Before Louisiana changed their laws the Abita tour was free and at the end you poured your own beers from the tap wall, as much as you wanted for an hour or so. Good times.

Interesting, I had always heard there was a TABC law against doing all you can drink deals, guess it must've been a myth.

Jock 07 said:

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Diggity said:

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I remember the old days of St. Arnold's. You would pay like 8 bucks for the tour, then get a few wooden tokens to "sample" the beer. It was all volunteer run so you could basically drink for hours on those tokens.

Guess those days are long gone.

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Goin into the way back machine to the OG Dacoma location, so many good times there.

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No AC killed my romantic date plans at the OG brewery but my beautiful now wife won a kegerator there.

Shoot, those were the days. I remember having to make sure I took camping chairs to sit on at the original location. Then off to Speedys for some go karting afterwards.

I went to a Buffalo Bayou Christmas in July event at the old location that was, I don't know, $20 a person? You got a glass and drank as much as you wanted for the event. My wife and went, and wound up sharing the table with a larger group. It was a great time.

jetch17 said:

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For OG Petrol patrons of yesteryear - Rancor returns!

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Man I miss Petrol.

Anybody know what is up with the concept that was supposed to replace it (Grease Monkey Cantina)? It was supposed to open three years ago.

Urban South closing Houston taproom & operation - thier chewy beers sucked anyway

jetch17 said:

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Urban South closing Houston taproom & operation - thier chewy beers sucked anyway

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I went to Urban South in Nola years ago, which is a great brewery experience, and didn't even recognize that it was the same company the first time I went to the one in Houston.

I didn't even know Urban South existed. Were they in stores and bars or tap room only?

They sucked. The Houston beer scene needed a good cleansing of bad beers.

redag06 said:

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They sucked. The Houston beer scene needed a good cleansing of bad beers.

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Wonder if 8th Wonder is next. Shrinkflation hit their CBD seltzer this week with the downsizing from 6 to 4 pack and Wonder Water going from 10mg THC to 8 per can. Noticed several now have THC per pack rather than per can.

Yeah but theyve got distribution now into all specs & a lot of bars are picking up the Howdy & Lil Bit on tap

I'm betting they phase out the beer and focus on the cannabis since they got bought

jetch17 said:

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Yeah but theyve got distribution now into all specs & a lot of bars are picking up the Howdy & Lil Bit on tap

I'm betting they phase out the beer and focus on the cannabis since they got bought

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Wasn't there talk of Texas banning CBD THC recently?

Whats the word on Buff Bayou? Is it gone gone?

In late January their current CEO put out a statement saying they were trying to reach an agreement with the landlord to reopen, but nothing since then so my guess is they were in too much debt to secure any additional funding. They gone.

Tejas beer (Gulf Coast Distillery) moving into the former Buff space.

If I recall, Tejas was originally made by Big Bend brewing. At present Tejas is only two different styles (Clara and Negra) so they will have to expand their offerings or offer guest taps to make this a compelling beer destination.

OG big bend & la frontera or GTFO

Anybody got any Marfa Lights dusties?

Went to a couple of Grand Openings at new breweries this weekend. Tejas in the old Buffalo Bayou Brewing builidng and Talyard in Sugar Land.

Tejas has removed the orange exterior and all of the orange BB branding and replaced it with their own logo, but has done little else in the name of renovations anywhere, which isn't necessarily a bad thing considering the skyline view they have. Some more permanent seating on the 3rd floor would be an improvement. They have 6 beers on tap, but the taps on the 3rd floor are only slightly above room temp. I thought both the Clara and the Negro were both decent, but with them both being warm I declined to try anything else.

Talyard is brand spanking new, but for the life of me I cannot figure out their desired demographic. They had 5 beers on tap and a number of wines and canned cocktails available, but by 4:30 on Saturday they were out of half of the cocktails. They are very IPA heavy (3 of 5 are IPAs). The food menu is limited, there is very limited indoor seating, and the playground is the biggest feature of their "yard". It's like they decided to make beer at a city park. They have a stage, but not enough seating or space in front of it for it to be considered a concert venue of any sort. The big screen is behind the stage, so if you want to watch a game and they have entertainment, forget it- you're stuck watching the wall mounted tv's by the ordering area. The beer is meh, the food selection is minimal, there's no climate controlled area to congregate, and there are kids running around everywhere- not like any brewery I've ever been to. They have obviously invested a ton of money into the place, but if it's still open in a year, I'll be amazed.

Of the two, Tejas has potential. Talyard is not a place I plan on visiting again.

Eh, I find giving them a revisit after 6 months so they work on recipes.and also work out the kinks in their operation. If it sucks then, write them off.

Geez Talyard literally just opened a few days ago. They will add more beer, non-beer & food selections over time. Please send them your feedback & give them some time to make adjustments.

I understand Talyard will likely add menu items as they get rolling. The beer they offered wasn't terrible. My biggest issue was that their concept seems to be an outdoor Chuck E Cheese combined with a brewery.

Their jigsaw puzzle layout and almost all outdoor facility might appeal to some, but it's not anything I see as a viable brewery concept even if they make the best beer in the state.

Booma94 said:

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Went to a couple of Grand Openings at new breweries this weekend. Tejas in the old Buffalo Bayou Brewing builidng and Talyard in Sugar Land.

Tejas has removed the orange exterior and all of the orange BB branding and replaced it with their own logo, but has done little else in the name of renovations anywhere, which isn't necessarily a bad thing considering the skyline view they have. Some more permanent seating on the 3rd floor would be an improvement. They have 6 beers on tap, but the taps on the 3rd floor are only slightly above room temp. I thought both the Clara and the Negro were both decent, but with them both being warm I declined to try anything else.

Talyard is brand spanking new, but for the life of me I cannot figure out their desired demographic. They had 5 beers on tap and a number of wines and canned cocktails available, but by 4:30 on Saturday they were out of half of the cocktails. They are very IPA heavy (3 of 5 are IPAs). The food menu is limited, there is very limited indoor seating, and the playground is the biggest feature of their "yard". It's like they decided to make beer at a city park. They have a stage, but not enough seating or space in front of it for it to be considered a concert venue of any sort. The big screen is behind the stage, so if you want to watch a game and they have entertainment, forget it- you're stuck watching the wall mounted tv's by the ordering area. The beer is meh, the food selection is minimal, there's no climate controlled area to congregate, and there are kids running around everywhere- not like any brewery I've ever been to. They have obviously invested a ton of money into the place, but if it's still open in a year, I'll be amazed.

Of the two, Tejas has potential. Talyard is not a place I plan on visiting again.

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Sounds like they are going for a less industrial-feel version of No Label. My kids no longer care about the playground but would rather jump off the concrete loading dock and chunk rocks at the abandoned storage buildings.

I'd say there definitely is a market for a family-hang-out brewery. If I have to take the kids with me, I'd rather not go ato a brewery unless there is space for them to run wild without them being at the table saying they're bored every 5 seconds. Talyard may also be banking on being a hangout spot for pre-game for Space Cowboys games.

I'm not surprised their menu is IPA heavy. Its the easiest style of beer to start out on for brewing. Also, consider what neighborhoods its closest to.

cajunaggie08 said:

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I'd say there definitely is a market for a family-hang-out brewery. If I have to take the kids with me, I'd rather not go ato a brewery unless there is space for them to run wild without them being at the table saying they're bored every 5 seconds. Talyard may also be banking on being a hangout spot for pre-game for Space Cowboys games.

I'm not surprised their menu is IPA heavy. Its the easiest style of beer to start out on for brewing. Also, consider what neighborhoods its closest to.

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When you read the bios of the owners, you can see that is definitely the market they are going for -- a family-oriented place that also serves beer.

When we visited, a couple of employees mentioned their beer menu was a little small due to delays in building out and testing equipment and getting permitted. They definitely have plans to add several more beers over the next few months.

One of the owners told me there are plans for more indoor seating on the second floor of the brewhouse, which isn't built out yet. Not sure if that will be for special events or just general seating, though.

I'm not a craft beer expert so I can't really judge the quality of the beer other than I liked what I had. But I definitely feel there is a market for a hangout in Sugar Land that doesn't involve boba tea.

EclipseAg said:

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When you read the bios of the owners, you can see that is definitely the market they are going for -- a family-oriented place that also serves beer.

When we visited, a couple of employees mentioned their beer menu was a little small due to delays in building out and testing equipment and getting permitted. They definitely have plans to add several more beers over the next few months.

One of the owners told me there are plans for more indoor seating on the second floor of the brewhouse, which isn't built out yet. Not sure if that will be for special events or just general seating, though.

I'm not a craft beer expert so I can't really judge the quality of the beer other than I liked what I had. But I definitely feel there is a market for a hangout in Sugar Land that doesn't involve boba tea.

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It perfectly fits the bill for this, but it's a large facility that was probably pretty expensive to build and I don't see where they're going to generate the revenue to keep the doors open. They aren't enough of a restaurant to generate revenue selling food, and they aren't enough of a brewery to generate revenue selling beer.

If I had young kids, it would be a great place to hang out. But I don't see anything in their current configuration that is going to come anywhere close to making enough money to cover expenses. The playground is massive, but it won't generate revenue. The pickleball courts are interesting, but there are currently only 2 of them, and they won't generate revenue. The stage in the middle is nice, but there's not enough area in front of it to be a concert venue or generate revenue. The cornhole area is nice, but pretty far from the bar and won't generate revenue.

So a large portion of the layout is devoted to cool, family-friendly, hangout type places, but none of them make money. If they want to be a hangout, or a park that also sells beer, they're perfectly situated for that. If they plan to make money as a business, I don't see where it's going to happen.

Don't get me wrong, I hope they make it. But as an outsider looking in I don't see it.

Shepherd / 11th Kroger used to have one of the best grocery stores beer aisles in the Tine but it has gone to crap, with the wide selection of craft largely replaced by AB and other mass market brands.

The build your own 6er section used to have some nice Easter eggs on occasion but is now where they try to move product well past its "best by" date. The bottom shelf currently has a few cases of beers from Equilibrium that normally sell for $20+/4pk, so getting 6 for $11 felt like a gamble worth taking (despite the fact that few of them have date stamps). The "Lab Flasks" hazy DIPA was quite tasty so I might go back for more.

Crazy to see the evolution from years ago to now on the heavy hitting beer depts

Soaking up some sun with some coldies while "out ruining errands" this afternoon