Recap: Beer and Food Truck Pairing at Liberty Station

Beer dinners have been popping up everywhere around Houston lately, but Liberty Station deviated last night from the typical format by hosting one that combined Texas breweries with local food trucks. Each food truck was paired with a brewery and created two dishes that were prepared and served with a different beer from that brewery. Menu cards indicated the specific pairings and it was up to the participates to go to the food truck to get the dish and the bar to get the beer it was paired with. It was a fun change from the more formal setting of most beer dinners, but I missed having the explanation about the food and beer that typically accompanies each course as its being served. It would have been great if the food trucks had had the opportunity to present and explain their food and pairings, but that would have been a little difficult under this format unless they did it before they all started serving. Nevertheless, it was a great event and the food was fantastic. Here are the pairings that were offered:


Good Dog Hot Dogs with Independence
Freestyle (American Wheat) - Sunshine dog with cream cheese, dill relish and picked red onion
Stash (IPA) - Chili dog with chili that was prepared with Stash

Zilla Street Eats with Real Ale
Rio Blanco (Pale) - Braised short ribs with smoked gouda mac & cheese
Phoenixx (Double ESB) - Sorbet that was made using Phoenixx

H-Town StrEATs with Southern Star
Bombshell (Blonde) - Pork tacos with green apple slaw
Buried Hatched (Stout) - Hatchet marinated wings with sauce

Some of the highlights for me was the Freestyle with the sunshine dog and the pulled pork tacos with Bombshell. The sorbet from Zilla was a great finishing course and very unique as it actually had a hop bitterness in the flavour.

Liberty Station station is no stranger to food trucks as there is usually one parked out front. With the large patio and open area in front of the bar, it was the perfect location for this type of event. Hopefully this was just the first of what will be many beer and food trucking pairing events. And with the number of Texas breweries and food trucks continuing to increase, it would be pretty easy to have completely new truck and brewery pairings each time.

Beer and Food Truck Dinner at Liberty Station

Beer dinners are becoming increasingly popular in Houston and Liberty Station is hosting one with an interesting twist.  Their dinner features beers from three Texas breweries (Real Ale, Southern Star and Independence) but they're paired with courses served from three local food trucks (Zilla, H-Town StrEATs and Good Dog).  The event takes place on Thursday, April 28th at 7:00pm and the cost is only $45 per person.  Space is limited, so RSVP to libertystationwashington@gmail.com.

Real Ale Tap Nite at the Flying Saucer

The Tap Nite this Thursday at the Flying Saucer will be featuring a selection of beers from Real Ale, included four beers from their Mysterium Verum series.  Brewer Erick Ogershok will also be on hand to answer questions and talk about the beer.  The beer starts pouring at 6:00pm and a cask of the Phoenixx will also be available.

Texas Beer Fest Beer Dinners and Pub Crawl

The inaugural Texas Beer Festival is only a few weeks away and the founders have been doing a great job of raising awareness for it by organizing beer related events at bars all around town.  Tickets for 14 different beer dinners (including Independence Brewing at Grand Prize Bar, Stone at Quattro and newcomer Kreuz Creek at Brookstreet BBQ) are currently available on the Dinners page of their website.  As a warm up for the festival the following weekend, they've also organized a pub crawl for Saturday, April 30th.  Tickets are only $20 which includes a T-shirt and transportation on the Houston Wave between each bar.  It kicks off at 2:00pm at the Ginger Man and then moves on to Liberty Station, Petrol Station and Rudyards.  Special limited release beers will be available at each of the stops as well.

The Texas Beer Fest itself takes place on Saturday, May 7th at the covered outdoor Humble Convention Center Arena. Discounted tickets are still available for $34 each (increase to $40 the day of the event) which gets you 12 tasting coupons that can be used for 2oz beer tastings or food purchases (additional coupons will be available for purchase).  Over 70 breweries are currently scheduled to participate and over 17 of those are from Texas.  Local food trucks will onsite selling food, live music will be playing on the Silver Eagle stage and The Duff beer garden will have full pints of craft beer from Duff Distributing available. 

For more information about the fest and other events, including a list of the participating breweries, check out the Texas Beer Fest website.  See you out there!

Recap of the Independence Cycling Pub Crawl

Last weekend, Independence Brewing organized its first pub crawl in Houston. However, Neil, the local brewery rep and avid cyclist, decided to make it a cycling pub crawl. Instead of wandering just a few blocks from pub to pub, participates peddled their way over 16 miles between four different stops.  Everyone started at Canyon Creek and then went on to the Petrol Station and Moon Tower before ending up at Liberty Station. There was a range of cyclists from hard core to leisure riders, but everyone finished and were rewarded with special pub crawl glasses and other brewery swag.  It was also the first time that many people got to try Rood, a Belgian inspired red ale and new spring seasonal from Independence.

For those that missed this one or where intimidated by the cycling aspect, Neil has indicated there will be another more traditional version coming soon.

Halfway to Oktoberfest Party at Ginger Man

Get suited up with your best Lederhosen and head on down to the Ginger Man on Saturday, April 9 for their Halfway to Oktoberfest party . Special Oktoberfest beers (Ayinger, Erdinger, St. Arnolds Cask-conditioned, Real Ale, vintage Avery Kaiser) and bratwurst will be available and live music by Snit's Dog and Pony Show starts at 4:00pm.  Prosit!!

Independence Brewing Bicycle Pub Crawl in Houston

Independence Brewing is having its first pub crawl in Houston this Saturday, April 9th from 2:00pm ~ 6:00pm.  However, there's a bit of twist... its a cycling pub crawl.  There will be four stops across the inner loop area:

2:00pm Canyon Creek
3:00pm Petrol Station
4:00pm Moon Tower Inn
5:00pm Liberty Station. 

Get your Indy Pub Crawl card punched at all four stops and receive a pint glass (while supplies last) at the final stop.  Neil Dalal, the Independence Brewing Account Manager for the Houston area, will be cycling as well.  More information is available on the Indy Pub Crawl Event Page of the Houston Independence Fans Facebook page.

April Glass Nights at the Ginger Man

The Ginger Man has released their list of Glass Nights for the month of April:

6th - Left Hand (JuJu Ginger)
13th - Deschutes
20th - Breckenridge
27rd - Duff Distributor (Gulden Draak, Piraat, Monks Cafe)

The glasses are available starting at 5:30pm and only one glass per person with purchase of the beer of the day. As always, the glasses are subject to change and only available while supplies last.