Houston Musts

I am not in Houston so I'm not the best one to give insight, but here's a link to a couple fairly recent threads in this 'US - Southwest' forum which discussed this topic pretty thoroughly:

"What Breweries should I Visit Near Houston" (from Aug 2019):
https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/what-breweries-should-i-visit-near-houston.621858/

"Houston Beer Bars" (from Feb 2020):
https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/houston-beer-bars.634128/

There are a few more recent (albeit shorter) Houston-related threads in this same forum as well which might offer more recent insight (such as the ones titled "Houston Breweries-IPA Cans to go recs", "Houston - Best places to buy craft beer" and "Houston 8/20 - 8/23"... they're on the first few pages of thread listings as you scroll down). Bear in mind that Houston is pretty big and spread out and traffic is hectic, so you may want to narrow down your choices based on the area of the city where you'll plan to be visiting. Cheers!

 

Yeah, those threads will have a lot of good suggestions. Sigma has now changed its name to Equal Parts Brewing, and they just opened their expanded tap room last weekend. I think they did a great job, and worth seeking out. True Anomaly is on that side of town as well, and they are doing some great things, with a lot of other places to pub crawl around.

My normal recs are Holler and Saint Arnold. Saint Arnold's restaurant is great, and both make some of the cleanest beers in town, IMO.

There is tons more, but would probably help if you narrowed down the location. As said above, its a huge place and you need a car.

Bottle shops: Premium Draught, D&Q Beer Station, and Specs Downtown.

Have fun.

 

Good writeup by champ above. Would add Urban South, Ingenious and Spindletap, Brash to the must do Houston brewery stops in addition to Equal Parts. If you're willing to drive a bit Baa Baa is probably the head honcho in town specializing in heavily fruited sours, NEIPAS, and pretty much everything they put out. Other breweries making great beer but not within city limits: Vallensons, B52, Copperhead (personal favorite) Other standouts in Houston limits in my opinion: Great Heights,Astral.

D&Q is the best source for bottle shops, Specs Downtown and Central Market, Whole Foods being the 2nd tier.

Hay Merchant and Hughie's beer centric restaurant would highly recommend. Craft Beer Cellar, Underdogs, Flying Saucer also good beer bars.

Enjoy

 

Hi @craigo19, I'm not sure whether you've been to Houston before or which area your concert will be in, but I thought I might add some orientation tips since you're coming from out of town, and also since I know from personal experience that Houston can be fairly intimidating to drive around for the uninitiated. Also, as I mentioned, it's really spread out, so it's good to plan strategically and consider what is near each other.

Based on your post history it seems you'll be coming from New Orleans on I-10--I'm in Baton Rouge and usually go to Houston a couple times a year, and I researched this Houston brewery topic when I went there in April (which is why I was already quite familiar with the threads I linked above). I ended up only making it to Saint Arnold during my April trip, which is a big bustling facility I quite enjoyed, and it's the oldest craft brewery in Texas, so that might be as good a place as any to start, depending on what you're looking for. I noticed that many of the breweries in Houston I've seen recommended are often clustered near others, so I hope to make my way around the city and visit a few breweries at a time when I'm there for future visits.

So without commenting specifically on the quality of each place as I haven't been to most of them, here are some location tips for most of the Houston breweries I've seen mentioned in these forums, just for orientation purposes to help you decide on which area you might want to focus on so you won't go crazy trying to drive through traffic to all reaches of the city. And I'm not a Houston local, so I apologize in advance if I call any place names wrong--I'm just going from what I see on Google Maps. Also keep in mind that driving times listed are non-rush-hour times (rush hour seems to start earlier and last longer in Houston than in other cities, and you'd be wise to avoid it):

1. central Houston breweries:
Saint Arnold is right off I-10 as you are coming into the main city center area of Houston right past I-69. About 5 or 10 minutes south of that along I-69 is both True Anomaly and 8th Wonder right next to each other in EaDo (East Downtown), which is what used to be the Houston Chinatown (before it moved to Bellaire in the western part of the city) and which I guess is more of an arts district now. Equal Parts (which champ103 mentioned above, formerly called Sigma) is also about a 5-minute drive from there too.

If you instead drive about 5-10 minutes west of Saint Arnold on I-10, you'll find Holler (which champ103 mentioned), Urban South Houston (which Sabzi mentioned--it's connected with Urban South New Orleans) and Buffalo Bayou all clustered near each other, right near Glenwood Cemetery where Howard Hughes' grave is located.

2. northern Houston breweries:

If you drive north from Holler/Urban South Houston/Buffalo Bayou on I-45 past the I-610 loop for about 15 minutes, you'll find Brash, Astral and Great Heights all clustered near each other. About 10 minutes west from there right outside the northwestern part of the I-610 loop is Karbach.

Also north of the I-610 loop but instead along I-69 (driving about 15 minutes from most of the above-mentioned locations) is Spindletap. About 15 minutes further up I-69 from there is Ingenious (both of which Sabzi mentioned).

If you keep going north on I-45 all the way to Conroe (about 45-60 minutes), you'll find Copperhead and B-52 which Sabzi also mentioned. Further west from there about 30-45 minutes (or approximately 1 hour northwest of Houston) is Lone Pint.

3. western and southern Houston breweries:

Baa Baa (which Sabzi mentioned) is about 30 minutes west of central Houston past Katy along I-10.

Vallensons (which Sabzi also mentioned) is about 30 minutes south of central Houston right past the Sam Houston Tollway (the Beltway 8 loop).

--
I'm sure there are other breweries worth considering that I've missed, but those are most of the breweries I've seen mentioned and/or have made note of. That should help you at least narrow your focus geographically depending on where you're visiting and how much time you'll have so you don't find yourself traipsing aimlessly all around the city. Have fun!

 

Hey @craigo19, after my post above I noticed Local Group is also one I've seen mentioned in these forums and is only a couple minutes from Saint Arnold, if you'll be going there anyway. Cheers!

 

Food is great at Local Group, beers can be hit and miss, but definitely got some good ones. I would recommend it.

 

The year I spent a lot of time in Houston ('19-'20) the breweries that kept me coming back for more were Saint Arnold, Spindletap and Holler. B52 was my go to in and out of town.

 

One more thing @craigo19, since you mentioned your concert is in the western part of Houston, Eureka Heights and Baileson are two additional breweries in that direction I didn't include in my first post which I've seen recommended in other Houston threads.

I've been combing through those Houston recommendations I listed above as I'm actually getting ready to go to Houston in the coming week myself. It seems they've just combined the 'US - Southwest' Beer Advocate forum together with other regional forums to make a more comprehensive 'US - South' forum, which makes some of those threads I mentioned a bit harder to find. Most of what seem to be the "must visit" Houston breweries in those threads are pretty much what's also already been mentioned here by champ103, Sabzi and Bigrock anyway.

That's all. Thanks everyone, and cheers!

 

As an actual Houstonian who posted in some of those other linked posts, I figured I would weigh in too. Sorry if this is a lot of repeat from my prior posts. I can't resist the opportunity to update my perspectives though!

First, if you're driving on I-10 from New Orleans and you don't stop at Parish Brewing in Broussard, you are missing the best brewery you could possibly see on your trip.

In terms of actual Houston breweries, Saint Arnolds is the big daddy. Their beers are solid but very rarely cutting edge. If you like pilsners, they do some of the best in town in my opinion. Their space is the largest (and is fun/good crowd) and their food is solid (though it's a step down in quality and breadth of options from pre-COVID days). I recommend it for beer enthusiasts but it would not be my first stop if you are a "beer nerd" (in which case it would be my 3rd or 4th stop--still high on the list).

-Local Group was mentioned as being close to Saint Arnolds (and it is). I would say both the food and the beers are generally a step down from Saint Arnolds, but they have a cool little space and they're not a bad alternative is Saint Arnolds is crazy crowded.

If you're a beer nerd who loves hazy IPAs, you want to stop at Spindletap, Astral and Holler (in that order).

Spindletap is the big daddy for hazy beers in Houston. They will have several on tap at all times and they are almost always great. They do a broader range of beers, but nothing to get excited about.

-Baa Baa, which is WAY past Houston on the west side of town in Brookshire is in the discussion for best hazy brewery in the broader area but it's a long trip. Baa Baa does stouts and sours fairly well too. They're more well-rounded than Spindletap, but again they are a long hike.

Astral is a hidden gem that continues to produce more and more excellent and diverse hazy and non-hazy IPAs. I highly recommend them.

Holler is also great for English style beers and is located in a huge artist loft complex (think of 100s of art galleries all scrunched together). This is a non-beer must-visit if your trip happens to coincide with an open house. https://www.sawyeryards.com/events/second-saturday

One tier down on the hazies front would be Great Heights (close to Astral), True Anomaly (close to downtown) and Equal Parts (close to True Anomaly). All these breweries are hit and miss for me.

-A lot of people like Equal Parts but I'm not among them. I haven't seen their new space, though. Maybe that changes things. Their Loggerbier is a decent pilsner but in general I do not get the love for this place.

-True Anomaly is within sight distance of the best burger restaurant in Houston (Rodeo Goat) and is in walking distance of a fair amount of nightlife including Eighth Wonder brewing (which is a solid, but unspectacular brewery that nonetheless attracts a big crowd on weekend nights).

-Great Heights is across the street from Walking Stick brewing, which is also a good place for English style ales and is one of the nicest looking breweries you'll find in town. A lot of beer nerds hate that place, but it is wildly popular and crowded on the weekends. It's a great place to take a spouse/significant other who only tolerates beer. Between Great Heights and Walking Stick is an urban winery and there is a hopping bar with a huge beach volleyball scene across the street as well.

If you like traditional (clean) IPAs or big, bold stouts, then you need to go to Brash. Their location is...not pretty and they constantly blast death metal so go prepared. But again, their beers are great in those 2 styles, and they even do an occasional hazy beer that's been very solid. Brash is not terribly far from Great Heights/Astral/Walking Stick.

Urban South Houston shares very little with Urban South New Orleans. Totally different beers. They do the best milkshake/fruit smoothie type beers in Houston, along with solid stouts and hazy IPAs. They have a cool location close to an axe-throwing venue and a cidery. Might want to try axe throwing first of those...

There are a few other sizeable breweries in Houston that don't do anything terribly exciting but might be fun visits depending on whether you're close to them.

-No Label may make sense if the concert is on the far west side of town. I would never recommend them unless there is nothing else you can get to. If you're on the far west side of town and considering No Label, it might be worth going a little further to Baa Baa.

-Eureka Heights is a fun brewery run by cool guys. They do good (not great) clean (non-hazy) beers.

-Buffalo Bayou Brewing has a very cool space (very close to Holler). They have a fan base, but I think they are all miss and no hit personally.

-I mentioned Eighth Wonder above. They have a fan base for sure. They celebrate several things that are very popular in Houston hipster pop culture, such as their namesake love of the Astrodome. They also have connections to/love for and from the Houston rap scene. Added bonus--they also have their own distillery, and that alone is worth checking out.

Then there are the multitude of sold, if unspectacular local breweries such as Baileson and New Magnolia that are cool places if you're in their neighborhoods. Besides those 2, there are many others in the greater Houston region that I haven't been to and have no perspective on.

Finally, there are other "farther out" breweries (in addition to Baa Baa) that I would only consider if you are going to otherwise be close to them. Ingenious and B-52 are both very solid breweries that are worth the visit, but they are nowhere close to downtown Houston. Lone Pint, mentioned by others, brews the spectacular Yellow Rose IPA. Nothing else they do is terribly exciting. If you were going to be in Magnolia for Renaissance Fest (Renaissance Fest is a definite experience), then I would definitely check them out.

Whew! That's enough for me right now. Cheers and enjoy Houston's growing beer and brewery community.

 

Thank you @kbenson for all your extensive insight. I definitely second Parish by Lafayette along the way—I try to get over there as often as I can.