Cedar Creek Brewery

I attended a great little gathering at Stanley this week.  The following is the facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/events/193739300825896/?ref=3&ref_newsfeed_story_type=regular

Basically, it was a joint project between Stanley's and Cedar Creek Brewery that was celebrating the release of Cedar Creek's recent Great American Beer Festival Gold medal winner Belgian Dubbel.  I went ahead and ordered the Stanley's two meat plate with brisket and sausage as my meats.  Again, Stanley's is absolutely nailing the brisket and their locally sourced sausage is always outstanding (the guys at County Meat Market tell me that they make the sausage for Stanley's and I have purchase a couple of large orders for parties that I have thrown).

Belgian ales are currently my favorite style of beer and I have been trying the various iterations of late.  The Cedar Creek Belgian double was a very good beer.  It was a beautiful brown to dark amber color and had a great full body with plenty of complex malt character and a nicely balanced hoppiness (sp?).  They also had Cedar Creek's Pale Ale on tap, which I also enjoyed, although I am not a big pale ale/IPA guy.  The beer wasn't overly bitter and the floral aroma of the hops was quite pleasing.

The Cedar Creek Brewery is located just off of Cedar Creek reservoir in Seven Points.  They offer tours on Saturday and I will definitely go to take a tour and try out their other styles of beers.  Also of note, their head brewer Damon was there for the evening and I got to spend a decent amount of time talking to him and his wife.  He is a down to earth, great guy and with the winning of the Gold Medal at the GABF, their future is bright indeed.  If you see Cedar Creek in the store or on the tap, give it a try, they won't disappoint.

St. Arnold's brewing company

St. Arnold's Brewery Company
http://www.saintarnold.com/



St. Arnold's is a large micro-brewery located in Houston, TX.  They started pretty small time at a place just off of 290 and Ella, but moved to a much larger facility just off of I-10 north of downtown.  One of my favorite activities was to get a picnic together and head out to St. Arnold's for a tour of the facilities, free beer and live music.  The old place had a certain ambiance - if you call melting in a warehouse with no A/C ambiance, but the beer was cold and that made up for a lot.

The new location is really, really nice.  They have a big operation now.  The also have a beer drinking/dining hall that can accommodate a lot of people comfortably (and A/C).  The tour used to be 5 bucks and you got three free beers.  Not sure how it works now with changes to the alcohol laws (now breweries can sell small amounts to the public directly).  Also, they have afternoon fixed price lunches now with a fancy chef, which sadly I have been unable to try.

St. Arnold's offers a nice variety of different beers:  Lawnmower (a light, almost fruity Kolsch, that goes down great on a hot day), Amber Ale (well balanced, full flavored ale), Brown Ale (malty, chocolatey with a little sweetness), Elissa IPA (a very good IPA that has a well balanced hoppiness to it), and then some seasonal ales (Summer Pilsner, Spring Bock, Oktoberfest, Winter Stout, Pumpkinator and Christmas Ale).

I just can't pass up a six pack of St. Arnold's when I see one at the store.  My favorites are the Brown ALe, the Summer Pilsner, the Sprin Bock and the Oktoberfest.  I really like to pour a Winter Stout in my homemade chili in the winter time.  The owner is also a super cool guy who works tirelessly for his company and the beer community.  Go drink some great St. Arnold's beer and if you are ever in Houston, try to take a tour of their facilities.

True Vine Brewing Company

True Vine Brewing Company
http://truevinebrewingco.com/

I am a bit of a beer snob.  I am not sure where it all started, but in my youth, I was never a big beer drinker.  I just didn't enjoy any of the beers I tried.  Coors?  Ugh.  Bud lite?  Blarg.  Miller lite?  Ok, maybe if it's cold.  I occasionally enjoyed a Guiness, however, they were just a little pricey for my meager budget at the time.  Later in life, I was introduced to really good beers, starting with Shiner Bock, Sam Adams, then real German lagers, English beers, and eventually microbrews.

My new found love of beers probably started at BJ's brewhouse with Jeremiah Red.  It just has the right balance of malt and hops, and just makes my mouth happy.  I eventually found, St. Arnold's, a great microbrewery in Houston (I will devote a full post to them later).

Where my love of beers blossomed was going to beer-cheese pairings and beer pairing dinners.  I don't particularly care for wine, so to have a beverage be enhanced by and simultaneously enhance the food you are eating was a transcendent experience.

So imagine my excitement when I heard that Tyler was developing its own microbrewery.  I haven't tasted any of their brews and have just recently 'liked' them on Facebook.  I know they had a beer pairing dinner recently, but I got the information too late.  From their website, it looks like they have a Pale Ale and an IPA, neither of which are my favorite styles of beer (I am not a 'hop' head - too bitter for me).  I encourage everyone to check their website out and like them on facebook, so we can do our part to help develop the Tyler food scene.  I sincerely hope nothing but the best for them and hope that they do tours of their operation soon.

Best of luck guys to these guys, I look forward to trying Tyler brew!