Siblings bring craft beer to Magnolia

Every weekend for six years, Trevor Brown and his sister Heather Bolla would shut themselves in Brown's garage to brew beer. After testing and perfecting dozens of recipes, the siblings introduced craft beer to Magnolia by establishing Lone Pint Brewery in January 2012.

Located at 507 Commerce St., Brown, Bolla and her fiance, Blake Niederhoser, celebrated sending their first batches of beer off to local and Houston-area pubs at the beginning of the year.

"I love beer, and I love making it," Brown said. "I also love to cook, and the two are sort of related. I love the whole craft beer movement and being able to participate in it."

Although she always wanted to own a business, Bolla said, franchise ownership seemed most likely. During a conversation with her brother about opening a brew pub, Brown had a different idea instead—to start their own brewery. After investing more than $30,000 in equipment and testing recipes, Bolla said she is ready for Lone Pint to make a name for itself, and craft beer, in the community.

"The craft beer industry is just a great group of people who are laid back," she said. "And we get to have fun working with all the different flavors."

Lone Pint uses a distribution company that in turn places LP kegs in pubs across Houston, including two local spots: GenuWine Tasting Room, 6503 FM 1488, and The Golden Retriever, 6960 FM 1488. And although it cannot sell beer directly to customers at the brewery, Brown does not hesitate to give free cups to visitors. It's facility in Magnolia houses a 20-gallon brewing system complete with a brewhouse, malt mill, fermentors and a massive walk-in cooler.

"Right now we are just doing kegs and can maybe start bottling in a year or two," Brown said.

The costs of bottling are much higher than filling kegs, he said, but he and Bolla would like to bottle eventually.

Since opening the brewery in Magnolia, Brown said, the city and surrounding community has been receptive to its presence. Lone Pint plans to be involved in events on the Stroll to hand out free samples, and it had positive feedback during Mardi Gras on the Stroll Feb. 9.

Individuals can schedule weekend tours at the brewery free of charge to sample the beer and learn more about the brewing process.

Lone Pint's brews

The brewery offers about 12 beers, each of which use a variety of fruits, nuts and other natural flavors to produce a distinctive taste. Here are a few mixtures they are proud of.

• 667 Neighbor of the Beast: An American India Pale Ale with orange nectar and a creamy white head. It is full of hop flavor with notes of grapefruit, peach and honey.
• Gentleman's Relish: An English Brown Ale that is dark brown with a thick, creamy head. The chocolate, caramel and nutty mixture yields a clean, hoppy finish.
• The Jabberwocky: An Imperial India Pale Ale that is deep golden with a head made of hop resin. There is a malt bread flavor beneath a hoppy, tropical fruit taste.
• Tornado Shark: An American Strong Ale with a toffee-colored head. It has notes of malty sweetness with hints of dried fruit and burnt sugar.

The perfect brew

1. Mill the grain to crush it, making it suitable for brewing
2. Mash the grain, which uses hot water to convert sugars and prepare for fermenting
3. Sparge the mixture, which uses hot water to push sugar from the grain into a separate holding tank
4. Boil the resulting grain mix for about 90 minutes
5. Chill the mixture at about 68 degrees Fahrenheit
6. Add yeast for fermentation, which lasts one to two weeks, and carbonation is also added

Lone Pint Brewery, 507 Commerce St, Magnolia, 713-304-5069, www.lonepint.com