We’re always on the lookout for a family-friendly brewery. We loved our visit this past weekend to Great Heights Brewing Company, located in the Garden Oaks/Oak Forest area.
The Beers:
My favorite Great Heights beer was the Denali IPA. It reminded me of the Lone Pint Yellow Rose IPA, which is my favorite beer of all time. The Denali is a lighter IPA with strong flavor and a nice citrus finish.
Andrew liked the Kolsch, a solid, crisp, refreshing summer/Houston fall beer. Since it’s still 90 degrees here, it was much needed.
I
found out they do a Teacher happy hour on Fridays, $3 pints for hardworking educators. This makes my heart happy.
I would recommend trying a flight, as these brewers seem to experiment a lot. I liked a few beers I thought I wouldn’t like, and didn’t care for some beers that are my usual go-tos. I’m looking forward to trying their Porter when it’s later in the Fall.
The Food Situation:
Purple Flour pizza food truck is now stationed outside of Great Heights whenever the brewery is open. I’m from Pittsburgh and my husband is from the Chicago area so we’re used to delicious mom and pop pizza, which is very difficult to find here in Houston. We like a plain cheese pie, and lemme tell you, Brad at Purple Four can do it! We were so surprised – it tasted like home! Vegan friends, Brad said he’s working on some vegan options, but in the meantime you can order a pie with tons of veggies and no cheese.
We will definitely order from Purple Four again. You can also bring in your own food.
The Atmosphere:
We went to Great Heights on an early evening on a Saturday, and the brewery was half full with sports fans watching college football and the Astros, half full with families. The space is filled with rows of picnic tables with strong AC inside and a patio area outside. The brewery staff didn’t mind all the kids running around- in fact, they were super accommodating. We accidentally spilled some beer and a guy ran over and helped us clean up, then brought us a fresh pint on the house. Super, duper nice.
They have a great Houston mural outside, and inside they feature local art. They host lots of events- trivia nights, drink specials, etc. Lots of people biked over or walked. They’re what a local brewery should be.
Gaming:
We attempted some One Deck Dungeon, one of our favorite games to take to a brewery. The gameplay is pretty fast and engaging, but you can chat and watch some sports while playing too. All the characters are women and the art is on point.
Andrew plays the Mage, I play the Warrior, and our characters level up after each round. The game gets progressively harder and there is a ton of replay value. There’s not much in the way of a story, but I do like the descriptions of the traps, monsters, and dungeons.
Eleanor played along for a bit, but we had to stop when she started putting the dice in her mouth. We switched to Matching Frozen. 🙂
Hope you all had a great weekend! Lemme know where we should go next!