Capt Keith's Beer Blog

The Flying Saucer in Houston has been through a lot in Ten Years. We opened the doors just prior to construction of the Light Rail downtown at Capital and Main. A number of our neighbors had to close shop while this major construction was going on. The Saucer held strong which says a lot for good beer. Since then, we’ve seen the Super Bowl, All Stars games and plenty of concerts to rev up business downtown.

The Saucer is now a thriving beer joint and we owe our success to a fantastic team headed up by the one and only Jake Rainey AND a incredibly loyal group of Beerknurds. Thanks to everyone for Ten years of pouring great beers.

To celebrate, Jake and his gang have come up with a fun filled day of rare beer tappings. The scoop:

SUNDAY AUGUST 22nd

Help us celebrate a

Decade of Draught

Rare beers will tapped every hour on the hour starting around NOON and below are a few sneak previews:

• Avery Cask Ale – Adam promises some Firkin good beer
• Southern Star Smoked Porter with Chioptle (Cask)
• Dogfish Head (Secret)
• Stone’s Vertical Epic 090909
• Breckenridge SummerBright aged in Cabernet Barrels (WTH?)
• 2 surprise Belgian ales – Jake won’t tell (or he doesn’t know yet)

Also – live Acoustic Music from Rob & Shawn (from the Four Wisemen)

Raffles to win some sweet brewery prizes throughout the day

Jake “the snake”, our beer guru in Houston is making an effort to educate his audience on the nuances of cellared beer.

Stoned for 6 days is a collaborative effort that he conceived with his bros at Petrol Station across town. Read more about this by clicking here.

Houston is home of the ever popular Saint Arnold Brewing Company owned by Brock Wagner. Their beers have grown in popularity over the years and we’ve found many that we just cannot live without. One of my personal favorites is the Elissa IPA, which is a common find at most grocery stores that are in the know. Whole Foods, HEB and Central Market will have most of their line-up on any given day.

When it comes to their Divine series, it can be more of a challenge to get your hands on the juice. This year’s style is a Scotch Ale that comes in just above 9% abv. To read more about it, check out this link sent in by Jake Rainey of our Houston Saucer – Divine Reserve No. 8.

He’ll be tapping the keg at 4 pm this Sunday, which of course is appropriate since that his our day of tribute to the Local Breweries. The weather is supposed to be fine and the big screen will be down for some NFL. Hussle down and get some fresh draught while it lasts.

We are proudly serving cask-conditioned ale in Houston, thanks to our friend Adam with Avery Brewing Company www.averybrewing.com.

Our first offering is their India Pale Ale. If you like the draught version, you are going love this! It pours a nice dark cloudy orange with a full bouquet of floral hoppiness. The head is amazing – pillowy white and it lasts awhile. I think the unfiltered version has more flavor and would be my first choice if I were craving a hoppy American IPA.

Our system is fairly simple and we use CO2 (1# of pressure only – just to keep the oxygen out) to operate this cylinderless hand pump. Ideally, we would have firkins with old school hand pumps, but that would limit us to only a few breweries. Another issue would possibly be spoilage. A cask will only last a few days with a vacuum pump.  Most European pubs that I have visited sell primarily cask-conditioned ales. With limited offerings, they can really move through them quickly. The Flying Saucer has 80 plus taps and would be hard pressed to move a firkin every 2 – 3 days. We should be able to keep a keg for up to a week. So far, the beer has been well received and we will be seeking other breweries to participate.

Austin and Fort Worth will have Cask Ale at their Fall Beer Festivals in early October. Live Oak dry-hopped IPA and Real Ale Shade Grown Coffee Porter will both be on cask for each event. We will kick off the festivals with either a Cask of Dunkel Roggen or Oaktoberfest.