DFW Hops

This Tuesday, May 7th, features several fantastic tappings and events around the Dallas area.

At the Common Table, it’s Brewsday Tuesday, their weekly rare tapping night. This Tuesday they’re featuring beers from Austin, Texas’ own Jester King. Included will be Le Petite Prince, their sub 3% “table beer”, Noble King, their Hoppy Farmhouse, and a cask, yes a cask, of their Mikkeller Collaboration, Beer Geek Rodeo. That cask is the main events, folks, and it’s tiny. So get there earlier if you’re gonna go drink some cause it won’t last long!

If food and Dallas-area beer pairings are more your thing, then check out the Capital Pub on the same evening. They’ll be featuring beers from Peticolas, Deep Ellum, and Franconia, as well as pairing them with delicious small plates, all for only $30. Be sure to check out http://www.capitolpubdallas.com/ for more information.

It’s here, it’s here, it’s finally here! North Texas’ biggest, and basically first real beer fest has finally arrived. After months of anticipation, the day is upon us!

Saturday, April 14th, Big Texas Beer Fest. If you read this website you’re no doubt already quite familiar with the details. If not, well, expect 80 breweries and 300+ craft beers to be featured from 1pm to 6pm at the Automobile Building in Fair Park, Dallas, Texas.

Tickets will be available at the door but they’ll only take cash, so bring some with you or hit up one of the ATMs inside. You’ll get a tasting card good for 12 2oz samples, with additional cards available for a scant $2.

This is almost certain to be the greatest craft beer event that DFW has yet seen, and you do not want to miss it. There will be a heavy focus on Texas craft, and expect to get a chance to sample a lot of beers that haven’t ever been available in DFW before.

So, what are you waiting for? Go drink some!

Today begins April Ale Week at the Meddlesome Moth, in Dallas. Beginning April 9th and concluding April 15th. They’re celebrating all week long with a variety of Fantastic Texas Beers.

For Monday’s brew, they’ll be tapping the very first keg of local brewery Peticolas’ newest beer, the Royal Scandal. It’s an English Style Pale Ale, and unless it’s changed drastically since the advance tasting that DFWHops previously reported on, it is a fantastic beer. Brewmaster Michael Peticolas himself will be in there to chat with fellow beer nerds, and if you really wanna make him feel special, or drive him crazy, ask him for his autograph. Or just tell him what you think of his beer, he’d probably like that better.

So if you’ve got a chance, go drink some!

Next up, Tuesday the 10th, they’ll be tapping a cask-conditioned version of Live Oak Schwarzbier.

Then on Wednesday, it’s a double Texas Double IPA tapping, with Saint Arnold’s Endeavor and a special cask conditioned version of Karbach’s Rodeo Clown. That’s a DT of TDIPA, not to be confused with DP. Seriously. Don’t go expecting that, ya weirdo.

Be sure to check back again soon for further updates! And of course, this Saturday, Saturday, Saturday…Big Texas Beer Fest…be there.

This Wednesday, March 28th, Ballast Point finally, finally, FINALLY hits DFW. If it seems like we’ve been hearing that for months now, it’s because we have. Literally. We were first told Ballast Point would land in the Dallas-Fort Worth area sometime last September. Then, week by week and month by month the days just kept getting pushed back.

Yet after all that, it’s finally here. The Common Table in dallas will be tapping several kegs of various Ballast Point beers including among others, their Big Eye IPA.

But let’s not kid ourselves. We’re all hardcore craft beer fans here, and we know what the main attraction is. It’s the beer that Beer Advocate proclaims as the Number 1 IPA in the entire world… ( That’s single, NOT Double or Imperial IPA. )

Sculpin. One of the greatest things to ever have copious amounts of hops added to it.

The Common Table taps the Sculpin at 6pm, but they’ll be tapping a few other beers at 5.

Go drink some!

This Saturday, the 24th of March, head over to the Common Table in Dallas for their Stone Throwdown! They’ll be kicking your ass all day long with fantastic stone beers from years past. They’ll have 2011 Stone Imperial Russian Stout, 2010 Stone Double Bastard, and they’ll be running the Stone Smoked Porter through their Randall with Knob Creek Soaked Vanilla beans. Sweet! They’ll be tapping other stone beers too, including some they tapped ahead of time this week, so if you like your beer packed with both arrogance and flavor, you don’t want to miss this event.

So go drink some!

This Thursday, March 22nd the Holy Grail Pub in Plano is tapping a whole assortment of fantastic, chocolate beers. They’re going to be starting with a vintage keg of Brooklyn’s Black Chocolate Stout from 2008! They’ll also tap some Boulevard Chocolate Ale, Breckenridge Imperial Chocolate Cream Stout, and Ommegang Seduction. Oh, and they’ll have smoked Bacon Dipped in Chocolate too. Fantastic.

This Thursday, March 15th, from 5-8pm, the Village at Fairview in Mckinney Texas is having their first Beer Walk of the year. What’s that you say, you have a beer walk every time you head to the fridge and back? Well, this is different smart***.

The Village at Fairview beer walks involve wandering about the beautiful shopping center, while drinking free beer out of a free beer stein you get to keep. And this time around, that free beer is being provided by the great folks at Franconia. And as an added bonus, plenty of shops and eateries will be offering all sorts of great deals and specials during the length of the event.

Space will be limited, as there will only be a certain amount of steins to hand out and beer to fill them with, so get there early!

For more information, check them out at: http://www.thevillageshopping.com/events/The_Village_at_Fairview_Beer_Walk

And be sure to like them on Facebook ( TheVillageShopping ) and follow them on twitter ( @villageshopping ) in order to hear all about unique freebies and stops throughout the beer walk.

So really. Free beer. Go drink it!

Happy Saint Patricks Day from DFWHops!

Yup, it’s a little early, but hey…there’s a good chance the Hops crew is gonna be drinking, so might as well wish you a great one ahead of time!

This Friday, March 2nd is Texas Independence Day, and there’s plenty of ways to celebrate with Texas brewed craft beer. Up at the Holy Grail Pub in Plano, they’ll be conducting a weekend long Smokeout event featuring all kinds of barbecue including their fantastic brisket, housemade hotdogs, and on Sunday only, a Smoked Prime Rib special. And of course they’ll be tapping special beers all week long like Real Ale’s WT3F?! on Friday, Peticolas Great Scot on Saturday, and Deep Ellum Brewing’s Dreamcrusher on Sunday.

Also on Friday, the Bottle Shop on Greenville in Dallas will be swapping out all the current taps for Texas beers. They’re going to have some real rarities, especially in our area. Expect to see brand new Austin area breweries on tap for the first time in DFW.

Then on Saturday the 3rd, over at the Common Table they’ll be featuring their Starkbierfest…lots of german beer and food all afternoon long.

DFWHop’s thoughts and prayers are with the good folks over at Franconia Brewing, after their brewery suffered an explosion of some sort today. Two employees were injured and went to the hospital. One has since been released, unsure about the other. Also unsure how much damage was caused, but it sounds fairly significant. It occurred during the Saturday Tour, luckily no one on tour was injured.

Hoping for the best and a very swift recovery in every way!