We’re back after our extended hiatus and ready to get back to drinking our delicious Texas craft beer. For our first weekend back in Houston since returning from Thailand, we decided that a place we’ve passed hundreds of times and never tried seemed like the right place to go. Technically, we went on Saturday night, but it carried over into Sunday early morning, so that counts, right?
Hop Scholar Ale House is a craft beer bar nestled in a non-descript strip center in the middle of the ‘burbs in the Spring/The Woodlands area. Since my wife and I grew up out here, it seemed odd to have a craft beer bar out in this neck of the woods, especially since most of the bars are chains or places that have always specialized in catering to the Miller Lite or Shiner Bock crowd.
What impressed us about the place was the commitment to the local scene, especially the Conroe breweries of Southern Star, B-52, and Copperhead. In addition to making sure that about six or seven taps were dedicated to the local brews, the staff made sure to make recommendations to the many beer novices who were asking questions like, “what’s good?” or “I like stouts, what would you suggest?” Sometimes, you get snobby bartenders who would say something general like, “everything’s good”, but not here. The bartender listed off the stouts and let them try several of the options. Somebody who had never tried craft beer ended up trying the Karbach Bourbon Barrel Hellfighter with Chocolate. This made Hop Scholar immediately endearing to my wife and I.
Since I was up at 5:00 AM earlier that morning, I knew I could only have a couple of beers before being ready to go to sleep, so I had to be picky. Since I had never tried Copperhead Brewery, I went ahead and ordered a Striker IPA. While this beer was very hoppy and wasn’t bad, it wasn’t anything spectacular.
The next beer I ordered was the No Label Hop Solo brewed with Polaris hops. Very much a floral flavor, this hop strain wasn’t one of my favorites. The piney scent is intense and for a pale ale, this beer had quite a bit of bitterness. It seemed closer to an IPA to me due to the hop content.
I would definitely like to have a return trip to Hop Scholar in the near future. I feel as though they will have a different selection (based on feedback regarding rotation of beers), so I can have a wide and new array of options to sample on my next visit. This is truly the best option for craft beer up on the north side of Houston and should be on your craft beer bucket list if you’re patrolling the suburb scene.