Draught House will be tapping a Moylan's Hopsickle cask this afternoon. Sounds fantastic. They also have casks of Great Divide Espresso Oak Aged Yeti and Southern Star (Creme Brulee) Buried Hatchet Stout coming down the pipeline.
Also, while you are there you can grab an Independence Rood and/or Jester King (Mikkeller) Drink 'in the Sunbelt.
Texas Monthly has chosen the Best Mexican Restaurants in Texas. This has nothing to do with beer. Well, kind of, cuz Mexican food just begs for beer swilling (Austin and Brownsville are in bold because that is where I spend the majority of my TX time):
TEXAS MONTHLY NAMES
50 BEST MEXICAN RESTAURANTS IN TEXAS
Editors Declare This the Era of “Mex-Tex”
AUSTIN, TEXAS—November 15, 2010—In its December issue, available on newsstands this week, Texas Monthly names the 50 best Mexican restaurants in Texas. Headlining the list is the magazine’s selection of the top five, in alphabetical order by city. They are:
Fonda San Miguel, Austin
Cuquita’s, Dallas
Salsa Fuego, Fort Worth
Hugo’s, Houston
SoLuna, San Antonio
The other 45 “best” are listed below.
...
TOP 5 (alphabetical by city)
Fonda San Miguel, Austin
Cuquita’s, Dallas
Salsa Fuego, Fort Worth
Hugo’s, Houston
SoLuna, San Antonio
Rest of the “Best”
AUSTIN
Curra’s Grill
El Mesón
El Naranjo
Garrido’s
La Condesa
Manuel’s
Takoba
BROWNSVILLE Taqueria Rico’s
DALLAS
Avila’s
Café San Miguel
Gloria’s
Javier’s Gourmet Mexicano
Nuevo León MEX-MEX
Tipico’s
Urban Taco
Veracruz Cafe
EL PASO
Forti’s Mexican Elder
H&H Car Wash and Coffee Shop
Tacos Santa Cecilia
FORT WORTH
Benito’s
Esperanza’s
Lanny’s Alta Cocina Mexicana
Paco & John
LAREDO
El Meson de San Agustin
Fonda Don Martin
Palenque Grill
Zaragoza Grill, La Posada Hotel
McALLEN
Costa Messa
El Pastor
Palenque Grill
SAN ANTONIO
Cascabel Mexican Patio
Cielito Lindo
El Siete Mares
Guajillo’s
La Fonda on Main
La Gloria Icehouse
Mary Lou’s Café y Cocina Mexicana
Rosario’s
Ok, let me give this a beer tie in....hmmmm. Alright, what Texas beer would I like to drink with a plate full of tacos. I'll give you my top five and then you can chime in:
5. Southern Star Bombshell Blonde 4. Southern Star Pine Belt Pale Ale from the can 3. Lonestar 2. Real Ale Hans Pils 1. (512) Wit
This list would be different tomorrow. Hell, it would be different if you asked me in five minutes. But right now, that sounds right.
The Buried Hatchet Stout cans have finally arrived and we are filling them as fast as possible. The first shipment is scheduled to go out later today (December 23) and should be hitting the shelves of one store by tomorrow. I can’t tell you what store that is, but suffice to say it is south of us at the major bunny store. Other bunny stores should be seeing this product mid next week, with wider distribution happening after the new year. Thanks for everyone’s patience with us concerning this beer. It took a while, but after many, many hurdles, it’s finally here!!!
FYI: Bunny Stores = SPECS!!!!!!
So I am drinking a 2009 Deschutes Abyss. It is good. Realllllllly good. And it is reminding me of another beer. Something local(ish).
That is right. As I drink the Abyss, SS Buried Hatchet keeps poppin into my mind. I've only had Buried Hatchet on draught, but the beers seem very "alike." I can't wait till BH comes out in cans. I plan on saving at least one to compare to my other bottle of Abyss next Thanksgiving.
The results are in from our first annual Pro-am competition. We had 43 entries, some of which were REALLY good. We had a tough time choosing, but after about 1½ hours of deliberation, we chose a Saison brewed by Mark Kizer and Scott Wells of Austin. An Imperial IPA brewed by Chris Jones and Ben Ronck gave this beer a serious run for its money. Honorable mention goes to Eric Lowe for his Tejas Wit. That was also an outstanding beer. We had many great beers to choose from, 12 of 43 got pushed to the second round for serious consideration.
I want to thank everyone that entered this competition, as well as all of the judges that helped with this competition. We are really looking forward to making this Saison. Unless I am mistaken, this will be the first farmhouse style ale brewed by a production brewery in Texas. We are looking into getting some blank cans and a labeler. If we can make those arrangements, this will be the first canned Saison in the world. We plan on brewing this beer in June or July with it’s release expected about a month after brewing. We are already looking forward to next year’s competition!
A Texas Saison. In a can. With a recipe from Austin. That is badass. Who needs another Double IPA, seriously. Enough already.
I know you are all probably heading to the Draught House tonight for Firkin Friday (see last post). But it's a longish (for some of us lucky souls) weekend so there is time to check out more than just one bar. The Saucer has some taps on in which you might be interested:
It is a good time to be drinking beer in Austin. I would suggest you skip the Harpoon Hefeweizen and Magic Hat #9. You know what, forget that, try them, if you like them great, but I almost guarantee you won't.
