seasonal Offerings including St. Lupulin, Four Pack offerings such as Myrcenary, as well as its limited release Cellar Series offerings. One of the biggest celebrations will no doubt be a special tapping at Pinthouse Pizza in Austin, which was started by friend and former Odell Brewing brewer Joe Mohrfeld. Joe teamed up with Odell’s head of production, Brendan McGivney, to brew a collaboration beer that they once brewed together at Odell Brewing. “T.A.P. TX” honors that original recipe, but brings it into the culturally relevant Session Ale realm with just as many hops but a slightly lower ABV. “T.A.P. TX” is a very hoppy Session Ale brewed with a blend of hops selected by the pair as well as Colorado grown barley that is hand malted by Branden Aide at his new Austin, TX based micro-maltster, Blacklands Malt. T.A.P. TX will be available exclusively at Pinthouse Pizza beginning February 24th at 7 p.m. Both Brendan and Joe will be on hand to talk about brewing this collaboration beer.
As always, if you’re looking to get out this weekend we suggest you 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.
