After some life changing events occurred in my life, I needed a weekend getaway, and my friend Steve came through with some tickets to the Saint Arnold Brewing Company Oktoberfest party. Well, like in typical BeerMetalDude fashion, we arrived to Houston early so we could visit a couple of other breweries before our night-time shenanigans.
Our first stop for the day was a brand new brewery that was celebrating their opening weekend when we visited. I am speaking of Sigma Brewing Company. We arrived to the brewery just before they opened, so we sat in our car and waited…and waited…and waited! (We got there pretty early) Finally, the time came for the doors to open. As soon as we walk in, the first thing I notice with my eyes is a large statue of The Predator standing on the bar top, and a large painting on one wall, complete with a large skull painted right in the middle. I then notice something familiar to me with my ears. They were blasting some Death Metal over the taproom speakers. “I am home!” were my first words.
The brewery is located in a nice red brick industrial building that even has a large 4 bay garage, where the brewing equipment is housed. The taproom is located in the office part of the building. You could tell this place was new. Everything was clean, and even still smelled of new building. Since we were the first ones there, we were happily greeted by the Metal head staff, and after introducing ourselves and this website, we let the beer drinking begin!
There was only 3 beers available this day, and they were not offering flights, so the glass had to be purchased along with drink tokens. We were able to drink a glass of each of the beers they were offering. I highly enjoyed their beers, and rated them pretty high.
- Sigma XPA – This is what they consider a Blonde Ale. This one had a fresh, crisp hop profile blended well with a bready malt backbone, and had an easy drinking body. Rating: 4.25/5
- Sigma APA – Their American Pale Ale. This one had a citrus hop profile that was slightly dominant over the spices, sweetness, and malty base. Rating: 4.25/5
- Sigma Porter – My favorite of the beers I tasted here. This beer was sweet, full bodied, and had flavors of chocolate, and mild coffee. A robust, and delicious Porter, indeed. Rating: 4.75/5
I can not wait to visit this brewery again. I follow them on all the usual suspects of social media sites, and see that they have definitely done a lot more since my visit. Their beer list seems to be growing, their events seem to be getting bigger and crazier, plus their taproom is now open more days throughout the week. I mean shit man, these fuckers have Phil Collins Fridays during their happy hour. When the Metal begins, the Happy hour is over. Mind Blown!
SIGMA BREWING COMPANY
3118 Harrisburg Blvd, Unit 108
Houston, TX 77003
www.sigmabrewingcompany.com
After being blown away by the newest Metal Brewery in Texas, we traveled a short 9 miles NW to visit another new face in the brewery world, Eureka Heights Brew Company. I had already heard good things about this brewery, and was pretty excited to get to try their beer out. We arrive at yet another old warehouse/industrial building turned into a brewery. I mean why not, right Seems to be an easy transition. Upon arriving to the brewery, we realized we should have eaten something, so luckily there was an awesome food truck parked there at the brewery this day, Twisted Catfish. More on them in a minute.
The inside of Eureka Heights was nothing crazy fancy, but it got the point across that this is a production brewery with a taproom. The brewing equipment was to the left and the taproom was on the right, separated only by their office room in the middle. The taproom was filled with picnic tables for the guests. There were two bar areas. The main one had the chalkboard menu and the taps against the wall of their cooler. The other was off to the side that housed a few taps, their crowler machine, and their merchandise.
Alright, so here we were able to order a flight of their beers, which we prefer to do when we know we are visiting more than one brewery in a single day, so we could get more check ins, err, I mean taste all the different beers that these breweries offer. As we are sitting down at one of the picnic tables, enjoying our flight of beer, we ordered some delicious food from the Twisted Catfish food truck, as I mentioned earlier. We ordered what is known as H-Ton Tacos, 4 won ton tacos filled with grilled catfish in an Asian sauce, topped with twisted slaw. Fuckin’ delicious, seriously! Now onto the beers…
- Buckle Bunny – A Cream Ale brewed with flaked maize (corn). This one was sweet, crisp, and refreshing. Rating: 3.5/5
- Wicket Awesome – Here is a traditional ESB that was malty and sweet. Excellent beer. Rating: 4.25/5
- Mostly Harmless – They call this a Citra Pale Kolsch, a hybrid beer. Citra hops provided a citrus flavor blended well with the German malts used in this beer. Another easy drinking beer. Rating: 3.75/5
- Space Train – An IPA that was brewed with Magnum, Centennial, Mosaic, El Dorado, and Azacca hops. I was expecting less of a maltier taste than what I got from this beer. Still not a bad beer by any sense though. Rating: 3.5/5
- Moo Caliente – Here was a weird one. A sweet Milk Stout brewed with cinnamon and cayenne. Have you ever had a hot pepper chocolate candy bar? Imagine that in liquid form. This beer was bitter and sweet with a little heat kick. Rating: 4.25/5
Eureka Heights will be definitely going places if they keep up what they are doing. These guys make solid beers, and I can only see them improving and experimenting over time. I look forward to visiting their establishment in the future. Did I mention that they have a framed poster of Betty White hanging in their taproom?
Eureka Heights Brew Co.
941 W 18th St
Houston, TX 77008
www.eurekaheights.com
This trip was a well needed one, and I really want to thank my good friend Steve Urias for hooking this up for us. As I said at the beginning, this trip was based around us going to the Saint Arnold Oktoberfest party, which we did attend, and we did have a God Damn blast. I did not take my camera, as I knew I was there to strictly have fun, and not do any “business” for this site. These two amazing breweries that I visited this day and wrote about was plenty of good content.
If you are ever in the Houston area, please make sure to add these two breweries to your list of places to visit. You will not be disappointed! Cheers!
Beer Metal Media 