Sierra Nevada

The Worst of Coachella: Weekend Two

Here's everything that bothered us about Coachella's second weekend. Hey, at least there was no dust storm! Native American Headdresses These have still not gone away. In fact, one particularly irritating woman (not pictured) wore a towering feather mohawk weave, a sartorial statement that combined ... More >>

Here's the Updated, Official Beer List for BrewFest

See also: Buy Tickets to BrewFest It's happening tomorrow, rain or shine. Over 250 beers will be flowing for our BrewFest beer party in the Arts District. ICYMI, doors open at 6:00 p.m. for VIP and and 7:00 for General Admission (it's 21 and up obviously), and there'll be food and music from Cody ... More >>

Music and Beer at Untapped Bring Trinity Groves Alive

Saturday's Untapped fest combined the best of my two favorite worlds, beer and music, by putting equal importance on both. Each was strong enough to stand on its own. The beer selection is usually an afterthought at music fests, its only purpose to boost the revenue, while the music selection at b ... More >>

It's American Craft Beer Week. Here's Where You Should Go.

I'm pretty sure there is a holiday honoring some sort of food product every single day, with overlapping weeks and months to celebrate others. They reach a saturation point at which I tune them all out. But American Craft Beer Week, which began yesterday and runs through Sunday, is an exception, nat ... More >>

The Holidays Are Over, But Just Try to Make Us Quit Drinking Holiday Beers

Even without Photoshop, Anchor Our Special Ale is a beautiful beer, and tastes pretty good too.​Continuing to enjoy holiday beers well after the holiday season shouldn't make you feel like one of those neighbors who leaves their Christmas lights up through Valentine's Day. Every day's a holiday, a ... More >>

Brewtopia, Beer Dinners, Oktoberfest and More Ways to Build Up Your Winter Beer Gut

Spaten will be among the beers available at Addison's Oktoberfest.​What with Central Market's Brewtopia beginning today, Addison's Oktoberfest starting tomorrow and several beer dinners planned for the rest of the month, there are enough brew events in the next couple weeks that your liver should ... More >>

Drinking Excuse of the Day: It's International IPA Day. Plus, More Beer Events.

​If you haven't checked your 2011 Calendar of Made-Up Food Holidays, today is International IPA Day. (It's also National Catfish Month, National Peach Month, National Water Quality Month and National Picnic Month, so consider that when deciding on food pairings with your IPAs.) We're on the fenc ... More >>

Announcing The Libertine American Craft Beer Dinner Winner

Optimator's a little darker than that, but you get the idea of how we'd like to celebrate a Mavs win tonight.​Thanks to everyone who contributed their suggestions on which beer to drink in toasting a Mavericks return to the NBA Finals in this item about three upcoming beer dinners. Nick made a val ... More >>

Texas Craft Liquor Makers Belly Up to the Bar to Challenge Kentucky Bourbon.

Need to Train For Beer Week? These Events Will Help You -- And Texas Craft Brewers

Friends of Texas Craft Breweries​You're going to need your palate and your liver to be in tip-top shape for Dallas Beer Week in November. Fortunately, there are plenty of training opportunities coming up -- as well as a chance to support state House Bill 602, which would allow craft breweries to c ... More >>

Houston Beer Lovers Plan Dallas Extravaganza

​The organizers of Dallas' first-ever Beer Week say the city's lack of microbreweries has proven to be a selling point in luring leading craft brewers here for the November event. "Because there aren't a lot of local breweries here, other breweries stand a chance," Cathy Clark explains. "Brew ... More >>

Dirty Thirty

Upcoming Beer Dinners, Bier And Brats 101, And Just What, Exactly, Is A Starkbier?

Be sure to wear proper attire when hoisting your stein at Starkbierfest.​As usual, Brian Brown over at Plano Craft Beer Examiner has a good round-up of the week's events for beer lovers. A couple of highlights include tonight's tap night at Flying Saucer on the Lake featuring Sierra Nevada Oak-Age ... More >>

Upcoming Beer Events, Including Two That Prove Jester King Is No Joke

Jester King's Black Metal -- dark as Danzig's heart​As impressive as I found Commercial Suicide, from Austin's Jester King Brewery, I didn't have a chance to sample any of Jester King's other offerings until last week, when The Common Table featured Black Metal Imperial Stout on BrewsDay Tuesda ... More >>

Tonight: Sierra Nevada Beer Tasting

​We're not big on anniversaries -- we tend to forget our own every year -- but this is one anniversary we made sure to put on our calendar. Visit Ginger Man (2718 Boll St.) tonight to sample the four brews from Sierra Nevada's 30th Anniversary collection. The event is $15 and reservations are ... More >>

Final Thoughts On Season's Holiday Beers, And Reasons To Hang On Till Saint Patrick's Day

​The holidays are over, and unless you've got Martin Luther King Jr. Day or Presidents' Day off, there aren't any work holidays until Memorial Day on May 30. Christmas and holiday beers are disappearing from taps and shelves faster than your New Year's resolutions. But before you put a gun in you ... More >>

Beers Of The Year

Don't criticize it.​Overall, it's been another great year for beer, at least from my perspective here in North Texas. If I didn't suspect reader list burnout, I could probably do another top 10 piece on the best developments of the past year, and even another on things I'm most looking forward to ... More >>

Win Two Seats At The Libertine Bar's
Holiday Beer Dinner

​The Libertine Bar sent along details about its December 29 holiday beer dinner, as well as a pair of tickets for one lucky City of Ate reader. Or rather, for the purposes of this contest, "one unlucky City of Ate reader" would be more accurate. Winning the tickets would be fortunate, but it will ... More >>

Idle Rich Winter And Christmas Beer Tasting: Do We Have To Wait A Year To Do It Again?

Jesse HugheySamichlaus lager and cheese plate at the Idle Rich Pub​My only complaint about the Idle Rich Pub and Monday night's Winter And Christmas Beer Tasting is something outside the control of the bar: Resident Parking Only areas are one of the most idiotic ideas shortsighted Dallasites have ... More >>

This Year's Christmas Ales, Winter Warmers And Seasonals: So Far, So Good

​Winter hasn't even officially begun, but winter beers and holiday seasonals have already been on the shelves and bar taps long enough that I thought I'd offer a quick rundown of those I've particularly enjoyed so far this year -- and one that gave me a good laugh. This is by no means a definitive ... More >>

'Beer Guru' Keith Schlabs On 15 Years Of Flying Saucer and More

Flying Saucer and Meddlesome Moth "beer guru" Keith Schlabs, drinking on the job.​Speaking of Shannon Wynne and the Meddlesome Moth...Fifteen years and 14 locations after the June 5, 1995, opening of the original Flying Saucer on Sundance Square in Fort Worth, the franchise's "beer guru," Keith Sc ... More >>

Info On Saturday's Brew Riot, Plus Notes From Flying Saucer On The Lake's Spring Beer Festival

Jesse Hughey​The last time I went to a Flying Saucer beer festival (the fall 2009 fest at the Fort Worth location), I learned that tasting the big, bad, high-gravity and high-ABV beers before trying lighter brews can throw off your tastebuds and make the latter drinks seem puny by comparison ... More >>

Ranking Special Offerings From Ska And Dogfish Head, Plus Beer Festival News

Jesse Hughey​Thanks to my generous in-laws, Lady Hophead and I headed to the Meddlesome Moth Monday night to celebrate our 13th wedding anniversary. Her mother and stepdad offered to take us to a much fancier restaurant, but we felt the Moth, with one of the best beer selections in Dallas, was a f ... More >>

What's Better Than Live Music And Beer? Live Music And Good Beer

Left Hand's 400 Pound Monkey English-style IPA, one of several craft-beer offerings at Renfield's Corner.​For most music lovers, any old beer will do at a concert or club show as long as the music is good. At, say, Verizon Theatre or whatever they're calling it these days, a big plastic cup or two ... More >>

Breweries Whose Best-Known Beers Are Also Their Least Interesting

​Ask for a Shiner in any Texas bar and you're almost certain to get a Shiner Bock without any need to clarify, despite the array of other brews offered by the Spoetzl brewery under the Shiner name. In fact, Shiner Bock is so synonymous with Spoetzl that many casual beer drinkers may not even be aw ... More >>

Browsing the Aisles at the New Park Lane Whole Foods, Where We Score Brother David's Triple

Unfair Park​A selection of more than 600 beers surrounded me on refrigerated grocery shelves that seemed to stretch on forever, and a money clip brimming with cash in my jacket pocket bounced against my ribs like a reassuring pat with each step. Yet I had to hold back from the splurge that would h ... More >>

First Look At Eno's Pub, Where We Sample The Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary Stout

Rob Shearer​The opening of Eno's Pub last Thursday was marked by too much rock for the karaoke system to handle and too few beer samples for the thirsty donors. But those small setbacks aside, it was a great night, as you may have seen in Spike Johnson's slideshow.The night had been described as t ... More >>

Hash Over: New Year's Eve Brings Out Champagne Toasts, Party Favors And Bands

​As you probably know by now, the decade comes to an end this week, and just about every restaurant or nightclub in town has some kind of New Year's Eve celebration planned for Thursday night. But let's say you're thinking beer budget shindigs... First of all, sibling pubs The Old Monk, The Idle R ... More >>

Way Out West

Hash Over: 'Tis The Season For Christmas Beers, Libertine Beer Dinner And Toys For Toddies At Barley House

​Swear we're not trying to turn Hash Over into Hophead Jr., but there are several noteworthy beer-related events and announcements that will interest food lovers and beer lovers alike.First off, tonight the Idle Rich will hold its annual Christmas and Winter Beer tasting in a self-paced format fro ... More >>

Hophead: Christmas Cheer Through Christmas Beer

​Spring ales, summer hefes and autumn's Oktoberfest beers are nice when the season arrives. But for many beer lovers, including myself, nothing can compare to the rich variety of beer that winter brings. Along with seasonal stouts and porters (which I intend to write about next week), winter also ... More >>

Hophead: Do Right By The Pilgrims And Have Beer With Your Thanksgiving Meal

​If barley be wanting to make into maltWe must be content and think it no fault For we can make liquor to sweeten our lipsOf pumpkins and parsnips and walnut-tree chips. --Anonymous colonist, 1630Though some dispute the story, many beer lovers cling to the legend that the Pilgrims landed at Plymou ... More >>

Hophead: Notes From Flying Saucer's Fourth Annual Fall Beer Festival

​A beer tasting event like last Saturday's Fall Beer Festival at the Fort Worth Flying Saucer is an easy way to try several new beers at once, hang out with fellow beer people and see a lot of hilarious T-shirts. However, as I discovered, it's also an easy way to get a bad impression of a beer for ... More >>

Hophead: Uncannily Good Beer From Oskar Blues

Jesse HugheyLast year, Oskar Blues added five 100-gallon tanks and increased its brewing by more 64 percent over 2007 in order to keep up with increased demand. That the Lyons, Colorado, brewery experienced such a rapid growth probably wouldn't surprise anyone who has tasted its excellent flagship b ... More >>

Hophead: Camping Out In The 'Broo-er's Festival' Tent At Bonnaroo

Mark C. AustinHophead wasn't the only one thirsty for beer at Bonnaroo last weekend. Hophead spent a four-day weekend at the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee. The music, comedy, people-watching and general chaos of the thing made for an outstanding trip. But one of the hig ... More >>

Hophead: Homebrew Competition At Eno's Sunday

Hopefully entrants in Sunday's homebrew competition come up with something better than Skittlebrau.Whether you've got your own specialty beer you're dying to share with the world or you just like free mystery drinks, make sure you block out some time Sunday afternoon. From 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, J ... More >>

Veggie Girl: The Cock & Bull

Last weekend, I set off on my bike. I would save gas, stay close to home, and kill like three birds with one stone by brunching at the promising-sounding Garden Café, on Junius Street in Lakewood. I'd been there as a pre-vegan, and I remembered a lovely garden in the back. The garden, as it tur ... More >>

10 Questions: Sam Dickey

In two decades of cooking, he's handled everything from seafood to southwestern, including some time spent running a bakery. He's also worked in kitchens in San Antonio, Austin, Houston--at Cafe Annie, no less--and Dallas.Now he owns Lower Greenville's recently opened Zymology, a place for small bit ... More >>

Hophead Extra: What Does Beer Have In Common With The Blind Salamander?

Photos by Benjamin Lewis Some people consider it uncouth to begin drinking before 5 p.m. Thankfully, you won't run into any of those spoilsports at the "Blind Salamander Day" tour and tasting at Rahr & Sons brewery tomorrow from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. I took my first tour of the brewery last weekend ... More >>

Hophead: Jingle Beers

I bid farewell to 2008 by, like Ricky Bobby, thanking little baby Jesus for giving us specialty holiday brews. What better way to soothe the white-knuckle stress of shopping, the friction of family gatherings and the frustration of assembling crappy toys than with a high-ABV beer? Jonathan Shike ... More >>

Beer Is Good

Texas law stifles state's craft brewers

Too Sexy for Their Rock

Fashionable retro rock has jumped the shark. Here’s why.

Run Over

Small towns in the Big Bend area brace for an onslaught of Mexican trucks rolling their way thanks to NAFTA

Northern Exposure

Michael Winterbottom delivers a snowy, Wild West adaptation of Thomas Hardy

Radio who?

Grandaddy is more interested in Sophtware than it is in OK computers

Good clean feed

Spotless Rigatoni offers ample helpings of fresh Italian food