As the future of repurposing the historic Astrodome looms ahead, only blocks away, Houston’s 8th Wonder Brewery shines bright as it turned 3 years old on March 12, kicking off its “Celebr8ion of Beer” bash with live music and well-crafted beer.
Hype man and co-founder Ryan Soroka said it’s been a fun ride so far, but they’re not done yet.
“Houston has been super supportive, and we can’t thank the community enough,” Soroka said. “We got a few things up our sleeves; while we respect our past, we look forward to what the future holds.”
Attendance at 8th Wonder has increased exponentially since its opening in 2013/Photo by Pablo Milanese|Cooglife
Celebrating wondrous growth
The sold out event, 2,500 tickets to be exact, surpassed last year’s attendance of 1,500, and that is just one of the brewery’s notable expansions over the years.
Soroka said the brewery did roughly 5,000 barrels in 2015, and anticipate doubling that number by the end of 2016.
“The first year we did just under 1,000 barrels,” he said. “Our second year we did around 1,500 to 2,000 barrels, and we project to do around 10,000 barrels this year.”
Much of that increase will come as the Houston brewery officially launched its canning line on March 7. The beer cans will now be found in stores like H-E-B, Spec’s, Randalls and Krogers across the city. Prices will vary by retailers, but it’s roughly under $10.
The launching flavors include their traditional Dome Faux’m, Texas IPA Hopston and Vietnamese Coffee Porter Rocket Fuel. The formers are available in 6-packs, while Rocket Fuel comes in 4-packs.
Photo by Pablo Milanese|Cooglife
Unlikely trio
The brewery began within a 5,000 sq. ft. corner at the end of the building with the capacity of 80 barrels when they first started in 2013. Now it owns the entire 15,000 sq. ft. building, holding 10 times more capacity of barrels, with a nice outdoor yard, an acre lot converted it into the fun zone “Wonder World” and another acre lot for parking.
Such success hasn’t changed 8th Wonder’s second co-founder, Brew Master and Hotel and Restaurant Management lecturer Aaron Corsi, who looked nothing like the suited profile picture on the UH Directory website. He blended right in the crowd with a black cap that capsuled his long shaggy hair and dark shades, sporting a Dome Faux’m shirt and worn out jeans.
“I never expected to be a professor,” Corsi said. “After being in the restaurant industry for a while, I thought about what I wanted to do with my life, what would I like to do if I won the lottery? And I thought, well I love wine, beer and spirits— to do that I’d be set.”
Corsi and Soroka met while completing their master’s program at the Conrad N. Hilton College, and such different personalities didn’t click right away.
“Ryan is a very hyperactive person, some of that is the opposite of me,” Corsi said, while sipping on a Dome Faux’m can of beer. “I’m more relaxed and calculating; he’s very go, go, go. He’s like an energizer bunny.
“I didn’t know what to make of it at first, but once I got to know him and started making this business together, I’m really happy with how great our different personalities worked well together. He’s the type of guy you want in the marketing world.”
Corsi said Soroka was approached by third co-founder Alex Vassilakidis to start a food truck, which later became Eatsie Boys in 2010, in a finance class, in the same classroom Corsi now teaches in.
“I always point at the two seats we used to sit at and joke that those are some very good seats, it’s where 8th wonder was born,” Corsi said.
The trio then signed a lease in May 2011, but didn’t brew their first batch of beer until February 2013, taking them almost two years before they had 8th Wonder up and running, said Soroka.
“The first year, it was just basically the three of us,” Corsi said. “Everything that needed to be done, we did it ourselves, and it’s just been snowballing from there.”
The walls give thought to Houston’s past greatness and nostalgia/Photo by Pablo Milanese|Cooglife
Homage with a twist
8th Wonder, located in an East Downtown Third Ward neighborhood, keeps nostalgia alive with renditions of vintage Rockets and Astros logos adorning the ceiling and walls, while original Astrodome stadium seats border along corners of the brewery.
“We pay homage with a twist,” Corsi said.
Approximately 40 percent of the 8th Wonder staff members are from UH, such as hotel and restaurant management senior and former intern Matt Bauman, who finds adventure in every brew. The self-proclaimed history buff got his first taste of IPA beer when he was 19 and with it an unknown fact for many, how the IPAs got started.
“When Great Britain started to colonize the world, they got to spend time over in India,” Bauman said. “They had these big barrels of ale that were fermenting and by the time they got there, it got to be a lot stronger, so what they ended up drinking was a lot higher in alcohol content, about 8 percent ABV. When they got to the shore, (they) popped open a cask, drank it and it just blew their minds.”
Bauman said the internship gave him a place to explore his love for brewed beer, along a great environment, which is now dog-friendly.
“This brewery does a great job encompassing all the qualities that make Houston great,” Bauman said. “I consider myself fortunate because I get the chance to say I love where I work and don’t think past generations got to experience that.”
Beverage management senior Jessie Cline originally wanted to go into the wine business, but after taking Corsi’s lectures, the more she found out beer was everywhere, so she decided to pick Corsi’s brain through the internship.
“He is so insanely smart, if you ever ask him about tasting sciences, he analyzes all these components and uses (complex terminology) for very simple things. You feel like you’re a real brewer, you’re really learning first hand,” Cline said. “It’s a self-driven internship; you get to really learn from the areas you’re most interested, that’s what I like about it.”
One of the things she just accepted was that mixing beer is okay.
“Never be afraid of something you may not like in the beginning, your palate is constantly changing,” she said.
When she sensed the skepticism, she casually grabbed a plastic cup and filled it with Astroturf, a dry hopped cream ale, and mixed it with a mango-flavored Kickin’ Kombucha.
The result was surprisingly delicious.
“I just tried it today,” she said. “I think it’s definitely something that we’ll be probably featuring for the summer.”
Craft brews are increasingly more in demand/Photo by Pablo Milanese|Cooglife
Thirsty community
The craft brewing market is booming in Texas and is projected to reach $5.6 billion in the next four years, according to the Houston Business Journal, as other home-grown breweries like Saint Arnold and Karbach Brewery are also looking to expand.
“Texas and Houston are a very thirsty community,” Corsi said. “We’re underserved, but we don’t have a lot of educated staff. We don’t have a lot of breweries available.
“We’re trying to help the next generation take reign. I want to see more breweries, it might be counter intuitive, but I want to see 10 or maybe 15 breweries in the Houston market, it’ll make the market better.”
While 8th Wonder’s biggest party kicked with new and missed brewed flavors like pale ale Brewston and Haterade-Gose wheat ale brew, new innovating experiments are underway, said Soroka and Corsi.
Corsi said there’s just a few things that still haunt him.
“I want to do a chocolate peanut butter beer,” he said. “There’s a few (brews) that have been out in the market and it just hasn’t hit the mark yet. I’ve been trying for the last 10 years to come up with the perfect recipe. It’s my little unicorn out there I want to eventually get.”
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