Another snag for brewpub project
Plans by Delicious Concepts Restaurant Group to open a Houston brewpub have taken another detour, as the high-profile brewmaster brought in for the project a year ago has parted ways with the local dining chain.
But the head of Delicious Concepts insists he is still moving forward with his plans. The brewer, Erik Ogershok, who helped amass an awardwinning portfolio of beers at Hill Country-based Real Ale Brewing Co., says he remains committed to Houston and is looking for an opportunity to open a dining-and-beer-making operation of his own.
Ogershok moved here a year ago at the same time Delicious Concepts shuttered its failed El Cantina Superior, 602 Studewood at White Oak in the Heights. The plan announced then was to reopen as a brewpub in that building.
Within five months, however, those plans changed after the owners decided the building was
too small. In January, the group said it would open a new restaurant, Ritual, in the space with Ogershok overseeing the craft-beer menu.
Meanwhile, he and Delicious Concepts CEO Ken Bridge would work toward securing another location for the brewpub.
Ogershok and Bridge now cite diverging “visions” as causing the split, although both declined to be more specific.
“I guess our visions were not aligned,” Bridge said Tuesday, confirming that the business partnership was over.
Bridge said he “absolutely” intends to move forward with his plans and has a property under contract. He declined to elaborate, other than to describe it as an ambitious project.
“I’m swinging for the fences,” he said.
Ogershok made clear that he, too, plans to stay in Houston and remains eager to open a food-andbeer-brewing establishment. He said he is in discussions with potential partners and is encouraged by the response.
He also said he is ready to get back to brewing.
“I’m like a shark,” he said. “I’ve got to keep swimming.”
Brewpub restaurants similar to the ones described by Ogershok and Bridge were fairly common in Houston after they were legalized by the Texas Legislature in 1993, but they were all gone by 2010 for a variety of reasons.
They are making a rebound now, thanks in part to a change in state law that went into effect in 2013 that allowed brewers with a brewpub license to package and sell their beer beyond their own building. Currently, 19 brewpubs have state licenses to operate in Harris and adjacent counties.
So far this summer, Eureka Heights Brew Co., 941 W. 18th, and City Acre Brewing Co., 3418 Topping, have opened with brewpub licenses.