Craft beer makers at Southern Star Brewing want you to stop in and try the beers. The brewery offers free tours that allow brewers, who have experimented with unique and limited variety hops, to show off their art, owner Dave Fougeron said.

Hops can be in short supply due to high demand or when a grower has not planted enough, which is why some beers are only made once. The tours give the public a chance to taste these fleeting brews.

“Our brewers say, ‘You know what? I want to make this,’” Fougeron said. “We love making them, and we love to drink them as well.”

The tours offer visitors a chance to try the new beers and generally become guests of the brewery.

“They’re really laid-back,” Fougeron said. “People just come in here, and we have regulars and then we’ve got some for the first time checking it out. They’ll sit at the tables and bring chairs outside, break out the cornhole. It turns into kind of a social hub.”

Oh My Darling! hot dogs or El Latino Sabor taco truck provide food options for brewery guests.

The brewery hosts tastings in the taproom on the weekends. Guests are offered one free pint or a flight, which is four small servings of a different beer on tap, such as pale ales or a seasonal variety.

“Our summer beer, Walloon, is our interpretation of an extinct grisette beer style,” Fougeron said. “It was a working man’s beer from the early 1800s, and by 1960,  no one’s making it anymore.”

Southern Star is the first independent brewery in Texas to put craft beer in cans, which are made two miles down the road from the brewery. The cans prevent light and air exposure. Beer is like a loaf of bread, Fougeron said, and the more air beer is exposed to, the sooner it goes stale.

All of Southern Star’s beer labels are designed by Fougeron’s longtime friend Michael Draper.

“I’ve known him for a very long time,” Fougeron said. “His art style is so diverse. A lot of the stuff he does I absolutely love. I just think it’s neat to have a friend do all of your artwork.”

Southern Star beers are available in several Woodlands-area restaurants including Americas, The Refuge Bar and Bistro, Hubbell and Hudson Bistro and Hop Scholar Ale House.

Southern Star Brewery crafts year-round, seasonal and specialty beers.

Year-rounds:

• Bombshell Blonde Ale: mild flavor, lighter body • Buried Hatchet Stout: English-style imperial stout • Pine Belt Pale Ale: caramel and hops • Valkyrie-double IPA

Seasonal:

• Walloon: crisp farmhouse-style • Le Mort Vivant: bier de garde • Old Potentate: English-style old ale • Red Cockaded Ale: imperial red ale

Specialty:

• Black Crack: bourbon barrel-aged Buried Hatchet Stout • Taproom series-varies