Texas, our Texas, Hail Your Mighty Ale

Endeavour to find this shuttle-themed DIPA

My journey to Brownsville and back included a brief stop in Houston and a swing past one of its finest beer stores, the D&Q Mini-Mart, better known as the D&Q Beer Station. Where other convenience stores stock general goods, D&Q loads its shelves with beer, offering hundreds of bottles from breweries of all sizes and scopes.

The Lone Star State has too many choices, but I narrowed it down to pricey but tasty case of ale that included some sour and wild ales from the Texas Hill Country (Jester King, expect reviews when they are finally tasted) and a few random bottles from Montana’s Big Sky Brewery (Sue me; Montana brew never gets closer to Nashville).

I was not leaving without a few bottles from Houston’s best-known craft brewer, St. Arnold. When sampling, Nancy and I started light with St. Arnold Weedwacker.

With biscuit-tinged malts and Belgian esters, Weedwacker immediately announces itself as a summer quencher. Even in January, Weedwacker’s attributes shine. They call it Bavarian hefeweizen, but it veers further north to Belgium. Pineapple, mild lemon and notes of honeydew and pear flesh each play strong roles.

St. Arnold Endeavour was the 800-lb. canary in the Texas stash, a big IPA from a state that does everything bigger. The bouquet is boozy with strong traces of pepper. Endeavour’s body is rich and complex with notes of peach, tangerine, blood orange and lemon. Here the hops feel immense but soon smooth out. The finish radiates notes of tea leaves and pine resin. Plenty of orange rounds out the leafy texture. I even detect the outside hint of cherries – yes, there is that much complexity. St. Arnold really pushes Simcoe into bold territory. It isn’t overwhelming; it’s eminently drinkable. This double IPA deserves canonization. Endeavour does not break any IBU records, and why should it? Few double IPAs can tout such amazing balance.

Finishing out the trio was St. Arnold Icon: Belgian-style Pale Ale, part of the brewer’s experimental, small-batch line. Creamy and hop crispiness run into a tapestry of orange flavors. Tangerine, lemon and minor touches of grapefruit follow. Coriander flavors emerging from that yeast are balanced by the crisp hop and malt bill. The hops occasionally have an herbal sizzle aided by an effervescent finish. The malts of a pale ale collide with a Belgian yeast strain.This spicy take on a hybrid style will warm the coldest of noses on a wintry eve.

A second Houston brewery fared as well as St. Arnold.  A few cans from the Karbach Brewing Company rounded out my mixed six-pack. Upon my return, we started with Karbach Hopadillo IPA. 
 

I wouldn't want to meet him in a dark alley.

This is roughneck IPA, meant for the outdoors and full of snarling hops. Of course, we liked it immensely. Hopadillo rides on a wave of bitter citrus – lemon, bitter orange, and grapefruit. Dry hopping boosts the flavor, as does its hop laundry list: German Magnum, Chinook, Amarillo, Citra, Simcoe, and East Kent Golding. There are some assertive notes of pine and spruce that intertwine nicely as Hopadillo reaches a finish rich in lemon zest.

IPA has become the beer of record for almost every craft brewer, so Hopadillo speaks well of Karbach. It’s a beer I could easily imagine pulling from a cooler’s icy bottom in deep summer.

Our second Karbach delight, Weisse Versa Wheat Ale, spoke even better of the brewery. This hefeweizen immediately begged the question, “How were they the first to come up with that name?” I’m always a sucker for cleverly named wheat ales. 

Relatively clear-bodied, Weisse Versa has deep notes of banana and clove breaking through doses of bitter orange. Some hop bitterness arises on the finish. Overall, the orange dominates but leaves room for other notes to pop in.

Although Weisse Versa seems filtered, trace of coriander and other fragrant spices round it out spectacularly. Seriously, can these guys ship a palette of their cans up to Nashville? The IPA and their amazing hefe both deserve acclaim outside Houston and the Lone Star State.

An outlier ended up in the case due to my mistaken belief that it was an IPA. Wicked Beaver Timber Ale hails from the small Pandhandle town of Wolfforth, near Lubbock. Nancy's family has roots in that country, and it's hard to imagine a more farflung brewery. Instead of IPA, we were greeted by a deep-red ale.

Wollforth sits above the Oglala Aquifer and draws on it mineral-laden water. Timber Ale is an amber ale. It has the backbone of an IPA, but a softer, more subtle hop focus. There are hints of grapefruit citrus but nothing overwhelming. I didn't expect much from Pandhandle-brewed beer, but Wicked Beaver left us angling for more bottles.