Capt Keith's Beer Blog

We had a blast with our Summer Beer FEAST out on Lake Ray Hubbard, but now it is time to gear up for our Fall Festivals and this year we are adding one to the list.

Tickets are on sale now: Click the link below to buy your tickets today.

• Nashville – September 22nd. (This will be our 3rd annual festival here and we are doubling the beer offering)
• Austin – September 29th
• Fort Worth – October 13th  

Each of our festivals will have at least 60 brews to choose from and at the Nashville fest you will be allowed unlimited sampling from 1-6pm.    There are still a few VIP tickets remaining for the Nashville fest that include:

• Early admission by one hour
• A sweet BeerFEAST T shirt
• VIP brew caddy taster glass lanyard
• One food voucher for any one of the available food trucks
• Most importantly you will have access to the VIP only line for early access to the rare tappings.

Unfortunately we have to play by a different rule book at our Festivals in Texas since State Law prohibits us from giving more than 24 ozs of beer for one price. We will be selling additional tasting cards for (12) two ounce samples for only $6 inside the Fest, to allow you to sample even more of our delicious offerings at a reduced price. We’ve been collecting these brews for some time now and are looking forward to sharing them with you. Spread the good word. Space will be limited.

Sugar Land will also be joining in on the fun with their inaugural festival on October 27th, but their tickets are not on sale quite yet.  Keep an eye on their Twitter account @SaucerSugarLand for updates on VIP and General Admission ticket releases within the next two weeks.  And as always, the Twitter savvy can follow me @Schlabs, or my right hand man @SaucerSam as well as @SaucerFeast for a peak behind the scenes.

It has been 14 years TODAY since we opened our little beer joint in Nashville, TN. It was only 3 months after we opened Little Rock. 1998 was the year and it was a lot of fun (ass kicker) branching out into other markets. If you haven’t been to Nashville, go. Its a great city with good music and good peeps. If you plan to be in Nashville on Saturday August 25th – mark your calendar for this day to celebrate BEER. We hope you will come by and say hello. I’d like to raise a glass high to Brandi, Kacee & the gang for helping make Nashville a real beer town.

Special Tappings shall begin at 7 PM for your drinking pleasure:

New Belgium Collaboration with Lost Abbey Brett

The Shakepeare Stout is served w  Maraschino Cherries that have soaked in Rogue Dead Guy Whiskey!

Time for fresh new week of beer celebration in San Antonio and this time we are celebrating FRUIT BEER!  Starting August 6th, they will have fruit beers on Fire Sale and special tappings or glassware giveaways every day Monday through Saturday.

Special tappings will include Jolly Pumpkin/Maui Brewing Collaboration Sobrehumano and Dogfish Head Black and Blue among others, and will all start at 6pm.

Check out the stores social media outlets on Twitter @FlyingSaucerSA or “Like” The Official San Antonio Flying Saucer page on Facebook for updates

Last year we had some great success with a few #IPAday celebrations and this year we are getting behind it full force.  Every Saucer will be having some really great, and unique, IPA day experiences.  Tons of special tappings, casks, and of course discounts on India Pale Ales on draught and in bottle.  Come out and see us today and help celebrate the India Pale Ale.

We are also teaming up with Untappd, a web based social beer app that helps you track and share your beers with your friends.  Last year the Austin Flying Saucer had the most Untappd IPA Check Ins of any #IPAday celebration in the world and this year we want to fill up the top ten with Flying Saucers!  If you use Untappd, help us accomplish our goals by checking in a getting a special “IPADay: Saucer Style” badge as well as your IPA Day 2012 badge.

Flying Saucer on the Lake will host their Third Anniversary Party on Sunday, July 29 beginning at 11am, an hour before usual opening, with a special Beerknurd Buffet beginning when doors open.   Admission is free, but while the Beerknurd Buffet is free for U.F.O. Club members it is $10 for non-members. Upon entry everyone will receive one complimentary raffle ticket, for drawings throughout the day with prizes that include limited edition hats, shirts, special glassware and other signature collectible items. Six rare beers are to be tapped throughout the day, with one draught, one bottle and one cask tapped every three hours starting at noon.

Draught Rahr & Sons Bourbon Barrel Aged Winter Warmer, Avery Uncle Jacob’s Stout in bottle and a special Deep Ellum cask all go out at noon.

Then at 3pm, Laughing Dog Anubis Imperial Coffee Porter get tapped, along with BrewDog 5 A.M. Saint bottles and a Rahr & Sons cask.

At 6 we break out North Coast Grand Cru 2011 draught, a limited number of Ranger Creek Small Batch Series No. 1, and a Franconia cask.  They will also have other Texas beers on special for $3 all day, but not including rare tappings.

Then, in Addison, starting at one we have our Second Annual BrewBQ.  This year’s BeerBQ Fest will deliver another all-inclusive experience, as guests will enjoy great food, beverages and live music. Featured food specials will be available all day, including BBQ nachos, smoked sausage, pulled pork sandwiches and peach blueberry cobbler served a la mode. These true Southern favorites will be complimented with 12 carefully selected rare beers which will be tapped throughout the event, beginning at 1 p.m. including many of the most highly sought-after brews around. Breweries to be highlighted at the event include Dogfish Head, Saint Arnold, North Coast, (512), Brooklyn and more.  Adding to the night’s excitement, the JD Monson Band will set the mood with an eclectic musical performance of classic country and rock tunes starting at 2pm.

Hey – it is HOT outside. Beat this heat with our air-conditioned beer joint in Addison. Flying Saucer is hosting its 2nd annual BeerBQ this Sunday the 29th.

We’re opening up our cellar and releasing some beautiful beers.

1PM – 512 Double Whiskey Pecan Porter

   Boulevard Harvest Dance Wheat Wine

2PM – Dogfish Head Red and White

                Dogfish Head Black and Blue – click to see this video. Very nice seasonal from DFH

3PM – Dogfish Head 75 Minute IPA Bottles

Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA

4PM – Brooklyn Black Ops

                Clown Shoes Hoppy Feet 1.5

5PM – North Coast Old Stock

                North Coast Old Rasputin XIV bottles

6PM       St. Arnolds Bitter Belgian Cask

Left Hand Widdershins

Food specials: BBQ Nachos, Sausage Plate, Pulled Pork Sandwiches and sides of Cotswold Mac n Cheese and Loaded Potato Salad. Also we’ll have some Cobblers for dessert.

Congratulations to Gary Smith from Memphis Flying Saucer for winning our all expense paid trip for two to Belgium!  For those of you whose tickets didn’t get pulled, don’t lose hope yet.  Our remaining tickets will be going to The Oregon Brewers Festival on July 29th and have a second chance to get pulled for the same trip.

**EDIT**  We also had one of our Knurd’s tickets pulled at the Oregon Brewers Festival, David Haake from Kansas City, so that’s FOUR people we are sending to Belgium!

A very special thanks goes out to all of you that contributed.  With your help we were able to write a check to Pints for Prostates for over $24,000!  Going in our expectation was $10,000, then half way through we realized we could potentially hit 20k.  Neither us, nor Rick from Pints for Prostates, had any idea that our loyal Knurds would come through in such a big way.

When we told Rick the final tally he said:

“All I can say is WOW! This is beyond what we ever expected for our initial effort of this kind. I am so glad that we worked with your team and that the Flying Saucer locations all got behind this effort. I really cannot thank you enough.  We are going to put this money right to work helping guys fighting prostate cancer. Beyond our critical awareness mission, these funds will go to help support free testing programs for men without insurance coverage and also to fund support groups that help men either recently diagnosed or with advanced stages of the disease.”

We couldn’t have done it without you.  Thank you for opening you hearts for this great cause and showing everyone what we already knew, how great the Flying Saucer community is.

Beerknurds – mark your calendars. The crew at the Forth Worth  Saucer is almost ready to  fill your glass again. We have a cold draught system and the plates are hung. BUT, we still have some finishing touches left before the triumphant return of our original Saucer.  It won’t be exactly the same (we will all miss the old Land and Title building), but there will definitely be some big improvements!   We will have more seating capacity and an enhanced food menu. We also have a dedicated cellar to stockpile some rare jewels. This obviously wont make an immediate impact but will allow us to save some great beers for the 20th anniversary (three years from now) and of course give you a stellar line up for our annual BeerFEAST during TX OU weekend.

Soon this patio will be brimming with craft brews!

If everything goes according to plan we could be open THIS WEEKEND!  We have an excited crew of Beer Goddesses and Beertenders ready to get back in action and serve up some pints from our brand new beer system.  For those that value the subtleties of craft beer there really is nothing like a pint from a brand new draught line.  At the other Saucers we often cut and rerun fresh lines every year or two, but every single line on our 80 taps will be brand spanking new.  Staff training and refreshers are going on now and we have had the opportunity to put together quite a crew of seasoned Saucer and 8.0 vets as well as importing some new additions from other areas of Texas and the craft world.

As you can see we have plenty to do but it already looks like home

We look forward to opening our doors to our loyal Beer Knurds and former 8.0 regulars.  Keep an eye on my twitter @Schlabs and the local @FlyingSaucerFW or my right hand man @SaucerSam for details on the goings on in our world.

This summer we are partnering up with Delta Airlines, BeerTrips.com, and Pints for Prostates to raise some money and awareness for a great cause and potentially send YOU on an all expense paid trip to Belgium!  There are several ways to get involved.  Over the next three Wednesdays come by for brewery night at 7pm and get your hands on a glass full of Chimay, Timmermans Lambic (Or St Louis in KC and Columbia), Blanche de Bruxelles or Maredsous depending on the week and a portion of your purchase will go to Pints for Prostates and you will get a raffle ticket.  You can also donate to get more raffle tickets any day of the week at any time: $10/1 or $25/3 or $50/7

The Grand Prize includes:

• Beer Lover’s dream trip for two to three of Europe’s great beer cities.
• Roundtrip Airfare for Two from the Continental United States
• Seven Nights in Fine Centrally Located Hotels
• Brewery Tours
• Abbey Visits
• Escorted Cafe Crawls
• Guided City Tours
• Includes Breakfast Daily/3 Beer Dinners/2 Beer Lunches
• Train & Private Coach Transportation

Having been to these cities myself, I can tell you this is a trip that you cannot miss.  Belgium is a beer lovers dream full of some of the oldest continuously running breweries in existence led by 4th, 5th and sometimes even 6th generation brewmasters.  You will get to visit Chimay, Cantillon, Moortgat (Duvel and Maredsous) and Dupont among others.  Plenty of this trip will be planned out for you, but will also include enough free time for you to be able to enjoy yourself and get off the beaten track.

Your free days in Bruges and Ghent will likely result in a guided canal tour if you don’t mind crawling in a wobbly boat with a bunch of strangers.  One of the best ways to see these old buildings is to look up at them from the water guided by someone that probably speaks as many languages as beers you’ve had that day.  Or perhaps a tour through De Halve Maan  brewery in  Bruges might lead you through their brewing museum up to the rooftops.

Come grab a delicious beer for a great cause, and maybe even pick up some raffle tickets to increase your chances of winning this trip of a lifetime.  More details on the trip here http://beertrips.com/trips/pints-for-prostates.html or more details on the charity here http://www.pintsforprostates.org/ Don’t forget the trip up for grabs includes airfare!

Pints for Prostates is a grassroots campaign that uses the universal language of beer to reach men with an important health message. Founded by prostate cancer survivor Rick Lyke in 2008, the campaign raises awareness among men about the need for regular health screenings and PSA testing by making appearances at beer festivals, social networking and pro bono advertising.

As most of you know, we are moving our FW Saucer across the street very soon. Due to the new construction of two parks in Sundance Square our 4th street building would have been closed for over 18 months. No one can go that long without craft beer downtown. So, we’ve decided to move it across the street and keep that old building for another project when the park project is done. Look for the new joint to open in early July. Beerknurds, keep an eye on your e-mail for more details.

We’ve been there since June of 1995 and this year marks 17 years of some pretty great beers. We’ve made lots of friends and we look forward to hosting some pretty special beer events in the new beergarden.

Father’s day will be our last day in the original space. So – bring your dad in for one last pint. I hope to see you there.

Capt