What is the general thought on this brewery? I've had quite a few of their brews at this (10-15 range), and can't say that I've been overly impressed with any that I've had. They seem to be a kitchen sink kind of brewery; meaning they throw whatever they can get their hands on in to many of their beers. They've got some off the wall adjuncts, and, in most cases, just seem to do TOO much. That said, I've got a couple beer buddies here locally that always have their beers...and they LOVE them. I just haven't been able to jump on board. Am I on the outside looking in, or do others feel the same way I do. *Disclaimer: Not bashing B52, just curious about others' thoughts.
I haven't been to B52 in probably close to a year but I really enjoyed it there. I was happy drinking pint after pint of the Pils. I had been there before then also and tried more of the beers. My wife really liked the beers she had, the hoppy wheat and saisons. One time I went was when they had the Upgrayedd hazy IPA. I bought two crowlers, one of the Pils and the other of that IPA. When we shared those cans we started with the Pils because I didn't want the IPA to kill my taste buds so I could still taste the Pils. I found that the Pils was so tasty that it overpowered the IPA after it. I really don't like the modern style breweries are doing with the tons of random flavorings so I haven't had any of those from them. But I did like the other beers that I've had.
Love the Pils, they had a Schwarzbier that was amazing, but haven't seen that in over a year. Breakfast Stout is pretty good too. People will line up for their NEIPA and Milkshake IPA's which is more the direction they have been going the last year, but I don't find anything particularly special about those (I find the Milkshake stuff just bad). They also do plenty of other brewery only releases that I have not been able to sample a lot of. I was pretty impressed when I first tried them over a year ago, when they had a few well made traditional German styles I liked and could easily find at beer bars around town. Though since they have gotten into the hype game I have pretty much lost interest. I'll still get the Pils when I see it around, but anything else I usually skip over. Though I haven't seen a lot of them around Houston lately, seems they are more focused on their brewery and Conroe area, which is completely understandable.
Lol arguably the best brewery in houston, and one of the best in texas But thats just like, my opinion man
@BullDoza I was just there this past weekend. Very cool taproom vibe both inside and out, kind of in the woods. Another 50 minutes north of Spindletap (which is already about 20min north of downtown Houston) so not really very convenient for most people to hit frequently. My overall take on B52 was basically that it's a great vibe and place to visit, they have a lot of fun beers (tons of adjuncts) that are enjoyable to drink and try. Having said that, nothing blew me away as world-class or exceptional really... and I can't help but feel like they don't really know how to just brew a good regular IPA. The non-adjunct examples I had like Gaze and Wheez were fairly mediocre. I highly recommend going though, it's a fun spot. I left with a bunch of cans, which also made it more worth the trek, especially because my friend and I drove from Austin.
This used to be up there as one of my favorite breweries. My daughter got married about a mile away from there so was out there pretty frequently a year ago. I liked them a lot better before NEIPA became a thing. Back 2 years ago they were popping out some of the best saisons around, doing same base, different hops to showcase what was going on. As @champ103 said above, they have done a really nice Pils, Schwarzbier and Breakfast Stout, but the elusive IPA has always been out of their grasp until the NEIPA came along. They cranked out a great DIPA about 2 years ago. The latest I had from them, Szechuan Sauce, was named appropriately, the hop burn from this beer made you tongue tingle like a Szechuan pepper will. I thought it was a nice name to apply to a flawed beer.
Bummed I missed the Schwarzbier era. Love the style. You hit the nail on the head with that hop burn. Back of your throat super intense burn going down on a lot of the IPA's.
I tried the 4th Anniversary DIPA w/ all the ridiculous ingredients. Felt bad for bringing it to a buddy's house, it wasn't enjoyable at all
Good topic @BullDoza - and for the most part - I do agree with you. Someone said B52 is Houston's best brewery and possibly even Texas. Its definitely up there - Ill grant you that. "Texas' Best Brewery" would probably be a good topic on its own elsewhere in this forum. That said, its hard for me to say any one Texas brewery (with the exception of Jester King) is absolutely KILLING-IT. Travelling as much as I do, a majority of the TX breweries seem to still be very much in their infancy with respect to national notarity and overall quality on any one particular style. And - IMO - many are just chasing the NEIPA-hype. Is that a viable business model for long-term success? Maybe. But being how easy NEIPAs are to produce and duplicate, its hard to say that any one brewery is going to be able to create a model that is sustainable beyond that hype. B52 (with their other styles) may be a little ahead of that curve, but only slightly. SpindleTap, B52, Ingenious, Brash, Hops & Grain, Weathered Souls, Peticolas, Zilker, Austin Beerworks, Sigma, et al. are all really good breweries, but they are far from great.
I would be hard pressed to call them Houston's best brewery. If I had to pick one it would probably be Holler. And that is mainly because of the assorted styles they have been nailing, Belgian, English, German and American. I would put their pils as the best coming out of Houston, granted I prefer Czech, but it is one of the beers that I find myself truly craving. They have delved into the NEIPA and I find theirs good representations, albeit a tad more bitter than most. I believe one of the main reasons I like them is that they usually have at least 5 beers under 5.5%, which is good for me since I am usually driving there. Best deal, 23oz Hefe for $5, and it is good
Agree 1000% on the current state of Texas breweries. I will say I think Weathered Souls is producing by far the best stouts in Texas right now.
I will say after finally going to Holler and having gone to B52 a number of times I think the B52 Payload Pils was better than Hollers. I think it had more malt flavor along with it's strong hop character. It seems B52 used to make a wider variety of beers and did it well but it seems they've fallen to the hype.
Yep, hop burn IPA's here and there...more often than not this summer. I was going regularly but been burned too often this summer. I look forward to the IPA's becoming consistent. Muse is great though!
I was in Houston last week visiting for work, and was blown away by the B52 beers I got to try. Particular GAZE, which was incredible.
