Get in-depth coverage of news, reviews and conversations about Texas barbecue. It's basically Christmas every day for barbecue-lovers.

Texans face a multitude of challenges. The border crisis. Incompetent utility regulators. Rising home and rent costs. Rural hospital closures. So naturally, as campaigning for the U.S. Senate enters its final week, incumbent Ted Cruz and his Democratic challenger, Dallas-area Congressman Colin Allred, are locked in a fierce battle over . . . transgender rights. Earlier this month, Cruz and an allied political action committee launched a barrage of ominous television advertisements accusing Allred of supporting “boys in girls’ sports,” “drag shows on American military bases,” “taxpayer-funded sex-change surgeries” for military service members, and the use of “taxpayer funds to sterilize minors.” The ads are part of a nationwide push by Republican candidates, who have spent more than $65 million on antitrans ads since August. “I remember reading the polls…

The post Can Transphobia Save Ted Cruz’s Political Career? appeared first on Texas Monthly.

Thank you for reading!

Get in-depth coverage of news, reviews and conversations about Texas barbecue. It's basically Christmas every day for barbecue-lovers.

As we bid adieu to the veritable feast of Oktoberfest beers that have graced the state’s shelves and tasting-room taps, Texans now look forward to a further flood of seasonally suitable brews—fingers crossed that the weather cooperates. So, with stout season nigh, it’s time to welcome the winter warmers!Some great Oktoberfest beers can still be had, of course, and if you haven’t yet had the pleasure, look out for mouthwateringly malty offerings from the likes of Fredericksburg’s Altstadt Brewery, Blanco’s Real Ale Brewing Co., and Conroe’s Southern Star Brewing Company, among numerous others.But for dark-beer lovers (and the dark beer–curious), fall and winter call for stouts, coffee stouts, imperial stouts, milk stouts, oatmeal stouts, porters, pecan porters, and beers that have been brewed with subtle…

The post As Soon as the Temperature Dips, We’ll Be Sipping These Fall-Friendly Texas Beers appeared first on Texas Monthly.

Thank you for reading!

Get in-depth coverage of news, reviews and conversations about Texas barbecue. It's basically Christmas every day for barbecue-lovers.

Like its location among the Franklin Mountains in the Chihuahuan Desert, the Plaza Hotel Pioneer Park, in El Paso, is a dreamy mirage come true. Guests might feel that hazy surreality when waking up in the nineteen-story high-rise, originally constructed in 1930 and designed by late local architect Henry Trost—especially after an evening in the basement’s Agave Room. Inspired by the tasting rooms of Jalisco, the hotel’s newest attraction will store much of the Plaza’s 1,200 tequila, mezcal, sotol, bacanora, and raicilla bottles, which general manager Adrian Gonzalez believes is the largest and rarest agave-based spirits collection in the United States.When Gonzalez came on board, a year after the property reopened in 2020 following a 29-year closure and an investment of at least $78 million…

The post Inside the Luxurious New Tequila Tasting Room Hidden in an El Paso Basement appeared first on Texas Monthly.

Thank you for reading!

Get in-depth coverage of news, reviews and conversations about Texas barbecue. It's basically Christmas every day for barbecue-lovers.

Subscribe Apple Podcasts — Spotify Latin music is ascending in the U.S. today. It’s the fastest-growing genre in the nation, and last year one of its biggest stars, Peso Pluma, drew more YouTube views than Taylor Swift. In some surprising ways, much of the story behind this musical trend begins in Texas.In Texas thirty years ago, tejano and regional Mexican music were on the rise, and Johnny Canales’s musical variety show—most often recorded in Corpus Christi—was reaching audiences across the Western Hemisphere.On Viva Tejano, host J. B. Sauceda talks with legendary tejano artists and well-known tejano music fans about how the music has shaped their lives. Sauceda, who recently took over as host of Texas Country Reporter, will take listeners on a nostalgic journey that takes…

The post Announcing Our New Podcast, ‘Viva Tejano’ appeared first on Texas Monthly.

Thank you for reading!

Get in-depth coverage of news, reviews and conversations about Texas barbecue. It's basically Christmas every day for barbecue-lovers.

Before his mother, who had lost her brother to malaria, died in childbirth when Fazlur Rahman was just seven years old, she told him, “Someday you will be a doctor, Fazlur, and help people.” He took her urging to heart. A native of what’s now the South Asian country of Bangladesh, Rahman remembers residents of the small village where he was born dying of epidemics, often without medical care.After he left home and eventually completed his training in New York City and at Baylor College of Medicine, in Houston, in his early thirties, he had to decide where he would practice. Most of his medical school friends were headed to big cities like Dallas and Phoenix, but advice from a mentor set him on a…

The post A San Angelo Doctor’s New Book Highlights the Challenges of Rural Medicine appeared first on Texas Monthly.

Thank you for reading!