Monday, September 20, 2010

Two Rows in Houston, Done

Turns out Two Rows in Rice Village is closing up shop, and boy the comments are a-flying on Beer, TX blog. As much as I thought Dos Rows' beer was kinda meh, it was a nice change of pace. They always managed too have a little something different on tap, maybe tried to do too much with the food. Not to mention Two Rows was surrounded by places like the Gingerman, Baker Street, and Lil Woodrows for beer, and was surrounded by Mi Luna's, Le Madeliene, Ruggles, and maybe another 20 restaurants for food.

Houston now has NO brewpubs. A city with twice the population of Jamaica has no brewpubs, and Portland has like 12. I think the competition is just too strong out here. If it's one thing Houston has, it's food. There is STELLAR tex-mex at like every other gas station, forget the restaurants themselves. Best of luck to the staff at Two Rows and screw the landlords who may have just tried to push them out. Crazy man.

Best of luck to the staff of Two Rows. Hopefully they can get that equipment and open up something a little more boutique brewpub in a less expensive part of town (read: anywhere but Rice Village). I wouldn't be surprised if one of these areas like Pavilions would put a flier on a brewpub. But we have a better chance of somewhere like old Katy or down in that 12,000 block of Westheimer. Regardless, I guess we'll just have to slam more Saint Arnold's and other local brews until someone can make a brewpub work in this town.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I owe you a review of sorts from way back in the winter....I went to Churchkey in DC and completely forgot until now (like 9 freakin' months later) that I was going to tell you about it. I know this is off-topic for this post, and I see you've been in the meantime, but hey, better late than never:

Churchkey in DC was interesting. Funky red walls, eclectic decor, like a bordello that was turned into a beer bar. Food menu was limited the day I was there (the restaurant downstairs is closed on mondays), so it was mostly bar-food, but well done if expensive. Our waitress seemed knowledgeable and was friendly--also taking around a newbie waitress so she could learn more about beer. Good to see that in a beer bar!

I had the Big A IPA, which was from Smuttynose. Very floral, bitter enough and at 9.2%, had a wallop to it. Served a touch warmer than I like it, but I appreciate that they're not chilling the beers down to 33 degrees. Next, I had the Sierra Nevada Wet Hop Harvest Ale, which was good, but seemed a bit tame after the Big A.

SIERRA NEVADA HARVEST WET HOP ALE
Sierra Nevada Brewing Company | Fresh Hop Ale | California | 6.7% | 48° | Imperial Pint / 16 Oz.

Next, I went with the Heavy Seas Below Decks, foraying into the english ale/malt style:
HEAVY SEAS BELOW DECKS
Clipper City Brewery | English Barleywine | Maryland | 10.0% | 54° | Snifter / 12 Oz.

Very smooth, almost chocolatey and silky. I had a sip of Mikkeler Black that someone had (WOW!)--the belgian and champagne yeasts make a difference.
MIKKELLER BLACK (􂈍)
Mikkeller (Denmark) | Imperial Stout w/ Dark Cassonade & Champagne Yeast | Belgium | 18.0% | 54° | Snifter / 10 Oz

But I went back to my roots with a Bell's Hop Slam Ale, which is actually an imperial IPA
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/287/17112
Very fruity, grapefruit nose, thick mouthfeel, well balanced, though.

After that, I had a beer with dinner (Prohibition Ale) http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/559/1468, which went great with my burger and sweet potato fries.

I was also taking a cab that night!

Geoff

The American Don said...

Thanks for the review. Looks like you enjoyed the Churchkey as much as I did.