Where to Drink Now

7 can't-miss Houston craft beers to drink right now

Ingenious' C800 tastes as good as its can looks.

Photo by @eyefearnobeer

We’re just over a month and a half into 2019, and Houston’s ever-growing craft beer scene shows no signs of slowing down. With breweries such as True Anomaly, Black Page Brewing, and Astral Brewing slated to open later this year, Houston is quickly finding itself up to its ears in hoppy suds.

With all these new entrants alongside the existing craft landscape, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to sift through the extensive tap lists at everyone’s favorite establishments. Drinkers might be tempted to settle for an old favorite, but these (mostly) new options are too good to ignore. While not all of these beers are easy to find, these seven beers brewed by independent Houston breweries represent some of the very best of what’s on tap in Houston right now.

Eureka Heights: Buckle Bunny

Style: Cream Ale
ABV: 4.5 percent
IBU: 15
Availability: brewery tap room, keg distribution, retail cans

As stated above, some of the beers in this list will be hard to find, but Buckle Bunny is not one of them. Released back in 2016, it continues to be a great go-to beer when something light and sessionable is desired. As a mainstay for Eureka Heights Brewery, this beer is widely available across the city.

This beer is clean, creamy, and refreshing with a surprisingly light body and just a hint of maize sweetness — a great entry beer for people who are shifting from light American lagers and attempting to tip-toe into the craft world. In 2017, the Great American Beer Festival recognized Buckle Bunny with a Gold Medal for best cream ale. Quite the achievement for a brewery who just opened their doors a few years ago.

Klaus Brewing Company: One Helles of a Lager

Style: Munich Helles
ABV: 5 percent ABV
IBU: 21
Availability: brewery tap room, keg distribution

Palate fatigue is a real problem these days in the world of craft beer. With so many adjunct releases commanding attention, sometimes one desires beer as it was originally intended. Enter Klaus Brewing Company on the northwest side. Head brewer and founder Thomas Lemke is focusing on flagship German-inspired recipes at their simplest common denominator.

One Helles of a Lager is a prime example of an old-world favorite. This beer is light, clean, and crisp with just a touch of bitterness. The beer is a prime example of amazing sessionable goodness that could help anyone lose a few hours on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

Spindletap Brewery: Draped Up

Style: Double New England IPA
ABV: 6.8 percent
IBU: not measured
Availability: brewery tap room, keg distribution

Spindletap could easily be considered the NEIPA champs of Houston. Their monthly releases command sold-out events and lines as deep as your regret for not updating to a faster internet connection. Luckily, this beer should be attainable with relative ease.

Draped Up is quadruple dry-hopped New England Style IPA with a combination of Amarillo, Mosaic, and Galaxy hops. The nose is a bright fruit profile of pineapple, mango, and citrus with a soft and easy mouthfeel. Look for Draped Up on draft at beer bars across the city.

Great Heights Brewing Company: The Whammer

Style: New England IPA
ABV: 7.5 percent
IBU: 25
Availability: brewery tap room, keg distribution

As its name implies, Great Heights is neither located in the Heights nor should it be confused with Eureka Heights. Located a few hundred paces down Wakefield from Petrol Station in the Garden Oaks/Oak Forest neighborhood, the brewery continues to release solid beers across the style spectrum. The Whammer, their recently-released NEIPA, is no exception.

This soft and juicy NEIPA is brewed with Mosaic and Motueka hops that gives this a beer a pleasant aroma complexity. The beer has a strong pineapple and grapefruit nose with a sweet, clean, and fruity finish. As indicated by the low IBU, the lack of bitterness makes this beer surprisingly easy to drink.

Ingenious Brewing Company: C800

Style: Double New England IPA
ABV: 8.2 percent
IBU: 70
Availability: brewery tap room, keg distribution

With one of the most exhausting release programs in the city, it’s impossible to keep up with everything Ingenious is doing. Since opening last year, Ingenious has racked up close to 300 releases. Craft beer nerds are suckers for aesthetically pleasing cans, but sometimes that doesn’t translate into good beer. In this case, Ingenious nailed both.

Inspired by a future post-apocalyptic reality littered with metal endoskeletons, C800 is scary delicious. With a bright orange hazy appearance, this beer is exploding with fruity-citrusy aromas and balanced with a nuanced, pillowy mouthfeel. Take one sip and as Arnold would say — you’ll be back.

Brash Brewing Company: Deadhorse Scottish Hell Wee Heavy

Style: Wee Heavy Aged in Scotch Barrels
ABV: 8.5 percent
IBU: 30
Availability: brewery tap room, keg distribution

Brash’s beers are not for everyone; their releases are consistently heavy, bitter, and unapologetic. One cannot mention Brash without also mentioning their strong affinity for heavy/thrash metal and the influence it has in crafting its beers. That partnership is the basis of the Deadhorse Scottish Hell Wee Heavy.

Despite taking its inspiration from the song “Scottish Hell” by Houston-based thrash metal band Dead Horse, this beer is surprisingly easy drinking. True to the form of a Wee Heavy, this beer has a sweet maltiness that is balanced out by seven months of aging in Scotch barrels. Served still (i.e. no carbonation), the beer has full-on raisin/caramel notes balanced with peat barrel flavor and a hint of hot booze. Absolutely delicious.

Saint Arnold Brewery: Divine Reserve 19

Style: Spiced Oatwine
ABV: 10.4 percent
IBU: 30
Availability: brewery tap room, keg distribution, retail

Holding the crown as the oldest craft brewer in Texas (1994), Saint Arnold is still releasing some extraordinary beers from their yearly Divine Reserve series. These beers are single small batch with no rhyme or reason regarding style.

DR 19 is a complex spiced oatwine that was inspired by a classic oatmeal raisin cookie recipe. The base is an English-style barleywine brewed with malted oats and freckled with small amounts of cinnamon and nutmeg. The nose is a spice-fest reminiscent of a day in grandma’s kitchen with a thick, muted-fruit mouthfeel. Be warned — this a big, high-gravity beer; on a cold Texas day, it may go down easier than anticipated. Drinker discretion is advised.

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Ralph Palmer is a local beer blogger and a co-host of the Beer, Blood and the Bayou podcast. Follow him on Instagram at eyefearnobeer.

Draped Up is another NEIPA from Spindletap.

Photo by @eyefearnobeer

Draped Up is another NEIPA from Spindletap.

craft-beer where-drink

something for everyone

New brewery pours into Houston with craft beer, cocktails, and homebrew

Photo by Ralph Palmer

Farmboy Brewing Company is now open on N. Shepherd.

The tides of craft breweries in Houston and across the country have shifted dramatically over the past five years, marked by closures and a clear softening of the once unstoppable boom, with names like True Anomaly, Elder Son, and Buffalo Bayou Brewing serving as recent reminders of how quickly the landscape can change. What is emerging in its place is a new phase that is far less rigid about labels and more focused on flexibility and meeting customers where they actually are.

For Landon Weiershausen, that evolution is not guesswork. It's the entire business plan.

After more than a decade running Farmboy Brew Shop and working across nearly every space of the beer supply chain, (hops to kegs to fruit) Weiershausen has stepped back into ownership with a new brewery. Farmboy Brewing Company (4816 N Shepherd Dr.) blends a taproom, full cocktail bar, and homebrew retail shop into a single, community-driven space. The location will be familiar to many craft beer fans, as it previously housed both North Shepherd Brewing and Astral Brewing.

“It’s about giving people what they actually want when they walk in the door,” Weiershausen tells CultureMap.

Weiershausen’s roots in Houston’s beer world stretch back to 2014, when he opened Farmboy Brew Shop, a go-to spot for local Oak Forest/Garden Oaks homebrewers looking for ingredients, gear, and advice. With the launch of Farmboy Brewing, that business still exists, but it’s now integrated into the new brewery.

The move creates something unique in the world of Houston beer — a space where hobbyists, beer nerds, and casual drinkers can intersect. In the 9,000-square-foot space, customers can shop for grains and yeast then walk a few steps over and grab a pint or a cocktail.

“The majority of people coming in for homebrew are also interested in drinking,” Weiershausen says. “Now they don’t have to choose.”

Instead of fighting changes in the beverage industry, Weiershausen is leaning into diversification. His brewery operates with a mixed beverage license, allowing for a full cocktail program alongside beer, wine, non-alcoholic options, and THC-infused drinks. That last category, while politically contentious in Texas, represents what he sees as an undeniable shift in consumer behavior. Currently, Weiershausen is stocking a few verities of THC-infused offerings from Eureka Heights Brew Co.

“There’s a huge market for it,” he says. “Whether people like it or not, customers are choosing those products over traditional alcoholic beverages."

Rather than drawing lines between beer drinkers and everyone else, the goal is to make the space work for large groups that have diverse drink preferences.

“If someone doesn’t drink beer, or doesn’t drink alcohol at all, we still want them to have options.”

Despite the brewery name on the door, Weiershausen isn’t rushing his own beer to market. Instead, the tap list currently leans on guest kegs from local and regional breweries such as Great Heights, Spindletap, Saint Arnold, and Lone Pint. This decision is a deliberate move that buys time while new brewing equipment is installed and optimized. It’s a patient approach that prioritizes long-term quality over a fast rollout and reflects lessons learned from years inside the industry. In the meantime, the guest taps double as a nod to relationships that Weiershausen has built over many years.

“A lot of these are people who took care of me over the years,” he says. “This is a way to return the favor.”

Once the brewing program is rolled out in the next few weeks, expect the first batch of offering to include a West Coast IPA, Hazy IPA, Light Lager, and an American Wheat. The program itself will also be led by head brewer Steven Treleaven, formerly of Conroe’s B-52 Brewing.

Weiershausen’s vision prioritizes education. The homebrew shop has always served as an entry point for teaching its customers more about beer, but the expanded space opens the door to something he describes as an “education escalator.” Plans include monthly workshops covering everything from brewing basics to off-flavor detection (a critical skill for anyone serious about improving their homebrew).

Like most breweries, the space will feature familiar weekly staples including trivia nights, but Weiershausen is also looking to mix in less predictable programming. Think dance classes, themed events, and rotating concepts that go beyond the usual bingo-and-beer formula.

On the food side, Weiershausen has chosen not to build an in-house kitchen. Instead, the brewery will host food trucks, including the return of fan-favorite El Alabrije, known for its Oaxacan-inspired menu.

At its core, the concept reflects something bigger than one brewery. It’s a response to a changing market, a shifting customer base, and a city that’s never fit neatly into one category anyway. For Weiershausen, the path forward isn’t about choosing between beer, cocktails, or anything else. It’s about building a place where all of it works together.

“We’re just trying to create something for the community,” he says. “Whatever that means for them.”

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Ralph Palmer is a co-owner of the Deckle and Hyde barbecue pop-up and a longtime craft beer enthusiast. Follow him on Instagram at eyefearnobeer.

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