MONSTERS of BEER

Today was sad, because Houston Beer Week is now over, but happy, because it was a bad-ass time. I offered my excellent beer pouring skills to Cathy Clark over at Live It Big for her first Monsters Of Beer Festival. It was all Texas Breweries pouring two to three beers a piece, with silent auctions where proceeds went to charity. Food trucks like Sylvia’s Enchilada Kitchen’s No Borders truck and the Melange Creperie station were there and regrettably, The Hubcap Truck was supposed to have been there but some apparent foul play/vandalism went down and the truck was unavailable. Total bummer since I love Ricky’s burgers.  I volunteered with a good friend, Erin. We poured beer for Live Oak, out of Austin, Texas, for the first shift, then we were able to have a good time and drink the beers from the other breweries for the second shift. BEST JOB EVAR! I will do that again in a heartbeat. Anyway, the breweries that showed up for a sellout crowd of over 600, were:

(512) (Austin, Texas) with their IPA and Pecan Porter

Live Oak (Austin, Texas) with their Pilz and HefeWeisen

Real Ale (Blanco, Texas) with their Oktoberfest, ESB, Lost Gold IPA Cask

Southern Star (Conroe, Texas) with their Buried Hatchet Stout, Bombshell Blonde and Pine Belt Pale Ale

Independence (Austin, Texas) Stash IPA and Saison

No Label (Katy, Texas) with Pale Horse Pale Ale, El Hefe Hefeweizen, and Ridgeback American Amber Ale

Jester King (Austin, Texas) with their Commercial Suicide Mild

Saint Arnold (Houston, Texas) with Elissa IPA and Amber

Rahr & Sons (Fort Worth, Texas) with Ugly Pug, Winter Warmer (Cask), Blind Salimander, Oktoberfest

I stuck to what I hadn’t already had and what I really enjoyed, to be most efficient, obviously. I tried both Live Oak offerings since I was pouring their beer, quality purposes, duh. Then  I had both 512  offerings since they were the table right next to us, proximity! I had the Real Ale ESB since I never had it, all of Southern Star, because they are all delicious. I had both Independence beers because the Saison was perfect for the surprisingly hot day. I also had to have the No Label El Hefe for a chance to try it again since Erin and I went to the brewery a few weeks back. I also had to get a second taste of the Jester King beer that I got to try at the “Petrol-Beaver” Dinner. I skipped over all Saint Arnold, my bad there was so much else to drink! Then came the beers that lasted the whole festival. Rahr & Sons, the Ugly Pug that I had a few times which is schwarzbier, or black lager that I quite enjoyed, the lighter Blind Salamander, a 5.2% Pale Ale with 4 malt varieties, and a special Cask that they pulled out, a winter seasonal beer, the Winter Warmer, an English Dark Ale weighing in at 8.5%. To be honest the first Rahr & Sons I had, the Blonde lager, I didn’t really like it, but I will have to say that I enjoyed all three of their beers that were at the festival today. pictures of the festivities below:

Me and Erin getting ready to pour Live Oak!

Wall of beer!

Rahr & Sons Winter Warmer (Cask)

Southern Star Bombshell Blonde Can

MONSTER! MOAR BEER!

Sylvia's Enchiladas "No Borders" food truck

See the rest of the pictures at my Flickr. BIG THANKS TO ERIN FOR TAKING PICTURES!!! :)