This weekend, I’m pretty sure I had the perfect Sunday. It started with us going to Kings Court in East Downtown (EaDo) Houston for Chelsea’s 4-0 thrashing of Manchester United and ended with two visits to breweries who recently opened less than a month ago.
Trip 1 was to Sigma Brewing Company in EaDo. Sigma is tucked away right by the new METRORail Green Line off of Harrisburg Blvd in a completely renovated warehouse that looks modern and hip. Inside, the small taproom has a cozy and warm feeling with couches and tables in addition to the bar serving up their in-house beer. Beyond the bar is a glass wall that houses the brewery with all of their brewing equipment and fermenters in plain view.
I was slightly disappointed that there were only three different styles on tap – their APA (American Pale Ale), Let’s Fighting Love (New Zealand hopped IPA), and the Porter. We opted for the flight of all three beers to get a sample of each brew. The APA and Let’s Fighting Love were decent beers, but the overwhelming majority of our group loved the Porter and said it was the best one, hands down. It drank very much like a stout, and at 7.9% ABV, it certainly packed a punch. We ended up ordering pints of the Porter after the flight was finished.
On their social media, it seems they rotate their taps quite frequently, so I really want to come back when they have their XPA, Belgian pale ale, or double IPA on tap. These are beers that have graced their taproom in the past, so I think their complete body of work is probably pretty solid. Plus, I can’t wait to see what other new beers these guys will come up with over the next year.
After Sigma, most of us were ready for food and some more beer. I suggested Platypus Brewing off of Washington Avenue in the Heights since they have a kitchen serving food and in-house beer. We made the short drive across downtown to check these guys out.
The vibe at Platypus is very Australian, as it should be with one of the owner’s roots embedded in the land down under. When I went to the bathroom, the sound of a didgeridoo was playing over the speakers, which is not something you hear every day. The beer also has the same Australian naming structure. My first beer, Troppo, was a tropical wheat beer that has a meaning of “going mad due to hot tropical weather.” It’s clear these guys understand Houston more than we know. The beer was light, refreshing, and I found it to be a perfect beer for somebody who’s either just starting to drink craft beer, or for someone wanting to drink a few beers with friends without feeling drunk quickly.
My second and final beer was an experimental brown ale that had yet to be named. In fact, the menu even said they were holding a naming contest for the brew. Considering that we’d been drinking since 10:00 AM, the creative juices weren’t really flowing, so hence, no clever name came from me. The beer itself was pleasant, with a slight nutty flavor and a smooth caramel backbone. It was another easy drinker from these guys, who seem to specialize on this type of brewing.
The space itself is very open with a large outdoor covered patio. They took an older, dilapidated (at one time) building between Washington and Center St and turned it into a gorgeous craft beer haven. The place was packed when we arrived and there didn’t seem to be any slowing down as they’ve already appealed to the Houston inner loop crowd in a big way.
Doing two breweries in a day was great, but this will probably be the only time I’ll do it since I would have liked to spend more time at each place. My only regret was not being able to talk to the staff at either location since we were in a large group and my conversations with brewery staff tend to last for 30 minutes to an hour. Of course, I’ll return to both locations as each had some positive attributes that make me want to try more of their beer.
The Houston brewery scene is in the middle of its most rapid explosion yet. Don’t miss out on these two newcomers.