Platypus Brewing

I stopped in at Platypus for a couple of beers a couple weeks ago while exploring Houston. They had 14 beers on tap on my visit, with 5 IPAs of various descriptions, a steam beer, blonde, summer ale, light lager, coffee porter, imperial stout, amber lager, hazy pale, and a pineapple-jalapeño sour. The beers I sampled were merely okay, though — nothing really blew me away.

The pub itself is Australian themed, with flags and stuff about; they’ve got a few TVs with sports on, and appropriately they show rugby when it’s on. The bar is big, and there’s several big tables inside and a nice patio area; there’s also a view into the brewhouse from the taproom, which is always a bonus. The service was friendly enough, but I wouldn’t call it speedy, even on a relatively slow night.

 

 

 

 

 

Platypus ha a great location and a really cool space, however, the bar tender was very rude and soured my experience here. Fortunately the beer was above average for a Houston brewery, especially for being open as long as they have been. Once they dial in the customer service, it should be a great spot.

Great ambience. Dreadful beer.

 

We went by here last weekend, have been meaning to go since they opened, but just haven't made it (did go in one time and the place was packed, no tables). The place has a nice mix of indoor/outdoor seating, large TV outside and 2 inside, positioning makes it not hard to see one from wherever you are sitting. @champ103 did a pretty good review of the layout so I will move on to the experience. We ordered a couple of apps to go along with our beer. The pretzel bites, though pretty aggressively cooked were really good, the nachos on pork skins, well need I say more, they were really good. The beers as covered here are passable, not worth going out of your way for, but what needs addressing is the service. They need more servers, or they need to alter the way you go about getting beer. We only had a short amount of time to kill and most of it was spent searching for our waitress. I think of places like this when people start talking about the beer bubble bursting. People are dropping a shit ton of money at this place and the beer is something you wouldn't even look twice at if it was on a shelf. Brew Pubs are cool, and this is proof of that fact

 

 

 

Edit: have had the full food menu now. The meat pies are good and filling, but again not exceptional. The hand cut fries are good. The beer nuts are interesting, like boiled nuts in beer with a spicy seasoning. Kind of mushy and spicy at the same time. The pork rinds/chicharones are nice and salty. Overall about average pub grub, but still filling and enjoyable An OK spot to chill for food and beer. Just not exceptional in any one thing right now.

One of the only true brewpubs to open inside the loop for some time. A really nice deck outside with plenty of shade. Inside has high ceilings, long bar with high top tables scattered about. There will be a mezzanine/upstairs bar as well (as far as I have read anyway). There are plenty of TV's turned to sports if that is your thing. It can get pretty loud with the TV's inside. It is almost a sports bar feel, that I am not particularly a fan of, but with the charm of a brick and reclaimed wood bar area. Love the deck area as well.

Service is standard, they seem to know enough buzz words to get by. I ordered a simple salad which seemed to take a while to get out. No big deal really, but there you go...I was excited that they are going to have a full kitchen. Though it seems they are still in soft opening mode. Which is fine, though the menu is really limited right now. Had a beat salad with grilled chicken. Which is as light and simple as that sounds. Which is a good thing, if not particularly exceptional. I had a bit of order envy, when the fantastic looking cold prawns came out. Along with a killer looking cheese plate, all to another table.

Just a handful of beers. With an Blonde Ale, IPA, Red, Brown, and a few American Pale Wheats. None would stand out on their own at a beer bar. Though I thought the brown was enjoyable for what it is. The Australian hopped IPA and Red where all late addition hops, and the wheat was well below average in this market. Was hoping for a bit more, and really interested in the Australian hop angle they have. Though just average at best. They do growlers to go as well, just FYI.

Generously, a slightly above average brewpub. I will give this place a few more tries to see if they dial things in, but right now it does not seem to hit that sweet spot for me. Even though, not outright bad, just a bit to mundane for me.

The kitchen looked to have very rudimentary bar food, so I won't rate this.

The place has a nice layout, with a decent sized taproom and a decent sized patio that has a nice view of the skyline.

The building is red brick and looks like it must be about 50 years old at least, and I feel like the owners designed the taproom to reflect some of the character of the building. Light fixtures, chairs, color scheme are all cool and cohesive. The bathrooms are nice as well.

Staff was busy, but friendly and they looked to be in a good mood.

Overall, their place is great. They spent a lot of time and money on the taproom. The beer is going to need some work.