Texas Beer Tour - Part I

Introduction

As my year was coming to a close, I decided that I needed to explore some of the breweries in the Republic of Texas. I browsed through the different websites and created a route with some good stops.

The Journey

First Stop: Houston

I had made a nice connection with a guy who works at Saint Arnold. I knew I needed to check it out. Unfortunately, I was not able to go to any other breweries in the city, as I only allotted one day.

Saint Arnold

After a long day of driving through Louisiana, it was a welcome sight to see this sign:

It was great to get past the traffic and see the grain silos of St Arnold.

The brewery's exterior has a small parking lot, but a lot of street parking. After I got in, I met up with Dennis.

He was awesome and passionate about crafting some delicious beers. The tap room area was full of beautiful paintings.

It was great to see the speed of a brewery this size. I was able to taste some fresh Santo off the line.

Yet with all of the mechanical attributes the care and effort was still put forth for the beer. The barrel room was truly beautiful:

I would recommend anyone in the area to check out this brewery.

 

My favorite two beers were the Icon Series: Brown Porter and the Endeavor IPA.  

Exploring

After the brewery I decided that I needed to swing by the local Flying Saucer in order to get a good comparison. Downtown Houston was full of some cool sights and of course, construction.

But I finally made it to the Saucer. It was time to do some work on my plate. I figured I could enjoy some more local Texas beers. 

I was then able to meet up with one of my good friends from my days at SMU. Debs and I ventured to a great place that had a lot of beers, The Yardhouse. 

The next day I was able to grab some donuts with one of my mentors before I rolled out of the city...

After some delicious treats, I hit the Spec's to grab a couple bottles on my way out.

Check back for the next part of my trip.