Sundown at the Grove

Last Wednesday, I visited Sundown at the Grove presented by Southwest airlines. The event is weekly and showcases craft breweries paired with cuisine created by the Grove’s chef! I feel a bit cheated since this event has been around for five years and this is only the first year that I heard of it! When the organizers invited me to attend, I jumped at the chance to experience Sundown and of course share my experience with you all!

How it Works

The event is hosted on the Grove’s upstairs patio which is hands down one of the best rooftop patios in the city. Best of all, there are a couple of indoor air conditioned areas with bars so you can avoid the Houston heat. By purchasing a Sundown ticket, you are granted access to the larger air conditioned room. One side of the room includes an impressive buffet with light bites to be paired with your beers. On the day I visited, Sundown featured 8th Wonder as the beer for the evening.

I checked in and received a bracelet granting me access to the Sundown room. From there, I walked to the back counter, handed the attendant a ticket and she provided me with a flight of four beers plus the menu listing the food pairings. For those who are not beer drinkers, the hosts offer two glasses of wine as a fair trade. Though I generally prefer wine, I opted out since this event is intended to showcase beer.

Oh and with Southwest as the host, you a chance to win cool prices like two free roundtrip tickets. They even had Southwest baggage tags as free swag. I for one was super excited to see the baggage tags because I generally fly Southwest. Lame I know!

The Food and the Beer

8th Wonder is constantly listed as the top brewery in Houston, so I trust that it is and me the novice beer drinker should not give her opinion. The brewery featured their rocket fuel paired with a mini bahn mi, dome feaux’m with homemade cracker jacks, the astro turf with grilled pineapple & chile salad and finally the intellectual with bananas foster pudding.

Someday I should take a beer education case so I know what everyone is talking about when they mention IPAs and hoppy etc. For now, you will have to deal with my color descriptions. My favorite beer was the Rocket Fuel, the darker beer which paired with the mini bahn mi. This beer had a coffee like flavor that hit you in the after taste. It paired well with the spice from the mini bahn mi. My next favorite was the dome feaux’m and it’s food friend, the homemade cracker jacks.

The beer! Plus Southwest peanuts because they are the host.

Grilled Pineapple and Chile salad

Bananas Foster Pudding

Mini Bahn Mi

While you only received one flight for the evening, there is a full bar in the other room offering more cocktails so you could drink the night away. Also, the food buffet was open the entire night allowing us to go back for seconds. My favorite thing were the homemade cracker jacks, so I grabbed another bag for the ride home!

Overall

Thought it was a bit hot, Sundown is a great after work event. Best of all, the event falls on Wednesdays which is notoriously bad day for finding after work fun! Tickets for the event are regularly $22.75 and can be purchased here. For those not interested in the extensive menu, you can still visit the Grove’s rooftop and just order drinks from the smaller bar. With a great downtown location, delicious bites, plus beer, you really cannot beat this experience!

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