Neches Brewing: The Taste of Southeast Texas

Hello, Great Beer Now readers! This is the final entry in a multi- part series highlighting the Great Beer Now Boozy Bayou Beer Tour 2018, a beer and booze excursion that took me on a journey through the Lake Charles, Louisiana region and southeast Texas. It’s an area rich in local culture and customs and also home to some great breweries and distilleries. Cheers, and have fun following me on this Cajun- style adventure!

 

Breweries sometimes impress us with their massive size, state of the art interiors, informative brewery tours, and otherwise over-the-top production and presentation. These breweries are great and they certainly stand out in the crowd. But smaller, less boisterous breweries can be equally satisfying and a good example of this is Neches Brewing, located at 1108 Port Neches Ave., Port Neches, Texas right outside of Beaumont.

Come on In

Neches Brewing is an unassuming place located on the main street in downtown Port Neches, Texas, a little known city close to the Gulf of Mexico. The brewery occupies the end space of a building and the interior is long and narrow. The brewhouse is in back, completely out of view, so you wouldn’t even know you were in a brewery. It has the immediate look and feel of a local tavern.

Neches Brewing utilizes a small, three- barrel brewing system and serves its own beers on tap plus several competitors beers. They serve food, too, with a brunch, lunch, dinner, and kids menus. The brewery doesn’t have a parking lot of its own, but there is a good deal of street parking, right out front.

Southeast Texas Brew

I sampled 8 different Neches Brewing beers when I visited. Here is a summary of the beers I tried, listed alphabetically by name, followed by the style and my Untappd rating on a five point scale:

• Avenue Amber, American Amber, 3.5
• Big Floyd Stout, Imperial Stout, 4.5
• Dreamcatcher, Red IPA, 4
• Honey Blonde, 4
• Logan Lager, American Light, 3.75
• Pea Patch, American Pale Ale, 4
• Rainbow Bridge, American Wheat, 3.25
• Walt Wilkins, German Pils, 3.25

Overall average rating: 3.78

They have some tasty brew at Neches Brewing. I was partial to Big Floyd Stout, but I like my beer dark. The Dreamcatcher Red IPA was probably my next favorite in what is a solid lineup of beer overall.

Go to the Gulf

Neches Brewing is a smaller brewing operation and one that isn’t well known outside of its local area. The small city of Port Neches borders on the larger city of Beaumont, a city that, I learned, is sorely lagging the rest of the state in terms of homebrewed craft beer. Neches Brewing in fact is the only craft brewery in the area and one would have to travel all the way to Lake Charles Louisiana or the Houston/Galveston area to find the next closest craft brewery.

I visited Neches Brewing as part of my beer tour of the Southwest Louisiana/Southeast Texas areas. I had heard little or nothing about Neches Brewing previously and wasn’t even aware that this brewery existed until I checked the Brewery Finder in craftbeer.com during the pre- planning phase of my tour. It sounded like a good addition and besides, I like the mystery factor when I visit a new brewing operation.

Neches Brewing takes on the look of a small sports tavern and those who visit may not even know they are steeping into a brewery. You cannot see the brewing equipment and as far as I know, there are no public tours. You only realize you’re in a brewery when you happen to see the tap handles depicting the Neches Brewing name. When I visited, they had about nine or ten beers on tap. I quickly ordered flight samples and tasted my way through the majority of them. Talking with the bartender, I learned that the Honey Blonde is the brewery’s top selling beer and I also learned that Neches Brewing has been around for less than two years, having opened its doors for the first time in the fall of 2016.

Food is served at Neches Brewing and I was feeling the hunger pangs when I visited here on a Sunday afternoon. For my late lunch, I got the honey blonde butter chicken biscuit. It was very crumbly- I had to eat it with a fork but I liked the flavors present in the biscuit and meat breading/seasoning. Neches Brewing has a popular brunch menu, too, and they serve appetizers, burgers, and a few other options. The food is American style and made to go with the beer. I liked the food and found it satisfying, even though the beer is clearly the star of the show.

Larger breweries often ‘oohh’ and ‘aahhh’ with their state of the art design, massive size, and endless array of open spaces and activities. These big operations are nice, but one should never overlook the often pleasant surprises in store at a smaller brewing operation. Neches Brewing may not be a household name, but it more than satisfies with its delicious suds, friendly and informative staff, and its chill atmosphere. Pay a visit to Neches Brewing the next time you find yourself in the Southeast Texas area. And tell them Great Beer Now sent you.