Preview: Houston Beer Week Event – Night After Monsters

When the people from Houston Beer Week announced that they were partnering with Whole Foods to do an event at the Montrose location for the 2nd ever Houston Beer Week, I was excited to see what they would put together and knowing Cathy, the beers would be top notch. If you have ever attended her charity events, Camp Beer, you know exactly what I mean! This event will be unlike any other event we’ve had in the burgeoning Houston craft beer scene. Many of these beers may never see their way back to Texas and others are in very limited supply. Whole Foods is blocking off the front of the store just for this event, giving attendees a beautiful view of downtown. There will be plenty of rare beers to sample, awesome hor d’oeuvres by Whole Foods, and the option to purchase some of these rare beer in growlers to-go at the end.

Whole Foods- Montrose & their snazzy Bayou Bar

The event will take place on Sunday, November 13 (the night after Monsters of Beer, hence the name) and only 300 tickets (purchase them here) will be sold at $100 a piece. Definitely well worth the price if you haven’t had these beers, as it is not likely we’ll see them around often or again.

In attendance will be the gypsy brewer himself, Mikkel Borg Bjergso of Mikkeller, to talk about all of his beers. Definitely a special treat to meet him all the way from Denmark, and everywhere else he has been brewing!

MIkkel Borg Bjergso

Some of the hor d’oeurves available:
Cheesy fondue tart
Belgian beef stew
Beer cheese soup
Mini beer chili hotdogs (with brioche buns)
Beer batter onion rings
Beer bread pudding
Stout chocolate sauce (to pair with some surprise beer desserts that will be available as well!)

Beers available to taste:
Mikkeller BooGoop: A barleywine brewed in collaboration with Three Floyds, the fourth in their series of collaborations including Ruggoop (a Rye Wine), Hvedegoop (a hoppy wheatwine), and Oatgoop (a wheatwine brewed with oats).

Mikkeller East Kent Golding: this beer is part of Mikkeller’s line of single hop beers that you’ve tried if you attended Camp Beer VI. Mikkeller used the same base beer for the entire series and only changed the hop addition.

Mikkeller Warrior: This is another selection from the single hop series, try it side by side with the East Kent Golding to see the vast differences in the beers, based solely on different hops.

Mikkekkler I Beat yoU: This is an imperial IPA that was featured at Camp Beer VII: The Golden Beers. Brewed at BrewDog and with (heavy) additions of Herkules, Centennial, Warrior, Amarillo, Simcoe and Columbus hop varieties.

Mikkeller Barrel-Aged Black Hole (Red Wine barrels): a Red Wine barrel aged version of their Black Hole Imperial stout brewed with: flaked oats, dark cassonade (Brazilian raw sugar), honey, hops, coffee, vanilla.

Mikkeller Barrel –Aged Black Hole (White Wine barrels): A White Wine barrel aged version of their Black Hole Imperial Stout.

Real Ale Mysterium Verum WT3F?!: this beer is part of Real Ale’s experimental beer series (Mysterium Verum) and is an American wild ale derived from Devil’s Share (Tripel) with brettanomyces.

Real Ale 15th Anniversary: This is their Russian Imperial Stout that actually saw bottles!

St. Arnold’s Sailing Santa: this will be the debut of the new release from Saint Arnold, a 50/50 mix of their Elissa IPA and their Christmas Ale.

Ranger Creek Saison Oscura: A dark saison, one of Ranger Creek’s newest seasonal releases.

Karbach Yule Shoot Your Eye Out Winter Ale: The newest release from Houston’s newest brewery- brewed with Vienna, Munich and chocolate malts with the addition of orange peel, fresh ginger, nutmeg, cocoa nibs, cardamom, allspice and cinnamon.

Independence will be bringing 3 mystery beers! If I had to guess, it will be part of their excellent Brewluminati series.

(Rumored) Southern Star Crème Brulee Buried Hatchet: This collaboration beer was introduced at the Beaver/Petrol collaboration beer dinner during last year’s Houston Beer Week and was definitely the beer of the night.

Great Divide 2008 Oak Aged Yeti: A barrel aged version of Great Divide’s Russian Imperial Stout (12.2%!) from 2008! Check out the keg!

The actual keg of 08 Oak aged Yeti!

Great Divide Belgian Yeti: This is Great Divide’s newest addition to the Yeti series, it is their regular yeti brewed with their special Belgian yeast strand. This gives it a special spice and fruit notes on top of the malt bomb that is the regualr Yeti we all love.

Dogfish Head Burton Baton: This is a 10% ABV Imperial IPA that I love! It is a limited release from Dogfish that is brewed in a unique way, they brew two batches of beer, ” an English-style Old Ale and an Imperial IPA. After fementating the separate beers in our stainless tanks, the two are transferred and blended together in one of our large oak tanks. Burton Baton sits on the wood for about a month.”

Dogfish Head/Sierra Nevada Life & Limb 2: The Second release of their wildly popular collaboration with Sierra Nevada, and is dedicated “to the family of beer drinkers and enthusiasts worldwide who continue to support the little guys, iconoclasts, entrepreneurs, and pioneers who risk life and limb to shape the vibrant craft-brewing community.” This is another beer brewed under special circumstances, it is “brewed with pure maple syrup from the Calagione family farm in Massachusetts and estate barley grown on the Grossman “farm” at the brewery in Chico, CA. The beer is alive with yeast-a blend of both breweries’ house strains-bottle conditioned for added complexity and shelf life, and naturally carbonated with birch syrup fresh from Alaska.”

Dogfish Head Namaste: Originally brewed with Leo from Birra del Borgo in Italy as a tribute to the 3 Fonteinen brewery in Belgium, after an equipment failure at the brewery, check out Sam Calagione’s blog about it, here. It is a Belgian-style White made with dried organic orange slices, fresh cut lemongrass and a bit of coriander.

Boulevard Collaboration #2: This White (Belgian) IPA is a collaboration with Larry Sidor of Deschutes in Bend, Oregon. Unfortunately, Texas won’t see the Deschuteds version of the collaboration (even though we get most of their regular line) due to labeling issues.

Boulevard Saison – Brett: This beer is based after Boulevard’s popular Tank & Saison, that has been aggressively dry hopped and then bottle conditioned with various yeast strains, including the funky Brettanomyces and aged for three months before release. I know a few beer nerds that buy this every time they see it (lookin’ at you, Jose)because it is such a stellar beer.

Stone Chocolate Cherry Stout: Chocolate Cherry Stout is a milk stout based off of a winning homebrew recipe by Jason Fields and Kevin Sheppard entered into Stone’s March Madness Homebrew Competition. This beer is brewed with a “a blend of dark-roasted specialty malts, Callebaut chocolate liquor, vanilla beans, and 9000 pounds of dark and tart cherries”

Brooklyn Concoction: Originally named “Tonic”, but had to be changed because of “the standards of certain governmental regulatory boards “. This beer is based off of the famous cocktail, Penicillin, created by infamous Milk & Honey bartender Sam Ross, composed of (loosely): 2oz blended scotch, 3/4 oz lemon juice, 3/4 oz honey-ginger syrup, 1/4 oz Islay scotch. It is brewed with peat smoked malt, minced ginger, lemon juice and wildflower honey and is part of Brookyln’s Brewmaster’s Reserve series.

Ommegang Aphrodite: Natural raspberry and pear juices combined with Ommegang’s house yeast and brettanomyces and spiced with grains of paradise to give this Belgian fruit beer a bit if earthy funkiness and with an ABV of 8.9%

Bockor Cuvee des Jacobins Rouge: A Flander Red (sour) from Bockor in Belgium, made by spontaneous fermentation, is an unblended old lambic, aged for 18 months or more.

Deschutes Black Butte XXIII: This Imperial Porter was brewed for Descutes’ 23rd Anniversary and made with Theo chocolate nibs and orange zest from Spanish oranges and Pasilla Negro chilies.

Deschutes Stoic: An 11% ABV Belgian Style Quad aged in Rye Whiskey and Wine casks.

New Belgium Lips of Faith La Folie: From the master of Flanders Reds, Peter Bouckaert, this Flanders is aged in French Oak barrels between one and three years before being bottled.

New Belgium Lips of Faith Super Cru: Brewed for New Belgium’s 20th Anniversary they combined the best parts of their line-up: “the backbone of Fat Tire, but double the malt and hops; Add in crisp Asian Pears, a very Belgian thing to do; and bring it to life with a Saison yeast.”

Fox Barrel/Crispin Ciders Maiden of Orleans: Pear cider aged in Sauvignon Barrels, named after Joan of Arc. According to the press release it is “Twinned hard apple and pear ciders aged for over 6 months in single-turn Sauvignon Blanc oak wine barrels.”

WHEW! what a list, and it could possibly grow in the next two weeks. I hope to see everyone at this event, it is not to be missed for sure!