Icon Series

 

Now retired, our Icon series featured beers that we released for about three months at a time. Each was different from other beers that we brew. Some were iconic of a beer style (which was the original concept), but some demonstrated more creative interpretations or melding of beer styles.

Most of the Icon releases were from recipes conceived and refined by our brewers. Occasionally a recipe inspired by a winning entry from the Big Batch Brew Bash was released in this series. Icon releases were generally in the 4% to 8% ABV range. Stronger special releases are reserved for the Divine Reserve series.

Icon Gold - Texas Wheat

Our final Icon release is the return of a Saint Arnold classic: Texas Wheat.

Texas Wheat is a refreshing, flavorful filtered wheat ale, perfect for a summer day. The wheat contributes a crisp flavor while maintaining a rich body. A delicate hop profile lends balance and complexity, while the subtle fruitiness is derived from the Kölsch yeast.

Date Released: June 4, 2018
Alcohol: 4.9% ABV
Bitterness: 18 IBU

 

Icon Green - Cryo IPA

Our Cryo IPA utilizes a new method of processing hops known as lupulin powder or Cryo technology. Dry hopped with Ekuanot, Citra, and Mosaic hops, the result is an IPA with bursts of citrus and melon aroma, upfront bitterness, a medium body and balanced finish.

Date Released: March 12, 2018
Alcohol: 6.0% ABV
Bitterness: 69 IBU

 

Icon Blue - Chocolate Milk Stout

Our Chocolate Milk Stout uses Houston’s own Hugo's Mexican Chocolate Tablets. Chocolate dominates, with notes of toffee, stone fruit, and cinnamon. Sweetness is balanced by the hop and roast bitterness. A medium body and creamy mouthfeel leads to a surprisingly crisp finish.

Date Released: December 4, 2017
Alcohol: 5.6% ABV
Bitterness: 39 IBU

 

Icon Red - Märzen

Our Märzen is a traditional German-style lager with a crisp and clean flavor. The malt provides a nice toasty and bready complexity through the use of decoction, while the hops are restrained to allow a soft and elegant finish.

Date Released: September 18, 2017
Alcohol: 5.8% ABV
Bitterness: 21 IBU

 

Icon Gold - Belgian IPA

Our Belgian IPA is a bit of a hybrid. The subtle clove and spice characteristics of the Belgian yeast create a backdrop for the liberal dry hopping – a distinctly American technique. The Citra hops used give this ale a fruit forward aroma.

Date Released: June 12, 2017
Alcohol: 6.8% ABV
Bitterness: 43 IBU

 

Icon Green - El Dorado IPA

Our El Dorado IPA is a red IPA showcasing a hop we’ve never before brewed with. The El Dorado hop is front and center in this ale, lending flavors of watermelon, pear and stone fruit - all balanced by a malt bill that creates the red color.

Date Released: March 13, 2017
Alcohol: 7.1% ABV
Bitterness: 48 IBU

 

Icon Blue - Chocolate Weizenbock

This weizenbock recipe first showed up as our Bishop's Barrel No. 4, but we loved the base beer so much we couldn't leave it at that. Using cocoa nibs from our friends at Tejas Chocolate, this beer has a flavor and aroma that is nothing short of a banana split. 

Date Released: January 9, 2017
Alcohol: 7.4% ABV
Bitterness: 19 IBU

 

Icon Red - Altbier

Icon Red - Altbier is a take on the traditional Düsseldorf-style Altbier. Brewed with all German malt, hops and yeast, this crisp sessionable beer has an assertive bitterness from the floral Perle hops that is well balanced by the rich, yet clean malt profile.

Date Released: October 3, 2016
Alcohol: 5.0% ABV
Bitterness: 40 IBU

 

Icon Gold - Texas Honey Saison

Icon Gold - Texas Honey Saison is a refreshingly bright ale brewed with Texas wildflower honey from our friends at Burleson’s. The honey evokes aromas of floral blooms and nectarines, while Lemon Drop and Motueka hops impart subtle notes of citrus and earthiness.

Date Released: June 6, 2016
Alcohol: 6.4% ABV
Bitterness: 22 IBU

 

Icon Green - 7220 Pale Ale

Icon Green - 7220 Pale Ale is a single-hop American pale ale that uses Hop No. 2010/72/20, a new experimental hop from Germany. Heavy hop additions during the later stages of the brewing process add notes of citrus, tropical fruit, and “juicy fruit” to the aroma and flavor.

Date Released: April 25, 2016
Alcohol: 6.1% ABV
Bitterness: 43 IBU

 

Icon Blue - Coffee Porter

Brewed with Houston’s Java Pura, Icon Blue - Coffee Porter is a smooth, medium bodied porter with a balance of chocolate, roast and coffee flavors. The mild sweetness is balanced by a roasty bitterness from both the combination of Bravo and Willamette hops and the coffee.

Date Released: January 28, 2016
Alcohol: 6.2% ABV
Bitterness: 51 IBU

 

Icon Red - American Roggenbier

Icon Red - American Roggenbier is our take on a traditional Roggenbier is hopped like an American pale ale. The piney, citrusy Cascade and Chinook hops add a dimension that works well with the spicy, hearty rye malt and the banana esters and clove phenols from the German weizen yeast.

Date Released: November 2, 2015
Alcohol: 5.8% ABV
Bitterness: 52 IBU

 

Icon Gold - Belgian-Style Wit

Our Belgian-Style Wit is a classic Witbier with a subtle aroma of coriander and orange peel and a distinct Belgian yeast character. The complexity of flavors in this medium-bodied ale make it crisp and refreshing.

Date Released: August 17, 2015
Alcohol: 5.0% ABV
Bitterness: 17 IBU

 

Icon Green - Amarillo Hefe

The base beer starts as a fairly traditional Hefe. As fermentation starts to putter out, a healthy dose of Amarillos are dry hopped to complement the banana and clove flavors of the yeast. The balance gives an impression of added spice flavor, but no spice was added. Just malt, hops, yeast, and water. Enjoy!

Date Released: May 11, 2015
Alcohol: 5.5% ABV

 

Icon Blue - Rye IPA

We wanted to make a big west coast IPA with tons of Mosaic and thought rye would add an interesting element to it. This copper colored take on an American IPA uses Rye and Cara Rye to add a distinct spicy flavor. The sweetness from those malts help balance out the bitterness created by the six varieties of American hops used in the beer. Columbus, Chinook, Centennial, Cascade, Simcoe and Mosaic combine to create a fruity, piney bouquet of flavors. The beer is fermented with our house yeast and has two huge Mosaic dry hop additions to create an aggressive depth in the aroma.

Date Released: February 23, 2015
Alcohol: 7.8% ABV
Bitterness: 75 IBU

 

Icon Red - Sorachi Ace Dubbel

A classic dubbel with a twist. This beer is led by a bold and complex Belgian yeast character with a strong malt backbone that delivers tones of dark fruits and raisins. Finishing off with an untraditional hopping of the Japanese hop Sorachi Ace rounds out the flavor and aroma of this beer with a creamy lemon character complementing the yeast and malt and creating a truly unique, enjoyable beer.

Date Released: November 24, 2014
Alcohol: 7.9% ABV
Bitterness: 40 IBU

 

Icon Gold - Mandarina Wheat

This golden slightly hazy beer has a nice creamy head with a lightly fruity aroma. The taste starts with a light hoppy bitter that carries through to the finish although never coming on too strong. The wheat malt provides a soft body that complements the hops while remaining light. The beer is highly refreshing with a nice hop finish that makes you want another sip.

Date Released: September 4, 2014
Alcohol: 5.5% ABV
Bitterness: 43 IBU

 

Icon Green - Texas Common


This red amber beer holds a nice creamy head. The aroma is full of tropical fruit. The flavor starts with a pleasant combination of fruit and malt and then goes to a long, dry bitter with just a hint of malt hanging on all the way.

The inspiration for this beer comes from San Francisco steam beers, but since the name “Steam” has been trademarked by Anchor Brewing, these beers are referred to as California Common Beers. We took a hoppier twist on this and thus named the style Texas Common. We fermented with the “San Francisco Lager” yeast at ale-like temperatures as is characteristic of the California Common style.

We used only one hop variety in this beer: Mosaic. This is a fairly new hop varietal, released in 2012 and is known for its distinct but complex tropical and citrus aroma and flavor. The tropical aspects come through well in our Texas Common.

Date Released: June 15, 2014
Alcohol: 6.7% ABV
Bitterness: 52 IBU

 

Icon Blue - Brown Porter

Our Brown Porter is a dark, medium bodied ale with rich chocolate malt notes. We used English malt and hops along with our Saint Arnold yeast that comes from a brewery in England.

This beer pours a dark brown color with ruby/garnet highlights and an off-white head. The aroma is predominantly chocolate with hints of nuttiness and lightly roasted coffee. The Saint Arnold yeast contributes mild esters, which are perfect for this style. Chocolate and roast are the primary flavors in this sessionable ale, with a distinct sweetness coming through as the beer warms up.

Date Released: March 3, 2014
Alcohol: 5.1% ABV
Bitterness: 27 IBU

 

Icon Red - Bohemian Pils

This beer starts with the distinctive Saaz hop nose, then a pleasant maltiness for such a light beer followed by a floral, spicy and earthy hop flavor that closes with a focused bitter finish. Very refreshing.

The inspiration for this beer comes from hop buying trips to the Czech Republic. The unfiltered, unpasteurized pilsners that you find there at the birthplace of the style gave the idea of recreating that same beer, but with an increased emphasis on the flavor and aromatic qualities of the hops.

We used one malt (pils) and one hop (Saaz) in brewing the beer. The maltiness is derived from the decoction mash, a traditional and rarely used method for heating the mash by removing a portion of the mash, boiling it, and then mixing it back in. The boiling causing caramelization that deepens the beers color and lowers the fermentability of the sugars resulting in a slightly richer bodied beer. Saaz hops are the only hop used in brewing that have never been hybridized, dating back to when hops were first used in brewing hundreds of years ago.

Date Released: November 11, 2013
Alcohol: 5.2% ABV
Bitterness: 33 IBU

 

Icon Gold- Bière de Saison

This beer has a complex spicy nose with notes of brown sugar and plums. The taste starts with big spicy malt and alcohol moving to fruity in the middle and then an earthy, spicy finish. High complexity reminiscent of something between a dubbel and a quadruppel.

The inspiration for this beer comes from the traditional French and Belgian farmhouse style ales; Bière de Noel and Saison. The malts used were focused on creating a complex malt backbone, with subtle floral characteristics from the Hersbrucker hops. The yeast is an aromatic Belgian Saison strain that produces complex esters balanced with earthy/spicy notes.

Date Released: August 5, 2013
Alcohol: 9.0% ABV
Bitterness: 18 IBU

 

Icon Green - Amarillo Hefe

The recipe for Amarillo Hefe came from a beer former brewer San Wright developed for his sister and brother in law's wedding. They wanted a hefeweizen for their reception, and he decided to put his own twist on it. Since some people like to put lemon or orange slices in hefes, he figured I could replace that with the bright citrus flavor and aroma of Amarillo hops. The base beer starts as a fairly traditional Hefe. As fermentation starts to putter out, a healthy dose of Amarillos are dry hopped to complement the banana and clove flavors of the yeast. The balance gives an impression of added spice flavor, but no spice was added. Just malt, hops, yeast, and water. Enjoy!

Date Released: May 1, 2013
Alcohol: 5.4% ABV

 

Icon Blue - Cascadian Dark Ale

The key to a Black IPA is to artfully balance the aggressive hop flavor and bitter with the roast of the black malt to create a wonderful marriage of the two competing tastes. Icon Blue starts with a big hop nose up front, the result of Centennial and Simcoe additions at end of boil and dry hopping. There is also a roast malt character that starts with the nose and goes all the way through the end. At the finish, the Chinook and Columbus hops kick in to create a lasting bitter. We fermented this beer with our Saint Arnold ale yeast, which contributes an additional complexity.

This beer was inspired by Pete Garza’s winning entry in the 2012 Big Batch Brew Bash.

Date Released: March 6, 2013
Alcohol: 7.0% ABV

 

Icon Red - Belgian-Style Pale Ale

We were going for an approachable Belgian beer that people could drink more than one of. We wanted to use a simple malt bill with British crystal malts to provide a nice sweetness that doesn't get muddled with the yeast character and the hops. To add an American element, Chinook hops were used for bittering, which adds a piney flavor. Saaz hops were added for aroma that blends well with the yeast. We selected a yeast that adds Belgian yeast character without going overboard with phenols. We wanted to make a beer that used ingredients from disparate brewing traditions that worked well together.

Date Released: December 10, 2012
Alcohol: 6.0% ABV