SOUTHERN STAR BREWERY’S PINE BELT PALE ALE

Great news! Houston (Conroe) has another micro-brewery and they are making some great beer. Southern Star Brewery in Conroe, just outside of Houston, finally released their first beer, Pine Belt Pale, last week, and I must say I am a big fan. If Southern Star is able to live up to the precedent set by this release, we are going to have another great Texas beer to add to our increasingly powerful local beer lineup.

The Pine Belt Pale is an American Pale Ale that is canned, not bottled. Rumor has it, Southern Star has chosen to go the can route, which has been getting a lot of positive methodological attention lately, because the Southern Star guys are big fishermen. The canning approach, on top of being a growing micro-fad, is just plain safer for outdoor activities and the environment. I’d like to give all sorts of political praise to this approach, but my position as bartender keeps me from revealing my political views to most. I’m supposed to be the guy who makes everybody happy and hands out drinks, not political lectures. Either way, I like the entrepreneurial blend of taking a great product and adding one’s own individual style and preferences. It gives the beer character and an ideology that is essential to any great product, and this definitely comes out in the brew.

The beer pours a bright amber color with an office filer folder-colored head. The nose on the beer is extremely intriguing and complex. It has a wonderful offering of citrus, caramel, hops and malt. With such a big promise to keep, the taste of the beer falls a bit short of the nose, but this should in no way prevent you from getting your hands on this brew. The beer is extremely easy to drink and balances a malty, caramel flavor with an unusual hoppy element I haven’t been able to compare with any other beer. The finish isn’t that extensive, but I think this works well with the easy-drinking quality of the beer, and it is the subtleties in the beginning that make this a great brew.

From what I’ve been told, the odd hop flavor may arise be from Southern Star’s use of a type of high-quality Japanese hop. With major producers and established micros having contracted out what left of the world’s hops during this shortage, alternative hops were a better option for the new brewery. With some of my favorite beers like the Breckenridge 471 small-batch IPA hitting the $13 mark a freaking six-pack, I hadn’t found any advantages to the hop crisis until now. But, I must say that this alternative hop, which is obviously a response to the shortage, has lead to a differently styled American Pale Ale that rocks. Southern Star is throwing a bit of diversity into not only the Texas beer market with this beer, which seems to be diversifying more and more everyday.

If you haven’t had the Pine Belt Pale from Southern Star yet, you can pick some up at Spec’s downtown store, or you can come into and have some. We also have plans to get a keg of Southern Star very soon (the order is in now), for those of you that want to try the beer on tap. Either way, make sure you get out there and support your newest micro-brewery. I can’t wait for the next release, which I hear is going to be a “logger”. When this comes out, check back here for more information, or come into the bar because we will definitely be carrying this as well. Congratulations Southern Star on a wonderful initial release. I expect great brews from you guys.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 6th, 2008 at 9:03 am. It is filed under Beer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.