Investigators say the crash forced the semi-truck to flip over on its side, spilling hundreds of cases of Busch beer on the freeway.
"The tractor trailer overturned with cases of beer all over the freeway," said Lt. Larry Crowson, Houston Police Department. "It could be two or three hours, depending how long it takes to clean all this beer up."
The driver of the 18-wheeler and the driver of the car were taken to a hospital with minor injuries.
At 2 a.m., both HOV lanes outbound and two outbound main lanes were closed, but tow trucks were on the scene, and the accident cleared shortly before 4:30 a.m.
"It was a pretty serious accident. Nobody was seriously injured, just the driver of the 18-wheeler received minor injuries," said Crowson.