It was a gray, drizzly, humid morning in Houston — the kind where curling up inside and doing nothing is a much better prospect than anything the outside world could offer. But craft beer enthusiasts across the city had a mission that Saturday: the first-ever Houston Beer Run.
Shortly before noon, a blue Volkswagen Golf with a large “Save Texas Breweries” decal on its side swung into the New Magnolia Brewery parking lot in Shady Acres. A tall figure emerged from the small car: Chris White, wearing a matching “Save Texas Breweries” T-shirt, a University of Houston baseball cap, and a Texas flag face mask.
White works in IT at ExxonMobil but became engaged in Houston’s beer scene about 20 years ago, when there were very few breweries in the city. As the landscape grew, so did his passion. When the idea for Houston Beer Run materialized, he volunteered to lead one of the routes.
“It’s been a part of my life for a long, long time,” White said. “When I see this thing I love struggling, I want to do my part.”
Sylvia Benavidez, who runs the Facebook group Texas Beer Collective and other initiatives aimed at supporting the local craft beer industry, spearheaded the Houston Beer Run. Texan breweries, like many businesses, are hurting in the coronavirus pandemic. She wanted to encourage traffic and boost to-go sales through a coordinated event.
“Some of them are at risk of going out of business,” said Benavidez when I spoke with her before the event. “These breweries need help and it’s up to us to help them with our hard-earned money.”
On HoustonChronicle.com: Houston Beer Run debuts to support local breweries
There were nine routes, most in the Greater Houston area and one in Galveston, over the weekend of August 1 and 2. Each had between four and six stops. Participants placed to-go orders ahead of time, then drove from brewery to brewery, picking up their beer along the route.
I joined the Inner Loop route, which started at New Magnolia. White set up his paraphernalia before participants arrived: “Save Texas Breweries” stickers, T-shirts, and a whiteboard with instructions for sharing photos on social media.
Darryl Herzik was the first to show up; he diligently put on his Texas A&M mask as I approached his car.
Now retired, Herzik has been in Houston since 1979 and lives in the Museum District. He’s been an avid follower of the local beer scene for a long time and has many favorites: Under the Radar, Baileson and Saint Arnold among them. He heard about the Houston Beer Run on social media and was compelled to participate.
“I do my best to support local craft breweries around town,” he said. “I’m trying to keep these guys in business.”
Staying in business is not an easy feat these days. Shayn Robinson and John Ferguson, the son-and-father-in-law co-owners of New Magnolia, were at the brewery on Saturday fielding the more than 20 to-go orders that had come in through the Houston Beer Run. Neighborhood regulars have kept them going during the shutdown, and special events like this one are incredibly helpful, but more needs to be done, they say.
Most breweries across Texas are currently lumped in with bars because of the “51 percent rule”: A venue is considered a restaurant, and therefore can stay open, only if more than half of its sales comes from food and not alcohol. This means many taprooms remain closed, even though brewers believe they can operate safely.
On HoustonChronicle.com: Saint Arnold reopens for dine-in after TABC reevaluates rule
New Magnolia’s facility, like that of many breweries, is considerably spacious. It has 7,700 square feet of indoor space and 2,000 square feet between its two patios, as well as two big parking lots. The taproom has large openings on both sides, allowing airflow to circulate in and out. It is arguably safer than many restaurants that are currently open for dine-in.
“Why is it that a piece of food next to your beverage means you’re allowed to have service?” asked Robinson, who added that making lock-down decisions purely on sales numbers is nonsensical.
The Texas Craft Brewers Guild and its members have ongoing efforts to lobby Gov. Greg Abbott to change his restrictions on taprooms. So far, they have not had much luck.
A few weeks ago, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) ordered Saint Arnold to close its restaurant and beer garden for dine-in. The brewery’s off-premise sales were being counted in its “51 percent” number, not making the distinction between a beer sold at the restaurant to a customer and one sold to a distributor for retail purposes. After nearly two weeks of complaints, the TABC revised the order’s language and Saint Arnold was able to reopen.
But many breweries, who have little to no food service, cannot. Robinson says New Magnolia could easily and safely operate at around 25 percent capacity, if not more, with socially distanced outdoor seating.
“That 25 percent is the difference between going out of business and keeping the lights on,” he said.
The second stop on the route was True Anomaly Brewing in East Downtown. I made a couple wrong turns on my way there due to poor driving skills and, by the time I arrived, many people had already moved on to the next brewery. My shortcomings aside, the beer run wasn’t a perfectly synchronized event. The organizers hoped it would be but knew that it would look a little different in practice.
People came and went at their own pace, but there was enough overlap to run into familiar faces and greet them with a “Hello, you again!”
One couple, Jodi and Art Vasquez, were always a few steps behind me throughout the route. We stopped to chat at the third stop, Local Group Brewing in Northside Village. Both decked out in Astros apparel and Art wearing an 8th Wonder Brewery T-shirt, they told me they were long-time fans of the Houston craft beer scene and had come out to support local breweries. They picked the Inner Loop route specifically because they had tasted some of the beers before but had never visited the breweries in person.
Luz Hernandez had only tried two of the five breweries on the itinerary before and was happy to make discoveries. She wore a gray tank top with a sparkly Texas-shaped state flag and a pink hat featuring the state’s outline. A coworker introduced Hernandez to craft beer about five years ago and she’s been hooked since, making stops at local breweries whenever she travels. The Houston Beer Run was an opportunity to support the home team.
“I used to go to Total Wine and H-E-B (to buy beer), but now I know it’s important to go directly to the business,” she said.
As Hernandez left Local Group to head to the next stop, another gaggle of young brewery hoppers arrived to pick up their orders. Brian Don Carlos, with his friends Morgan Aven and Danny and Hayden Ostendorf in tow, said there’s a real kinship between breweries in Houston.
“It doesn’t seem like a competition, everyone’s looking out for each other,” said Don Carlos. “If they’re doing that, we also want to look out for them and make sure they’re still around when this is over.”
The group decided to participate in the Houston Beer Run after seeing it promoted on social media, but they made their own route, starting at Local Group then heading to Urban South HTX, Eureka Heights and Great Heights.
I reconnected with Chris White at the fourth stop, Holler Brewing in Sawyer Yards. He had spoken to other people who had been inspired by the event to create their own beer run, too. For him, that’s what the initiative is all about: Reminding people to buy beer from their favorite local breweries, because they need support now more than ever.
On HoustonChronicle.com: Empty taprooms but still brewing: the Houston beer scene’s big pivot
White was pleased with the turnout. He said the team behind the Houston Beer Run wants to plan more events like this in the near future, whether the same model or another concept designed at helping local breweries during this time.
I left Holler and drove to nearby Urban South HTX, which was a stop on a different run than the one I had been following. The New Orleans-based brewery opened its Houston location exactly 16 days before it was forced to shut down because of the coronavirus outbreak. Philip Ormanovich, the taproom manager, said Urban South’s to-go beer sales have been strong throughout the pandemic. He observed a lot of first-timers come through the brewery thanks to the Houston Beer Run.
“It’s awesome,” Ormanovich said. “It’s one day of what we have seen over the past three or four months, which is the Houston beer community coming together to support the breweries they love.”
Calling it a day, I left with two beers of my own, Urban South’s fruited sours from its new “Spilled” series: one peach-pineapple, one strawberry-guava. By then, the rain and clouds had cleared, leaving a sweaty beam of sun streaming down from the sky.
emma.balter@chron.com
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