Grocer will make one brand available at all of its area locations
The in-house brewpub at Whole Foods Market's BLVD Place store is putting its products on the road, adding to the growing number of craft beers available around the region.
Whole Foods Market Brewing Co., a two-man operation that has proved a hit inside the store at 1700 Post Oak Blvd., producing a total of 38 beers since it opened in early November, will release its Post Oak Pale Ale at all 10 Houston-area Whole Foods locations beginning Aug. 8. The stores will kick off sales with a simultaneous tapping at noon.
The brewery signed with wholesaler Ben E. Keith Beverages to distribute the beer statewide beginning Sept. 18. Brewmaster Dave Ohmer said that, because of the brewery's limited capacity, the focus will be on the Houston area and that statewide releases will be made occasionally.
It also will not package the beer in cans or bottles initially.
"We don't have a lot of extra beer to put in them," he said.
Ohmer acknowledged Whole Foods' "unique position as a producer and a retailer" and he stressed that he is not looking for any special advantage over other craft breweries in the state. He said he and associate brewer Stephen Pace have worked hard to establish relationships with the local brewing community and want to promote craft beer broadly.
Also to that end, Whole Foods has collaborated to make special-release beers with the local Buffalo Bayou and Southern Star breweries and with Houston beer-radio host James Simpson. Currently, it has on tap a peach ale that was brewed with Karbach Brewing Co. and aged with French oak staves that had previously been soaked in white wine.
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