Each month we list our favorite beers from the previous month. Because we focus on the Houston Beer Scene, we will always list our favorite from the favesHouston area/market, but will occasionally include beers from outside of Houston.
Follow us on our beer drinking adventure!
Peter’s Favorites:
For those that read our Beers of the Month post each month, you may notice that my favorite Houston beer has come from Copperhead Brewery three months in a row. Well, their reign has come to an end, for now. I had a lot to choose from this month.
B-52 Brewing (Conroe, TX) – Boysenberry Muse
B-52 Brewing brews a number of sour beers each year, but the Muse series has to be my favorite. Any time a brewery puts out the number of releases B-52 does, you will have some beers that miss the mark, but Muse is not one of them.
Boysenberry Muse is one of the most jammy sours I’ve had in the last year. The beer feels thick as you drink it. I would love to know just how much fruit was in the brew. For those who do not know, Boysenberries are basically a cross between blackberries and red raspberries. They are known for the sweet and tangy flavor and they are pretty popular for jams/preserves. Boysenberry Muse is basically a liquid form of the best boysenberry jam you can imagine. Next time I open a bottle I might do so with some toast. The nose on the beer is exactly like the flavor, straight boysenberry jam. If I am being picky, I wish it were a little more tart because boysenberries have a nice sweetness to them. 8.5/10
More faves:
Ingenious Brewing Co – Double Juicy Hops. Citra and Galaxy, anyone? Yes, please!
Sigma Brewing – Dick Jones. Favorite hazy from Sigma yet! Really good stuff.
True Anomaly Brewing – UNLESS… Maybe my favorite base Berliner Weisse! Can’t wait to see what True Anomaly does with this beer. They have foudres. Just saying.
All The Breweries – All the Beers
I hate to not commit to one beer, but maybe you guys can help me out. I’m going to list a few of my favorites from the month (outside of Houston) and let me know what you think.
Abnormal Beer Co – Makaveli
Lakewood Brewing Co – BBT 2017
Monkish Brewing Co – Sticky Green and Bad Traffic 2019
Paradox Beer Co – No. 51 Passion of The Fruit
Parish Brewing (The Answer Collab) – Our Cake Is A Lie
Parish Brewing – Maple Shade
Southern Grist Brewing Co – Blueberry Cobbler
Tupps Brewery – Full Grown Man (Bourbon Barrel Aged)
Tupps Brewery – Full Grown Man (Red Wine Barrel Aged)
Tupps Brewery – TDH (Triple Dry Hopped) 8
Ryan’s Favorite:
11 Below Brewing – Negative Space Nitro
This past February has been a crazy month of weather for the city of Houston. While pretty typical to have unpredictable weather, we always have the beer of our breweries to keep some regularity in our lives.
For the February beer of the month, I chose a beer that helps us to say goodbye to winter and hello to spring!
Negative Space on Nitro.
Winter is synonymous with dark chocolate stouts but, when the weather calls for spontaneity from cold to warm and back again, Negative Space calls its bluff and throws in Nitro to make a season change-immune delight.
Rich, intense, and uncompromising, this Imperial Chocolate Milk Stout is a testament to the big, decadent flavors of chocolate and roasted malt. Aged on cacao nibs, cinnamon, and ancho chiles, Negative Space fills a void in your life you never knew you had.
Todd’s Favorites:
Saint Arnold Brewing Co (Houston, TX) – Bishop’s Barrel 23
I always love the entries in the Bishop’s Barrel series and this one is a doozy. The twenty-third in this series is a rye Dopplebock aged in Whistlepig Rye Whiskey barrels. The flavor is full of rich, sweet malt with a light rye spiciness and plenty of rye whiskey character. There’s a nice, deep complexity here, but what really makes this one so memorable is the full on rich malt meeting the assertive barrel flavors. This is an excellent nightcap beer and something that fans of rye whiskey need to seek out. As with all Bishop’s Barrel brews, this is available in single 12-ounce bottles and is most easily found at beer bars around town and at the brewery.
Holler Brewing Co (Houston, TX) – Tank U, Next!
Not only did I pick a Saint Arnold brew this month, but I also picked one from Holler. If you’ve been reading this column for a while you might be seeing a pattern within my picks. These two breweries almost always kill it with whatever styles they choose to brew and it seems that few months go by without a beer from one of these breweries making my list. Tank U, Next! is a tank-hopped, hazy Double IPA brewed with Citra, Rakau, and Strata hops. Holler jokingly boasted on Facebook that they added so many hops that their accountants asked them to stop. Jokes aside, there is truly a ton of hop flavor in Tank U, Next! and it might be my favorite of all the IPAs I’ve had from them (around 25 and counting at this point). Actually, this is one of the best Houston NEIPAs in memory, so that’s really saying something. It’s a bit surprising at this point that Holler’s hazy releases don’t get the same level of buzz as B-52 and Spindletap. Tank U, Next! is loaded with super juicy and fruity hop flavor. Citrus and apricot notes stand out. The feel is pleasantly soft, as expected from the style. This one is available at some beer bars around town, but like almost all Holler brews, it’s best fresh from the tank at the brewery.
Bryce’s Favorites:
Stanley Park (Vancouver, BC) – Layer Up
I have been traveling a lot lately. This past month I had the chance to visit Vancouver for a week. Whenever I am in Canada during the winter I try the local winter beers.
In Vancouver, I had the chance to try Stanley Park’s winter wheat ale, Layer Up. This seasonal brew covers all of the expected flavor profiles for warming up on a cold evening. Fig, ginger, orange, and raspberry notes, known in beer nomenclature as “FROG”, are evident throughout. The raspberry seemed to win the flavor battle. I usually like a nice raspberry flavor, and Layer Up tested the boundaries of fruit flavors, but then came in strong with a ginger and fig profile. It finished with a more tradition wheat ale flavor, a mildly spiced citrus notes lingering on the palette. I honestly was not impressed by my first few sips, but then came a great dinner that paired very well with the beer. I ultimately left the restaurant very satisfied and enjoyed Layer Up one more time before I left B.C.
Layer Up may not actually be my favorite beer of the month, but it ended up being a memorable choice for a frigid first night in Vancouver. Layer Up is a beer that pairs very nicely with rotisserie chicken or pork dishes and was a nice brew to finish off a long day of travel. I always enjoy trying the local winter ales in Canada as they all have very unique flavors, depending on the province you are in.
Thanks for reading! Feel free to hit us up with any questions or comments.
Peter: Peter@houstonbeerscene.com
Todd: Todd@houstonbeerscene.com
Ryan: Ryan@houstonbeerscene.com
Bryce: Bryce@houstonbeerscene.com