Beer Travels: The Petrol Station in Houston, TX

I think by now I've established that The Avenue Pub in New Orleans is my favorite beer bar in Louisiana.  Polly does an awesome job getting the best new and rare beers and keeping her customers up to date on what's new on tap.  Lately though, I've been spending a lot more time in Houston, so I was on the lookout for a similar type of beer bar when I was recommended a place called The Petrol Station.  So, after checking out The Ginger Man Pub one Friday night, we decided to check this place out Saturday afternoon.  I noticed it was a little out of the way, just north of 610 on the of the city, but not too far from where Mandi lives, so we plugged it in to the GPS and headed that direction.

If you do the same, don't be alarmed when you take a few turns onto some residential streets!  The Petrol Station is tucked away on a side street in a mostly residential area, but fortunately there is a large open lot across the street that serves as ample parking.  As the name would indicate, the building used to be a gas station before becoming the Petrol Station coffee shop, and eventually evolving into a craft beer paradise. 

The first thing I noticed on the first visit was that almost everyone there was chowing down on a nice looking burger.  Okay, so that's noted for later, but I wasn't terribly hungry yet and neither was Mandi so we settled down at the bar and ordered up a few beers, starting with the first two new ones I noticed, a Rood Red Ale from Independence Brewing out of Austin and a Southern Star Walloon, a couple of beers from Texas craft breweries. 

From there the local brews kept flowing, with a Real Ale Real Heavy, Saint Arnold Weedwacker, and an Independence Stoned Crow Imperial Porter on tap.  we moved from there to a Palo Santo Marron, the 12% alcohol barrel-aged brown ale from Dogfish Head (@dogfishbeer).  A fantastic brew and one I'd yet to spot in bottles so I was thrilled to see it on tap!  With all that beer flowing it was time for a little food so we went the appetizer route with an order of spinach & artichoke dip.  It wasn't the best I've ever had but it was still a great compliment to a few more beers. 

After a Brookyln (@brooklynbrewery) Main Engine Start Belgian Pale Ale it was time for a couple more Texas brews.  This time the (512) Altbier (@512brewing) and the Real Ale Lost Gold IPA.  This place was quickly turning into a goldmine for new beers when I noticed a label that I'd never seen before.  A quick inquiry and I was told it was a Pale Horse Pale Ale from No Label Brewing (@nolabelbrewco) out of Katy, Texas.  Whoa... now I'm going from new beers to new breweries.  And not only that, but it was a really tasty pale ale.  I definitely want to check these guys out at some point soon and learn more about them.

 Man... so many good beers at this place.  I'm pretty sure there were 35 taps going with mostly American craft beers but a few Belgian ales mixed in, and the most impressive thing was that they were constantly rotating new beers on them whenever one would "float" so to speak.  They must have changed out at least 4 beers in the few hours we were enjoying ourselves at the bad, and most new taps were something new that I just had to try.  Before we left we also had the chance to try the Breckenridge (@breckbrew) Regal Pilsner, Independence Stash IPA, and the Ska Brewing Decadent IIPA.  All great beers but by this point they were getting hazy.

 

In summary, great beer bar, and I've made two trips back since then.  I'll be writing about them before long, but I had to go back just to try the burger!  The bartenders really know their beer, there is new stuff on tap every time, and I think I've found my new favorite Houston watering hole.

*Exterior photo taken by Chris N. on Yelp.

Review: Southern Star Pine Belt Pale Ale

Alright ladies and gentlemen... time for a quick one-beer review of the Southern Star Pine Belt Pale Ale.  This one comes to me from Southern Star Brewing in Conroe, Texas... I picked it up at Bet-R but just about place that has a good craft beer selection in BR will have it.  Most notably though, what we have here is craft beer in a can!

 

The canning of craft beer is a bit of a trend lately, with more and more breweries either going from kegging to canning, or adding a canning line in addition to their bottling lines.  Several breweries like New Belgium, Oskar Blues, Ska Brewing, and local guys Tin Roof are all in on the canning trend.  I can see some definite advantages... for one, cans don't allow any light in to skunk the beer, which is vulnerable in even the darkest color bottles.  Cans can also go places where bottles are illegal, like down the river or at the beach.  The primary concern seems to be the danger of a metallic taste coming from the aluminum... this beer had a bit of that but I've had many canned beers with no trace.

On to this beer... I poured it from the 16 oz. can into an imperial pint glass... yeah, it's a 16 oz. can.  Nice touch, if you ask me.  I know this kind of defeats the purposed of drinking a canned beer, but it's best to pour into a glass for a review.  If it's good in a glass, it'll still be pretty good straight from the can on a hot day with LSU football going on.

It's a nice copper color with a bubbly off-white head. It has an earthy hop aroma with a little metallic twinge... see, there's that little off-taste you get from an aluminum can sometimes.  I've gotten this from bottled beer stored on its side before as well, though.

The taste is mostly hoppy, piney as the name indicates. There is a little malt kick but mostly hops. It's tasty, but not one of the best APAs I've had recently. Great mouthfeel. Bubbly carbonation, no bad aftertastes. Feels good. Overall I'd say it's a notch above average.  Quite refreshing and one I'd definitely bring on a canoe trip or to the tailgate party.

My Rating: B-
BeerAdvocate: B+

American Pale Ale

Beer Travels: The Flying Saucer - Houston, TX

As I'm sure is obvious for anyone who knows me, or follows my blog, my twitter (@BRBeerScene) or is friends with me on facebook, I've been spending a lot more time in Houston lately.  An added bonus to this, of course, is that I've had the chance to check out a few cool places to get some beers in Houston and try a lot of their local beers that are only on draft.  A couple of weeks ago I was in town, and it happened to coincide with the Final Four being played in Houston... Mandi and I decided to go check out The Flying Saucer downtown to drink some beers, grab a little food, and watch the games!

We had been told parking downtown was a nightmare, but we ended up getting a spot on the street just a few blocks away from the bar.  Score!  The "parking" inside the bar was a different story, though.  It was packed!  And we thought we were getting there early at around 4:15 in the afternoon... lesson learned.  The place has plenty of seating inside, outside, and upstairs, all just seat yourself.  There wasn't an empty spot to be found so we ordered up a couple of beers, and found a good spot to stand, watch the pre-game, and watch for empty seats.  I started out with a Phoenixxx ESB from Real Ale Brewing in the Texas hill country, and Mandi went with a Boulevard Wheat to lighten it up a bit.

Phoenixxx ESB and Boulevard Wheat

Before we had to wait TOO long a couple of seats opened up at the bar... and from there the drinking was on.  They really had an impressive selection of local brews, and to me that's the true sign of a good beer bar. Anyone can get all sorts of popular imports on tap, or the bigger micro-brews from around the states, but the Flying Saucer in Houston had an impressive lineup of local breweries. I saw Saint Arnold, 512, Ranger Creek, Real Ale, Jester King, Live Oak, and Southern Star for sure which are all Texas breweries.  And only a few Saint Arnold and Southern Star releases are available in Baton Rouge, so that's where we started.

Ranger Creek's Mesquite Smoked Porter and Oatmeal Pale Ale

 The next six selections were all Texas beers... the 512 Black IPA, Ranger Creek La Bestia Aimable Belgian Ale, Ranger Creek Mesquite Smoked Porter, Ranger Creek Oatmeal Pale Ale, Southern Star Buried Hatchet Stout, and the Southern Star Bombshell Blonde Ale.  And I'm not going to lie, every one of these hit the mark for the styles.  Black IPAs are all the rage right now, Abita did one as a select, I tried one from the Freetail brewery in San Antonio not long ago, and even tried one from Parish Brewing at the Top Of The Hops beer festival in Lafayette.  (Blog post to come...)  The 512 (@512brewing) was up there with any of them, roasted malts and strong hops.  Ranger Creek is another one that impressed... the mesquite smoked porter was like drinking BBQ, and the other two offerings were tasty as well.  Southern Star is available in some fashion in Baton Rouge, and I can see them doing very well. 

Southern Star Buried Hatchet Stout

After that we went for two non-local brews that I'd never seen before.  The Great Divide Belgica IPA and the Stone Highway 78 Scotch Ale.  The Belgica is a Belgian-style IPA from Great Divide, currently one of my favorite breweries.  The Highway 78 Scotch Ale is a collaboration brew between Stone (@stonebrewingco), Green Flash (@greenflashbeer), and Pizza Port... all of course located on Highway 78 in California.  At 8.8% abv it was pretty strong for a Scotch Ale, but taste nonetheless. 

Great Divide Belgica and Stone Highway 78 Scotch Ale

In addition to all that beer, we tried were some cheese fries while watching the Final Four, and they were plenty tasty enough.  I'm definitely looking forward to another trip to The Flying Saucer in the future.  There were a few local breweries I didn't even get to, like Jester King, Saint Arnold, and Live Oak, and it seemed like they did a really good job of rotating new beers in as much as possible.  Kudos to them for keeping a large local tap list, I'm a fan!