New Beer Round-up

Todd@HoustonBeerScene.com

Happy New Year from Houston Beer Scene!  We will be making some changes to New Beer Round-Up in the coming weeks. Future entries will focus on tasting notes for a few new local beers vs. an exhaustive list of new beer releases. For information on new and upcoming releases, check out our beer label approval column.

Note: Availability for all beers listed is draft only unless otherwise noted.

Buffalo Bayou Brewing Company – Sweater Weather – Sweater Weather is a 9.0% Quadruple brewed with Medjool dates and Tellicherry black peppercorns.  Enjoyably date-laced dark fruit flavors dominate, but there is a lack of Belgian yeast character I associate with a Quad, which hurts the complexity of this beer.

Eureka Heights Brewing Company – Friend Zone – This easy drinking, 4.5% Pale Ale is brewed with Motueka hops.  Friend Zone packs a lot of flavor and has a solid body for low ABV brew.  The malt character and dryness seem inspired by English styles and Eureka Height’s reported use of English Ale yeast which bolsters the impression.  The hop flavors are of tropical fruit and lime.  This is an interesting hybrid of styles and works well as a session beer.

Houston Beer Scene Pick – Great Heights Brewing Company – Fruitier Pellets – This 7.8% NEIPA is Great Height‘s Fruity Pellets taken to the next level. This is hazy, juicy and pretty smooth; which seems to hit true NEIPA territory. The flavor is a juicy blast of citrus that won me over.

Holler Brewing Company –  Dunkel –  Holler is back with another solid, easy-to-drink brew. The requisite bready malts and mild herbal hop of a Munich Dunkel are represented nicely here making this a quality stab at the style.

Houston Beer Scene Pick – No Label Brewing Company – Phaze II – This is a hazy looking and very brightly flavored IPA, but I’m not quite sure it hits true NEIPA territory. That being said, this is very juicy with tropical and pineapple flavors bursting out courtesy of Ekuanot, Citra and Idaho 7 hops.

Houston Beer Scene Pick – Platypus Brewing – Pucker Up Santa – The latest brew from Platypus is a Sour Brown Ale brewed with cherries. Pucker Up has a tasty, complex combination of fruity and distinctly cherry flavors that are met with a moderate tartness. At 4.1% and featuring a sour crispness, this is really sessionable, but not lacking in flavor or intrigue.

Buffalo Bayou Brewing Company – Y’alloha – 5.2% American wheat ale brewed with passion fruit, mango and pineapple.

Galveston Bay Beer – Old Gregg – 9.2% Old Ale brewed with seaweed.

Holler Brewing Company – Pub Crusher – 4.0% English Dark Mild Ale.

Karbach Brewing Company – Hop Delusion: Space City Edition – This edition is brewed with Comet and Galaxy hops.  The plan is for Karbach to release a different version of Hope Delusion quarterly. Available in cans.

No Label Brewing Company – Roasted Pecan Coffee Porter – This 6.2% Porter is No Label’s 2017 Pro-Am contest winning beer from homebrewer Randy Daily.  Brewed with cold press coffee from Boomtown.

Sigma Brewing Company – The Apparatus – This 7.6% IPA is described by Sigma as their hoppiest one brewed so far. Six packs were available at the brewery.

Texas Beer Refinery – Spruce Tip IPA – 7.1% brew with fresh Colorado spruce that was overnighted to TBR.  Brewed with Chinook, Equinox and Huell Melon hops.  A tap room only release.

Under The Radar Brewery – Wood Aged Porter Authority – Aged with whiskey wood chips.

Vallensons’ Brewing Company – Coffee Stout – 7.5% Stout brewed with coffee from Pearland Coffee Roasters.

Vallensons’ Brewing Company – Pat’s Bourbon Barrel-Aged Oatmeal Stout – 7.0% Stout that Vallensons’ describes as having a chocolate roast flavor with Bourbon and oak notes.

Texas Leaguer Brewing Company – Farm System #5 and #6 – Two different Double IPAs clocking in a 8.7% apiece.

Wicked Boxer Brewing – Black IPA – Wicked Boxer already has a couple new beers out including this 6.0%, 65 IBU Black IPA.

Wicked Boxer Brewing – Stout – Wicked Boxer also released this 5.0% Stout last weekend.

Southern Star will begin to release their Kolsch, Humidity, on a year-round basis. Look for cans to hit shelves in March.