Oktoberfest 2011 at Southern Star Brewing

Southern Star Brewing has announced their annual Oktoberfest party at the brewery will be held on October 22nd from 6pm ~ 10pm. The price is $30 per person which includes a 17oz commemorative ceramic beer stein and 5 tokens for beer. They'll be pouring their regular lineup of Blond, Pine Belt and Hatchet and other beers such as the 2011 Pro-Am may or may not be available as well. Food will be available for purchase (cash only) from The Outlaw Kookers and the Folk Family Revival band will be providing the entertainment. Tickets can purchased online and only 300 will be sold, so I wouldn't wait too long if you're thinking about going.

List of Texas Breweries Attending 2011 GABF

There are currently over 470 breweries listed as attending the 2011 Great American Beer Festival (GABF). Texas has its largest showing ever with 22 breweries listed, up from the previous year of 19. I'm sure this number will continue to grow for the next few years as more of the startup breweries begin operations.

The breweries representing Texas this year are:

(512) Brewing ~ Austin
Austin Beerworks ~ Austin
Black Star Co-op Pub & Brewery ~ Austin
Circle Brewing ~ Austin
Darkside Fermentation ~ San Marcos
Flix Brewhouse ~ Round Rock
Fredericksburg Brewing ~ Fredericksburg
Freetail Brewing ~ San Antonio
Humperdink's Restaurant and Brewery ~ Dallas
Independence Brewing ~ Austin
Jester King Craft Brewery ~ Austin
Live Oak Brewing ~ Austin
No Label ~ Katy
North by Northwest Restaurant & Brewery ~ Austin
Rahr & Sons Brewery ~ Fort Worth
Real Ale Brewing ~ Blanco
Saint Arnold Brewing ~ Houston
Southern Star Brewing ~ Conroe
Spoetzl Brewery ~ Shiner
Twisted X Brewing ~ Cedar Park
Uncle Billy's Brew & Que ~ Austin
Uncle Billy's Brew & Que (Lake Travis) ~ Austin

A few breweries that attended last year but are not currently listed this year include:

Draught House Pub & Brewery ~ Austin
Lovejoy's ~ Austin
The Covey Restaurant & Brewery (Closed) ~ Fort Worth
Thirsty Planet Brewing ~ Austin
Blue Star Brewing ~ San Antonio

Three breweries from Texas took home medals last year, including one that is now closed:

Gold (German-Style Kölsch):  Fancy Lawnmower - Saint Arnold Brewing Co.
Gold (Ordinary or Special Bitter):  Rio Blanco Pale Ale - Real Ale Brewing Co.
Silver (Extra Special Bitter or Strong Bitter):  Elissa IPA - Saint Arnold Brewing Co.
Silver (Scottish-Style Ale):  Oktoberfest - Saint Arnold Brewing Co.,
Bronze (Munich-Style Helles):  Cowboy Lager - The Covey Restaurant & Brewery

Camp Beer VIII - Stoutapalooza II

Tickets for the eighth edition of Camp Beer from Live it Big go on sale at 9:00am on Thursday, August 18th. The actual event will take place on Friday, September 16th at 7:00pm (the first one held in the evening) and is being called Stoutapalooza II as it will be featuring a variety of Stouts (with a few porters thrown in). The list of beers being served includes (in no particular order):

Lost Abbey - Serpent's Stout
Nogne O - Imperial Stout
Ninkasi - Oatis Oatmeal Stout
Firestone Walker - Velvet Merlin Oatmeal Stout
Port Brewing - Older Viscosity Bourbon Barrel Aged Stout
Goose Island - Night Stalker Imperial Stout 2010
Iron Fist - Velvet Glove Imperial Stout
Pretty Things - East India-Style Porter
Smuttynose - Imperial Stout
Anderson Valley - Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout
Ballast Point - Sea Monster Imperial Stout
Ballast Point - Victory At Sea Imperial Porter

As always, the Beer Master of Anvil Bar & Refuge and soon to be open Hay Merchant, Kevin Floyd, will lead the crowd through the tasting with information and anecdotes about the beer and breweries.

Tickets are available for purchase through the website only at a cost of $55 each. However, you've got to be quick as past events have typically sold out within hours (if not sooner).

Eleventh Anniversary Party at Flying Saucer Houston

The Flying Saucer in downtown Houston is celebrating their 11th Anniversary with a party stretching over two days on Aug 20th and 21st. The festivities start on Saturday with the tapping of a variety of rare beers and continues on to Sunday with the addition of a build-your-own Michelada bar.

Saturday's Tap List (starting at noon):
Deschutes - Hop in the Dark
Boulevard - Collaboration #2 (White IPA)
Ommegange - Abbey
Brooklyn - Monster (2007) & Blast
Breckenridge - 72 Imperial Chocolate Cream Stout
Avery - Fifteen
Independence - All Seeing EyePA & Gold Deluxe
Also a special tapping at 5:00pm of Ranger Creek's So it Gose & Dry Hopped Double IPA (cask) with Ranger Creek Rob.
Rob Cartwright, Brewmaster from Independence Brewing, will also be at the party to answer question and talk about their beer.

Sunday's (partial) Tap List:
(512) - Dry Hopped Double IPA (cask)
Saint Arnold - Farmer Brown Chardonnay Barrel w/Cherries (cask)
Stone - Old Guardian (2008)
Real Ale - Morgul Ale
Lagunitas - Fusion VI
New Belgium - Ooh La La & Clutch
Jester King - Wine Barrel Farmhouse Suicide (cask)
plus at least 3 more surprises

An earlier tweet indicated that Tramp Stamp & Clementine Wheat from Clown Shoes (who just started distributing to Texas) would also be on tap, so those might be a couple of the surprise ones if they've arrived.

Dogfish Head Days of Summer at the Ginger Man

The Ginger Man is featuring beers from Dogfish Head all this week for their Dogfish Days of Summer event. Each day a different Dogfish Head beer will be feature:

Aug 15th - Indian Brown
Aug 16th - Aprihop (1 year old)
Aug 17th - Bitches Brew
Aug 18th - Palo Santo
Aug 19th - Namaste
Aug 20th - Raison D'etre
Aug 21st - Burton Baton

The Dogfish Head beer of the day will be available when the bars opens that days.

Breweries Attending Denver Rare Beering III - Now Complete

The list of breweries and beer that will be at the Pints4Prostates Denver Rare Beer Tasting III is now complete.  The following thirty rare and vintage beers will be poured at the event (with the brewers themselves often on hand and pouring the beer):

Alaskan - Baltic Porter w/ Cherries and Vanilla Beans (2009)
Avery - Dihos Dactylion Cabernet Sauvignon Barrel Aged Sour Ale
Big Sky - Buckin' Monk Chardonnay Barrel Aged Tripel (2006)
Boston Beer - Utopias (2011)
Boulevard - Love Child #1
Brooklyn - Cuvee de la Crochet Rouge
Cascade - Borbonic Plague
Cigar City - Neilsbohrium Rum Barrel-Aged Imperial Raisin Sweet Stout
Dogfish Head - Olde School (2004)
Duck Rabbit - The End of Reason
Firestone Walker - Agrestic Ale
Foothills - Sexual Chocolate (2009)
Full Sail - Old Boardhead Barleywine (1998)
Great Divide - Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout (2008)
Highland - PSA Pilsner
Jolly Pumpkin - Lúpulo de Hielo
Laughing Dog - St. Benny's Labby Ale Bourbon Barrel Aged
Left Hand - Fade to Black Vol. 1 (2009)
Lost Abbey - Deliverance
Nebraska - Inception Series #1
New Belgium - Eric's Ale
New Holland - Rum-barrel-aged Pilgrim's Dole Wheatwine
Odell - Rare Blend
Rogue - Charlie 1981
Sierra Nevada - 30th Anniversary Rum Barrel-Aged Fritz and Ken’s Stout
Stone - Stone Imperial Russian Stout aged in Stanahan's Colorado Whiskey Barrels (2010)
The Bruery - The Wanderer Dark Sour
Thirsty Dog - 12 Dogs of Christmas Bourbon Barrel-Aged
Weyerbacher - Idiot’s Drool
Wynkoop - Metacool Maltuwanna Imperial Amber Ale

*** SOLD OUT - As of noon on Wed, Jul 12th, this event is sold out. Thanks for all your support for a worthy cause. ***

International #IPADay

International #IPADay was founded by Ashley Routson (aka The Beer Wench) and Ryan Ross but it was inspired by similar worldwide wine events such as #ChardonnayDay and #CabernetDay. Ashley, more commonly known in the beer world as The Beer Wench (Wenchie or just Wench) witnessed how these events brought people together around the world to drink wine, whether they normally drank wine or not, because they wanted to be part of the event. Feeling that the beer industry has been slower to take advantage of social media, the First International Celebration of Craft Beer was born. The IPA was chosen as it's a style that is most readily available and has a wide range of characteristics, making it easy to find and allowing enough choices that even people who don't normally like the style can find one to drink. And, since the spotlight will be on IPA's, perhaps introduce more people to the style and expand their taste profiles:

International #IPADay is an event geared towards making craft beer more accessible to the masses. Please encourage all of your non-beer drinking friends to take a break from their normal beverage routines to join the worldwide craft beer celebration on August 4th! This is a time for education and advocacy! We should all set out with the goal of converting at least one person, if not the whole world of drinkers, into craft beer lovers!

So wherever you on Thursday, take the time to enjoy an IPA and introduce the style (or craft beer in general) to someone who wouldn't normally drink it. I'll be down at the most appropriate place there is for International #IPADay, the Petrol Station, recently crowned as the "Most Bitter Bar in America" by Stone Brewing. They'll have a plethora of IPA's on draft and will be tapping three casks at 7:00pm. Rumour has it, a couple of those casks will be from the elusive Brewluminati series (including the latest release) brewed by Independence Brewing. Those don't make it down to Houston very often, so its an event not to be missed.