Hidden Houston
Not no mamby pamby beer tasting: Maple Leaf Pub's underground gathering a craftbeer drinker's delight
The monthly beer tasting at Midtown's Maple Leaf Pub is one of those rare finds that makes me struggle with my journalistic compulsion to share and my selfish desire to protect what's cool and uncrowded.
Every first Tuesday of the month, a handful of Maple Leaf regulars and the occasional visitor (as I was in November) gather to sample a themed selection of craft brews, or occasionally a spotlighted brewery, as curated by bar manager Scott Fix.
November's tasting was dedicated to Texas beers, and it couldn't have been a better introduction. A particularly informal sort of tasting event, there's no sip-and-spitting among this crowd. It's all full pours, and it all gets finished.
"At some tastings you spit because you don't want to get drunk; here, we don't care about that," one participant explained.
If you encounter a sample you don't care for, the tried-and-true method appears to be dropping a shot of Jack Daniels in it and drinking it anyway. My kind of people.
The hooting hollering atmosphere might belie the fact that Fix knows his beer; he's not to be underestimated. As he puts it: "I'm not an expert. We're just here to have beer together and study it empirically, and by that I mean drink it."
If you encounter a sample you don't care for, the tried-and-true method appears to be dropping a shot of Jack Daniels in it and drinking it anyway. My kind of people.
Some of his November selection included Karbach's seasonal, Yule Shoot Your Eye Out, Jester King's Commercial Suicide, Saint Arnold's "black Kölsch" Santo, Alamo Golden Ale (brewed for them by Real Ale), Shiner's Holiday Cheer, Ranger Creek's Mesquite Smoked Porter, Independence's Stash IPA, Real Ale's 9.8 ABV Russian Imperial Stout and Rahr & Sons' La Grange Farmhouse Ale.
Did I mention they were full pours?
If ever one were intimidated by tastings or thought they might lack the vocabulary or the palate to enjoy one, this is the answer. Everyone's entitled to like — and detest — what they wish, and there's no such thing as being too vocal about it. The grizzly man to my left (we joked that he must've been working on his Movember stache for five to 10 years) took notes that included such observations as "sucked less than last," "not the worst" and "tastes like ashes." Hey, to each their own.
Plates of jerky, cheese and other snacks keep people satisfied and semi-sober. Fix likes to keep the group at 20 people or less, so call up and pay your $25 in advance if you'd like to attend the Dec. 6 tasting, which will feature malt liquor beers. I'll save you a seat.
