Texas Beer Fest

One of the most exciting things that happened locally in beer culture was the amazing amount of beer festivals being held in Texas and locally in and around Houston. It seems that 2011 will be no different. We know that Houston Beer Week and Monsters of Beer will be held later this year, but fret not beer lovers, we don't have to wait that long for a great festival dedicated to our favorite beverage. The Texas Beer Festival is held up in Humble on May 7th however there will be plenty of events in Houston.
- First up will be a Pub Crawl on April 30th starting at 1pm. Stops include:

The Ginger Man Pub (5607 Morningside Dr.)
Liberty Station (2101 Washington St., Houston, TX)
Petrol Station (985 Wakefield Dr., Houston, TX)
Rudyards Pub (2010 Waugh Drive, Houston, TX)
Food will be available at Petrol and Rudyards as well as food trucks at some of the stops.
Ticket price for the Pub Crawl is $20.00 which includes transportation (via The Houston Wave), a special pub crawl T-Shirt, and access to a special selection of beers at each bar. Our first stop, The Ginger Man, will make Real Ale Barrel Aged Highlander and Real Ale Anniversary and (512) Cascabel Cream Stout and (512) Barrel Aged Double Pecan Porter available.

- The following 2 weeks there will be quite a few beer dinners in Houston:
May 2nd, 2011: Beaver’s and Independence Brewing Co. (ticket price: $75)
May 2nd, 2011: Feast and Paulaner HP (ticket price: $50)
May 2nd, 2011: Moon Tower Inn and New Belgium Brewing (ticket price: $50)
May 3rd, 2011: Public House (Katy) and No Label Brewing Co. (ticket price: $55)
May 4th, 2011: Rudyards Pub and Jester King Craft Brewery (ticket price: $75)
May 4th, 2011: Le Mistral Restaurant and Shiner Beers (ticket price: $75)
May 5th, 2011: Brookstreet Barbeque (Missouri City) and Kreuz Creek Brewing Co. (ticket price: $35)
May 8th, 2011: Brasserie Max &Julie and Real Ale Brewing Co. (ticket price: $70)
May 10th, 2011: Bootsie’s Heritage Café and Southern Star Brewing Co. (ticket price: $75)
May 10th, 2011: Quattro Restaurant and Stone Brewing Co. (ticket price: $75)
May 11th, 2011: Backstreet Café and various Texas Beers (ticket price: $72)
May 11th, 2011: T’afia and Southern Star Brewing Co. (ticket price: $55)
May 11th, 2011: Cinq at Columbe d’Or and St. Arnold Brewing (ticket price: $70)
May 12th, 2011: The Tasting Room at CityCentre and Chimay Trappist Beers (ticket price: $65)

- Of course on May 7th in Humble is the actual beer festival itself. The event is at the Humbel Convention center and tickets cost $34.00 pre-sale and $40.00 the day of the event. There will be 70 breweries represented from around the country as well as 17 Texas breweries. Their website is up and running here. The cost of the ticket gets you 12 coupons for beers, with 25% of the proceeds going to Houston Food Bank (drinking for a cause is something I can get behind).

All in all this sounds like a great addition to the Beer Festival scene in Texas and Houston in particular. If this one is as successful as Houston Beer week, it will be pretty nice to have one great beer festival in late Sprint and another in Fall. I am planning on going to some of the beer dinners if I can so hopefully I'll see you there.