Although the craft beer scene came later to Texas than it did to other parts of the country, Houston helped pave the way in establishing the state’s craft beer cred. Today, Houston’s home to eight operational breweries, with many more in the works. I recently visited one of Houston’s more experimental craft breweries, Buffalo Bayou Brewing Company. Founded in 2011, Buffalo Bayou isn’t satisfied with simply brewing beer to honor Texas’s pioneering spirit – they’re making their own rules as they go, and Houston’s craft beer scene is all the better for it.

When you arrive at Buffalo Bayou Brewing in Houston, TX, the first thing you will probably do is check to make sure you typed the address correctly into the GPS system. Neither the building nor the location really screams “here lies a brewery” and there is no sign out front. This is by design rather than mistake says Owner Rassul Zarinfar. More than 200 people show up for their weekly Saturday tour sessions, making the brewery’s social space fairly cramped – so Rassul knows that most people either already know or will take the time to find his location if they really want to come. Buffalo Bayou rewards those who attend their tours, pulling out all the stops to showcase the creativity of the brewing staff and giving the drinker a trip through what beer can be in its craziest forms.

“It’s not too early for a beer?” Rassul jokingly asked my father, friend, and me when we arrived at his brewery at 10 am on a Tuesday. Of course not, that is why we were there, right? We started off with his flagship, of sorts -1836, a copper ale designed to incorporate the best of American, English, and Belgian Pale Ales. This was everything you would want in a flagship beer; drinkable yet interesting.

As we enjoyed our first glass, Rassul started to give the short bio of his brewery, which just celebrated one year in operation. “A brand should be a personal promise of quality. I am personally responsible for every beer that leaves our brewery. That is what I feel our brand is.” That is a big promise for a brewery that has produced 9 beers on its 20 bbl system and 45 specialty beers for festivals, charity events, etc. Yeah, you read that right, 45 different specialty one-off beers. That certainly could make it difficult to build a brand. His brand, however, is not about a specific beer but rather a concept of what a brewery can be in today’s market. “Each recipe/beer is rooted in flavor theory and has a story,” Rassul explained.

This idea was clearly evident as we continued tasting and talking about his beers. While we moved onto another brew, More Cowbell Aged on White Oak, a double IPA which uses European hops to cut down on the astringency, Rassul talked about how they develop recipes for special events. One expample was that Mongoose Versus Cobra, a craft beer bar in Houston, was hosting a Buffalo Bayou tap takeover. In thinking of the idea of a mongoose with its cunning calm demeanor fighting a cobra and its quick aggressive venom, the brewery crafted a Black IPA with chile and coconut. The chile brought the venom, while the coconut slowed the beer down and chilled your palate. We were quickly realizing that this was not your normal brewer and brewery.

From the beer they brewed specifically for Rice University (Rassul’s alma mater) utilizing rice, Centennial Hops (100-year anniversary), and a tree limb taken from campus to the Chai Porter, Cherry Chocolate Stout, Smoked Cherry Blonde, or their Double Buffalo (a double 1836), the creativity just pours out of this brewery, almost as fast as we were draining our glasses.

Even with the diverse selection, two beers really took the cake and describe Buffalo Bayou the best in my opinion. The first is one of their regular releases, Smoke on the Bayou. As Rassul was showing us the brewery, we got to their grain storage area and the talk of Smoke on the Bayou began. “Wine has terroir that contributes to its specific flavor. Beer doesn’t really have that, especially in the South. We wanted to create that in a beer. Give the drinker an idea of our local ‘terroir.'” When they had the idea for a smoked beer, they took malt to 3 different BBQ places near their brewery and had them each individually smoke some malt in their smokehouses. Each one brought a distinctly different flavor profile to the table, which Rassul then blends to create a completely unique and local beer.

The second stand-out is their Barrel-Aged Gingerbread Stout (even the normal version sells out “terrifyingly” quickly once it hits the shelves). For their one-year anniversary party, they put a batch in a Jack Daniel’s barrel. Although I didn’t have a chance to enjoy it, I can’t help mentioning how they describe it on their beer list. “We call this ‘Reindeer Tears’ because it’s fucking straight-up magic.” Not sure I would describe it any other way.