Beering in Houston: Jesterking, Barcadia, Reef. Who you kicking out of the hot tub

So the wife wants to show me a good time as I happen to have had a particularly rough year at the job. I think I did pretty well performance wise, just a whole lot of work right up to the bell.

So she planned out this night of our hitting some great bars and restaurants.

Stop 1: Petrol Station
The owners wife couldn't help but remark on how great we both looked as we stepped into the bar Saturday afternoon. That's the kind of place this is. I've been making it a point that if all things were equal, I would order or buy the Texas craft beer instead of rank purchasing of the out-of-town stuff. But the beauty is that there was a beer on tap that I had had, but never reviewed.

Beer Log: December 18, 2010
State: Chilling, eating some hummus

Jester king Wytchmaker IPA
Ah I remember Jester King when they were still soliciting investors not too long ago. Now they've got a some great beer here in Houston though they are based in Austin, and they are going ballz out on the creative beer side as you can see the number of barrels sitting at the ranch/brewery for some aging programs. I'm sure they need to pay some bills now, hence the beer we are seeing at our beer bars in town.

Had this one on draft into a shaker glass. Little chill haze and burnt orange appearance (I'm sure those Longhorn boys will love that). Rather citrus hop nose. Big extra ipa hops, very orange citra and grassy. Loving the light caramel barely holding on for balance. Has a med body with something that's a bit chewy, which goes well for me in that I'm just all over this style of beer right now. 4 stars for the Kings.

After that we dragged ass down to the Tasting Room in the Upper Kirby area for some Pinot. Seems like the wine at the Tasting Room is just really fresh. I actually kind of dig that in that all the flavors have not melded together yet. Actually adds a little something for me.

Onward to Downing Street pub for some PRE-dinner cigars and Chimay Blue. I should have gotten the White. But any place with Chimay on tap is cool with me.

Finally onward to dinner at Reef. The beer twitter folks were saying they had some Saint Arnolds, but they must have run out or something, as I opted for the sparkling white wine to go with my Mussels made with Shiner Bock. This is my first time at Reef and man those boys just have killer seafood. The mussels were perfect, as well as the Salmon. I even ordered the fries to see how they would do it, and I think I got the Alton Brown method of french fries. Loving life. The ambiance at first blush feels like some of my rugby games, with lots of commotion, conversation, waiters everywhere. But once we sat down the rugby gave way to something like a ballet. Great service, everybody rolling nicely.

After stuffing our faces with mussels and Italian rice, I was feeling a little sluggish. And then she took me to Barcadia.

This spot just opened about a week ago, and I had totally ignored it as the advertisements n the Houston press looked like a burlesque house. And unless the house of burlesque has incredibly loud Lil' Jon and Ying Yang Twins music, owned by a Nigerian guy, and has a semi-legal champagne room, I'm not interested. However, this spot was rather a beer bar with great music, and a wall lined with 80s and early 90s era arcade games. And what's more, on that night most of the games were free. OMG. I felt like a pre-teen again. I was playing Star Wars, Ms. Pac-Man, Street Fighter II, the first Mortal Kombat, and Dig F'n Dug. Couple that was Dogfish Head 90 Minute on draft, a few other good brews, and the place is CONNECTED TO REEF. One time for the Montrose Area coming through once again.