I’ve mentioned on more than one occasion that the craft beer scene in Texas is growing exponentially but DAMN! The venue for Houston’s recent beer fest was to hold 12,000 attendees, yet somehow, 20,000 tickets were sold.

20,000 attendees! They lined up for blocks waiting just to get into the festival, not to mention the ridiculously long lines for each vendor, according to blogs.houstonpress.com.

While I’m excited to see so very many people taking interest in craft beer in Houston, I can’t help but wish the tickets hadn’t been oversold. No one should endure lines that long in heat like Houston’s, ever. Hopefully event planners next year can find a larger venue or at least keep to their prescribed cap.

TAGS [ HOUSTON BEER FEST ]

On Thursday night I had the pleasure of hitting up the opening night festivities at Roc Brewing Co., Rochester NY’s newest microbrewery. I’ll be sure write more about the event (and the beer) later but I’m dedicating this particular post to their foot rails.

You may have noticed that we make a big deal about foot rails around here. We really do subscribe to the belief that no bar is finished until it has one. Foot rails (and purse hooks) will both vastly improve the comfort and convenience levels of a bar. I tend to feel let down when bars don’t have one. I guess they’re one of those things that people tend to take for granted – you might not think about how great foot rails are until you’re sitting at a bar that doesn’t have one.

The bar in the Roc Brewing Co. tasting room does have one — and it’s awesome. People typically stick to one type of finish but to match their "industic" (a harmonious union of industrial and rustic) décor, they opted to do brushed stainless steel tubing with brushed brass components.

Call me a purist if you will but I was a bit skeptical about how it would look before I saw it installed. I stand corrected. The multi-tone bar was crafted from stunning reclaimed wood, and the foot rail they chose really works.

Speaking of that reclaimed wood, I had a chance to chat with the Pioneer Millworks team that supplied it (over a beer of course) and not only are they great people, they’ve got an awesome catalog of fantastic recycled wood products. If you’re working on a bar, I suggest checking them out for inspiration.

I snapped a few pictures of the rail to give you an idea of what I’m talking about and people were definitely wondering what I was up to, crouched low to the ground with my camera aimed at their feet. I hope some of them read this and understand that it’s not anything weird, I just really like foot rails.

TAGS [ BAR FOOT RAILS | BAR RAILS | ROC BREWING CO ]