St. Arnolds Brewery

Saturday, May 17th, 2014, we went to St. Arnold's Brewery, located at 2000 Lyons Ave, Houston, Texas 77020.

From the outside, it doesn't look pretty. It's a big metal building attached to an older brick building, with cut out letters saying "The Brewery," Hollywood style. 

In the tour, we learned that the original building, the brick one, belonged to HISD as a cold food storage facility for their schools. It is now the Beer Hall.  

The tin building houses the machinery they use to produce the beer.

We rode our bikes there, with our attached bike trailer for Beau and soon realized that it probably wasn't the best idea. The side walks ended in some parts, leaving us no choice but to ride on the streets. Next time, we'll drive. Nevertheless, we arrived all in one piece. We just locked our bikes up right outside the building.

Once we got inside, we waited in a long line that zigzagged up some stairs, and I'm pretty sure there was no AC, or it sure felt like it trying to make sure my 13 month old didn't trip. 

When you reach the top, your I.D. is checked (drinking age only). It is $8 per person and you get a glass and three tokens. Each token could be redeemed for one beer.

We then gathered in the Beer Hall. It was fairly crowded, with crowds of all sorts... singles looking to mingle, and families of five. You can bring in your own seating (highly recommended) such as lawn chairs, as well as your own food, you just can't bring in alcohol.

We bought some fries to munch on and they were really good.

We hit the 1 pm tour of the brewery, and we started it off by piling in a room with three big broilers inside. Here a guy gave us a back story on the brewery and their beer.

St. Arnold's is the oldest craft beer in Texas. To be a craft beer, it has to meet three criteria:

1. small( produce less than 6 millions of barrels of beer per year)
2. traditional (meaning contains four ingredients, including water, grains, hops, yeast) 
3. independent: owned by one person

It was really interesting hearing about how they make the beer, and unfortunately Beau was ready to leave before the group headed downstairs. 

We spent about four hours there and really enjoyed our time. A stroller is a must, for a small child, and something to munch on, unless you plan on buying their food. The building was really cool, it would be a great place for a wedding or large party.

All in all, we give it four out of five stars, only losing a star because the wait time to get in.