The brewery will have unique flavors that will challenge your concept of beer, especially their wild and sour ales.

True Anomaly will use half of its space for manufacturing and production.

True Anomaly plans to use a variety of barrels that will complement the beers in different ways.

It doesn’t take rocket science to know that Houstonians love their breweries. But it might take rocket scientists to bring something new to Space City’s craft beer scene.

True Anomaly Brewing is testing that theory as it plans to open in EaDo late this year. Four former and current NASA employees have banded together as brewers. You could say they’re bringing something fresh to the space at 2012 Dallas, and well… space itself.

Their new brewery’s name is a nod to their backgrounds in celestial mechanics. In layman’s terms, true anomaly is the position of a body moving in orbit. You can expect the unexpected with these brewers.

“Anomaly — it means different, unexpected,” brewery co-founder Michael Duckworth tells PaperCity. “True Anomaly is truly unexpected.”

Friends and coworkers Michael Duckworth, Tom Ahlstrom, Ben Stahl and David Lantz all started as interns at NASA together. They started “brewing together ages ago. Damn near a decade,” Duckworth notes.

Now, they plan to have a little bit of everything at True Anomaly, but their focus will be on Belgian-inspired ales, hoppy ales, and the more offbeat wild and sour ales.

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The scientists-turned-brewers are looking to create something unusual, “different flavors that aren’t as prevalent either here in Houston or in the market,” Ahlstrom says. “We’ll have beers that are going to challenge the flavors you’re used to drinking.”

Think sours such as the Blueberry Berliner and Golden Sour Pale Ale. True Anomaly will keep creativity front and center, using practices like mixed culture fermentation. In that process, brewers select a mix of different yeasts and bacteria to yield greater complexity in flavors.

It’s a great choice for wild ales, because you can get lots of different flavors using Brett yeast, Ahlstrom says.

Some possibilities? “Tropical fruit flavors, farmyard, rustic flavors — or all of those combined.”

True Anomaly will also bust out giant, 310-gallon Foeder barrels for some saisons. Benefits of these brewing behemoths include greater consistency of product — as opposed to making batches in several smaller barrels — and a higher beer-to- wood ratio, which allows beer to mature with less risk of acidification.

“We’ll have stainless steel, but we’re doing some experimenting with oak fermented beers to bring that kind of farmhouse aspect,” Ahlstrom says.

Also on the list? Bourbon barrels, port barrels abd brandy barrels to “complement the beer in different ways.”

Brewery Takeoff

True Anomaly’s origin story is a craft beer classic, with a few twists. You’ve got your humble beginnings, plus some trademark trouble.

It all started with a home brew kit. Ahlstrom bought Duckworth a kit for Christmas one year, though it’s debatable whom the gift was really for. “It’s the gift that keeps giving,” Ahlstrom admits.

They started a brewing club around 2010 or 2011. By 2013, they were flying under the flag Apogee Brewing.

“The passion turned into an obsession turned into a job,” Duckworth says. In 2013, Apogee collaborated with Buffalo Bayou Brewing on a seasonal wheat beer. Wit X-Mas — their punny play on White Christmas — was a hit. The light beer with notes of nutmeg, cinnamon and vanilla, was distributed at nearly 60 bars all around Houston.

True Anomaly wil have a range of beers, with an emphasis on Belgian-inspired ales, wild ales, and sour ales.

Apogee proved too popular a name, with another brewery and a winery laying claim to the trademark. The four rebranded as True Anomaly. They certainly didn’t expect any of that.

Astronomy will influence the names of individual brews as well. “One of the biggest things for us is Space City,” Ahlstrom says. “We have a unique opportunity to shine a light on that, really be local.”

Their first series will be named after The Original Seven, or Mercury 7, after the original seven astronauts who were selected for the Mercury 7 mission.

“It’s a good example of how we’d like to pull on the space theme, but we do it in kind of a respectful and educational way,” Duckworth says.

True Anomaly’s founders want beer fans to come in curious and willing to step outside their comfort zone. They’re setting their taproom at center stage, with a real focus on “pushing the explorer in all of us through that tap room,” Duckworth says.

“Every time you come in the tap room I would hope there would be at least one new beer on tap you hadn’t seen before,” Ahlstrom adds. Their 10-barrel system will force True Anomaly to brew more different recipes to keep taps full.

Exploration On Tap

The 8,200 square feet of space will be divided up, with half used for manufacturing and production, and the other half split in half again, with one side used for barrel aging and the other as the tap room itself.

“The upwards of 75 percent consumption will come through the taproom itself,” Duckworth says.

With limited distribution, True Anomaly will sell cases to go. The taproom’s design will highlight the production process, getting beer enthusiasts a little closer to the action with a tank-side view.

True Anomaly will not serve food but will welcome patrons to grab a bite and bring it over.

The founders hope that the area, with Eighth Wonder nearby and Sigma not too far from that, will “become kind of a brewing hub,” Duckworth says. They knew from the start they wanted a brewery in that area, long before they ever signed a lease.

Duckworth sees the area developing, especially in regards to out-of-towners visiting Bayou City. It could turn into “that place” you go to when you come to Houston. “This area is a hotbed of growth and potential,” he says.

This rocket scientist believes True Anomaly will “stand out from the crowd for having wild sour ales that are different or strong ales that are barrel-aged that you wouldn’t otherwise see.”

Houston, we have a brewery.