Houston's craft beer scene just keeps getting better. In the same week that Buffalo Bayou Brewing Company revealed its plans to open a massive new brewery in Sawyer Yards, Saint Arnold Brewing Company has finally shared details of its long-awaited beer garden.
Slated to open next summer, the new addition will be located next to Saint Arnold's brewery on Lyons Street. As seen in the renderings above, the space, which is designed by local architects Natalye Appel + Associates and landscape architects Office of James Burnett, will feature a view of the downtown Houston skyline and murals depicting local scenes.
"Since opening Saint Arnold Brewing Company in 1994, I have long had a dream of creating a beer garden that would be a destination for the community to gather — a place Houstonians are proud of and want to bring visitors to," said Saint Arnold founder Brock Wagner in a statement. "After 23 years, much brewing, getting laws changed, and moving to our downtown location, this dream is finally becoming a reality."
Saint Arnold super fans who want exclusive access to the beer garden are invited to apply for membership in the Saint Arnold Society. For a $1,000 fee, society members will receive a hard hat tour of the construction site, an invite to the opening party, a pewter mug engraved with the member's name on it that will be stored at the beer garden (worth $150), and, most importantly, one free beer per day for life. At $5 per pint, really dedicated craft beer drinkers could conceivably "earn back" their payment fairly quickly.
Back in 2015, Wagner said in an interview with CultureMap that he saw the beer garden as an extension of his original mission statement to make Saint Arnold "an institution that Houston and the region is proud of."
"I want to create a tourist destination for Houston, and certainly there’s a business aspects of it," Wagner said at the time. "But it’s also to create that environment where people want to come to Houston, where there’s something really positive they remember and associate the city with. I don’t mean to infer there’s nothing else positive, but it’s an additive element to make Houston a better place."
A lofty goal to be certain, but one that Houston's oldest craft brewery is surely capable of achieving.
Saint Arnold has finally revealed renderings of its beer garden.
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