Beertown
Saint Arnold, beer champions: Houston's original brewery wins three World BeerCup Medals
Our winners!Photo by Bev Blackwood
Brock Wagner
Divine Reserve No. 11 originally introduced just more than a year ago, debutedas Endeavour at the end of February.
Lately the beer buzz in Houston has centered around the crop of new local breweries — Karbach, Buffalo Bayou, City Acre, etc. But Saint Arnold Brewing Company, the oldest craft beer company in Texas, has a new claim that they are still the brewery to beat.
Last week Saint Arnold won three medals at the Brewers Association World Beer Cup in San Diego, a competition that has been dubbed "the Olympics of beer." The brewery has won seven previous medals at the biennial competition, with the first dating back to 1996.
"We've won two medals twice before, but winning three is a pretty big deal," founder Brock Wagner says.
"We've won two medals twice before, but winning three is a pretty big deal," founder Brock Wagner tells CultureMap. "You never expect a medal, but you're always hoping for one."
The winning beers were Saint Arnold Endeavour Double IPA, which took a silver medal in the Imperial IPA category, Saint Arnold Pumpkinator earning a silver medal in the Pumpkin Beer category and Santo receiving a bronze medal in the American-Style Dark Lager category. The multi-day competition included 799 breweries from 54 countries and 45 U.S. states, entering 3,921 beers in 95 beer style categories.
"Sometimes it has to do with how well beer fits a category," Wagner says. "We brew the beers we want to brew, we don't brew with that in mind. Some are really good fits, and some are not. Endeavor is really good fit for the double IPA, it's probably the best double IPA I've tasted."
For the silver medal, Endeavour beat out 91 other entrants over three rounds of judging, the second-largest category of the competition.
All of the Saint Arnold beers that won medals are relatively new brews, introduced within the past year. Endeavour and Santo are available in stores and at local bars year-round, while Pumpkinator is a seasonal brew that will be released again in October.
