In March I learned that I would be spending my next year in Istanbul on a research fellowship and I decided that keeping a blog would be a fun way for me to keep my friends and family informed about what was going on while I was away. I also thought it would be great to try to visit all the breweries around Austin, as sort of a bucket list adventure. After having visited six breweries around town, a number of friends kept asking me which one I would recommend and why, so I decided that my first attempt at a blog entry would be my semi-formal review of these breweries. I've tried to provide the reader with some objective information as well my own opinions and recommendations. I had a great time at all of them, so you really can't go wrong, but maybe this will help if you have to pick just one!
Feel free to share with friends and please provide feedback, especially if you've had the chance to go to some of the breweries I missed out on (Circle, Austin Beerworks, 512, etc). And if you're interested, subscribe! I'll be traveling around Eastern Europe for two weeks before I settle in at Istanbul and will be sure to document my experiences in, ideally, an informative, yet humorous way. Enjoy!
About the Brewery (from their website): Rob and Amy Cartwright embarked on their dream to brew flavorful, deliciously easy-drinking beers for the people of Austin in October 2004. Armed with their love of beer, years of brewing experience, an intrepid spirit, and their trusty dog Jasper, they founded Independence Brewing Company. Located in southeast Austin, amongst the tech companies and warehouse park entrepreneurs, Independence Brewing is a true reflection of the creative energy and pioneering spirit that makes Austin great. What started with a married couple and their dog, has blossomed into a crew of nine and a community of beer drinkers who enjoy drinking fresh, handcrafted beer.
Cost: $6 buys you a mug and three fills
Beer Selection: Decent beer selection (6 on tap); some available that I had not seen elsewhere
Favorite beer: Saison—delicious, light, and a little sweet
Tour quality: Not available; too busy that weekend, just walked around
Gift Shop: T-shirts and mugs; not easy to get to
Food: Sandwich trailer in parking lot
Pros: Live music
Cons: Crowded, few places to sit
Recommendations: Bring lawn chairs! Maybe even a tent
Website: http://www.independencebrewing.com/
Reservations: Nope, just show up
Cost: $10, mug, three fills
Beer Selection: Good—4 on tap; hard to find Jesterking around Austin, so nice to have them all in one place
Favorite Beer: Witchmaker Rye
Tour quality: Excellent! These guys are young, quirky, and super passionate about what they do
Gift Shop: Great selection of t-shirts with really great graphics. Not much else though
Food: No, but a beautiful atmosphere for picnics, so bring food
Pros: The employees—really nice people; a unique product and very different from the other breweries; the scenery is beautiful; really easy to meet other people and tends to attract a young, fun crowd
Cons: costs the most of all and they only make a few beers
Recommendations: Bring food; pair with Thirsty Planet for a day of Breweries (with a designated driver)
Website: http://jesterkingbrewery.com/01-home/
Reservations: made online, but did not seem necessary
Cost: Free—6 free samplings, one more full pint with purchase of a glass ($5)
Beer Selection: 6 beers on tap—standard fair (hefe, pilsner, big bark, celebration, stout, seasonal)
Favorite Beer: Roggenbier—so good!
Tour quality: Super fun—informative on types of beers, but less so on the process.
Gift Shop: limited—a few mugs and t-shirts, a couple of wall decorations
Food: Nope, but on the east side so a lot of options near by
Pros: German beer master! Great location, easy and quick to get to
Cons: Very small brewery so it can get crowded and hard to move around
Recommendations: Make a day of it in east Austin at hipster bars and food trailers. Go with friends, not much to do or appreciate as a solo visitor.
Website: http://www.liveoakbrewing.com/
Reservations: Nope (unless a big group)
Cost: Free, limitless samples (as far as I could tell), but didn't seem to fill pint glasses (which were $5)
Beer Selection: Fairly good. Four on tap
Favorite Beer: Pale Ale
Tour quality: Excellent. Really informative. The brewmaster gave a great introduction to the processes involved in brewing beer and about the various ingredients that go into the beer. He also provided detailed information on the specific productions of this brewery—how many barrels they produce every year, how they anticipate growing, and so forth. This was also the only brewery (along with Shiner) that had a bottling facility on hand to view.
Gift Shop: Very good—lots of t-shirts and mug selections, koozies, and other beer knick-knacks
Food: No—definitely bring snacks
Pros: Gorgeous drive to get there, very informative, good beer selections, brew dogs!
Cons: Very small tasting room, so you have to drink outside and there’s not much seating or shade
Recommendations: Bring chairs; make a day of it and go visit some other places in the hill country
Website: http://realalebrewing.com/home
Shiner
Reservations: No
Cost: Free, with 4 samples
Beer Selection: Decent, but a little disappointing given the variety they produce (Shiner, Black, Blonde, Light Blonde, Hefe, 102)
Favorite beer: 102—surprisingly light, with a hint of sweetness
Tour quality: Excellent—a great historical narrative on the founding of Shiner and the brewery, as well stories about people that have worked there over the years. A great tour of the facilities, which a lab for testing and tasting and a highly elaborate bottling operation (like something out of ‘How it’s Made’). Less informative on the actual process of brewing beer.
Gift Shop: Excellent—by far the most extensive of the breweries. 15 or so different shirts, mugs, koozies, posters, knick-knacks, cookbooks, benches…just about everything!
Food: No—but there is a fried chicken place down the road
Pros: Great gift shop, larger brewery offers things the others don’t (bottling facility, lab), and very informative tour on the history of the brewery
Cons: Long drive—almost two hours from Austin; would have been nice to have some of their harder to find beers on tap (like those only available in the Family pack)
Recommendations: Make a day of it (or a weekend). The town of Shiner has some really cute antique stores; or grab some BBQ in Lockhart on your back to Austin; go with friends!
Website: http://www.shiner.com/main.php
Reservations: Yes, online
Cost: 4 samples free or $7 = mug and 4 mug-fills
Beer Selection: limited, but good: Buckethead IPA, Pale Ale, Amber, and two porters—very smoky. The porters are not regularly available, so it was nice to try those (even though I’m not much of a porter fan.
Favorite Beer: Pale Ale
Tour quality: Great—I felt like the brewmaster was once a middle school science teacher by the way he explained the brewing process, ingredients, and machinery. I actually understood what malt was and it was a large enough (and very clean) facility to grasp the whole route that the ingredients take to become beer.
Gift Shop: Adequate—basically just t-shirts and mugs, but very spacious with nice tables to sit in the air conditioning to enjoy your samples
Food: Yes—they had a hotdog/sandwich food truck outside
Pros: Great tour, large/new/clean brewery and tasting room, ample beer for the money
Cons: Basically just brew the basics, most of which are easy to find, but otherwise not a lot of negative on this one.
Recommendations: Get a DD and make a day of it! Thirsty Planet is just down the road from Jesterking!
Website: http://www.thirstyplanet.net/#
Feel free to share with friends and please provide feedback, especially if you've had the chance to go to some of the breweries I missed out on (Circle, Austin Beerworks, 512, etc). And if you're interested, subscribe! I'll be traveling around Eastern Europe for two weeks before I settle in at Istanbul and will be sure to document my experiences in, ideally, an informative, yet humorous way. Enjoy!
Independence Brewery
About the Brewery (from their website): Rob and Amy Cartwright embarked on their dream to brew flavorful, deliciously easy-drinking beers for the people of Austin in October 2004. Armed with their love of beer, years of brewing experience, an intrepid spirit, and their trusty dog Jasper, they founded Independence Brewing Company. Located in southeast Austin, amongst the tech companies and warehouse park entrepreneurs, Independence Brewing is a true reflection of the creative energy and pioneering spirit that makes Austin great. What started with a married couple and their dog, has blossomed into a crew of nine and a community of beer drinkers who enjoy drinking fresh, handcrafted beer.
My Experience: I went with a friend on Independence Day weekend and it was ridiculously crowded. It was also very hot and I didn’t realize that I should have brought my lawn chairs (and probably a tent because there is not much shaded area for seating. The inside was cool with couches around to hang out in and some picnic tables. There was also live music, which made it fun, but it was too crowded to take a tour (I’m not sure if they even offered one). It might be a much different experience on a non-holiday weekend. The crowd was wide-ranging, young and old alike, just hanging out.
Location: 3913 Todd Lane #607, Austin, TX 78744 (off 71, toward the airport)
Tour day/time: First Saturday of the month, 1-2pm
Reservations: Yes, onlineTour day/time: First Saturday of the month, 1-2pm
Cost: $6 buys you a mug and three fills
Beer Selection: Decent beer selection (6 on tap); some available that I had not seen elsewhere
Favorite beer: Saison—delicious, light, and a little sweet
Tour quality: Not available; too busy that weekend, just walked around
Gift Shop: T-shirts and mugs; not easy to get to
Food: Sandwich trailer in parking lot
Pros: Live music
Cons: Crowded, few places to sit
Recommendations: Bring lawn chairs! Maybe even a tent
Website: http://www.independencebrewing.com/
Jesterking
About the Brewery (from their website): Located in the beautiful Texas Hill Country, Jester King Craft Brewery is an authentic farmhouse brewery committed to brewing artisan ales of great depth and character. At times drawing influences from the world beyond traditional brewers’ yeast, Jester King’s beer is not rushed to market but allowed to mature – often in oak barrels – to create the most enjoyable, interesting and exciting beer we can make. An additional layer of complexity is added to Jester King’s bottled beers by allowing a second fermentation to take place in the bottle. As part of its commitment to sustainability, the slow food movement and Texas, Jester King beer uses as many organic and local ingredients as possible and will soon be brewed with harvested rainwater.
My Experience: I went after pick-up soccer with two friends and we had the best time. The tour guide, Josh, was so great—he was very funny and really informative, plus he does all the graphics for Jesterking so it was fun to talk to him about that. One of my friends also knew someone else there, which led to a large group of us hanging out on the patio for a few hours grabbing more beers—they’d give you an extra one if you bought a shirt, and I was clever with my wristband. In general, a much younger crowd and very friendly people were here.
Location: 13005 Fitzhugh R (18 miles SW from downtown, off 290 West)
Tour day/time: Saturday 1-4, tours at 1:30, 2:30, and 3:30Reservations: Nope, just show up
Cost: $10, mug, three fills
Beer Selection: Good—4 on tap; hard to find Jesterking around Austin, so nice to have them all in one place
Favorite Beer: Witchmaker Rye
Tour quality: Excellent! These guys are young, quirky, and super passionate about what they do
Gift Shop: Great selection of t-shirts with really great graphics. Not much else though
Food: No, but a beautiful atmosphere for picnics, so bring food
Pros: The employees—really nice people; a unique product and very different from the other breweries; the scenery is beautiful; really easy to meet other people and tends to attract a young, fun crowd
Cons: costs the most of all and they only make a few beers
Recommendations: Bring food; pair with Thirsty Planet for a day of Breweries (with a designated driver)
Website: http://jesterkingbrewery.com/01-home/
Live Oak
About the Brewery (from their website): Live Oak employs an old-world style of brewing rarely found in America today, but practiced extensively in Germany and the Czech Republic. A decoction mash, open fermentation and secondary lagering are essential to duplicate the rich maltiness and unique flavors of central European beers. The results are yours to enjoy.
My Experience: I went the same weekend as the biker rally in Austin, so I think it was a more crowded than typical, which makes a big difference in experience because it is a tiny brewery. I love the location though—it’s a renovated butcher shop located at 5th and Pleasant Valley. Everything is housed in basically two rooms, so with a lot of people it go quite crowded. But the brewmaster—a younger guy from Germany—was great at getting people moving through the line and making sure we all had samples. It was a nice format too—grab a sample; he talks about that beer, then begins talking about the process of making beer in general; grab a sample of a second beer, then discuss that beer and talk more about the process. Once things got going, everything went smoothly. And, he was the most articulate in describing the differences in brews; plus the range of beers allowed him to point out the full range of flavors/hops/etc. that you can taste in beer. A younger crowd and quite a few hipsters…I guess East Austin just attracts them.
Location: 5th and Allen
Tour day/time: Saturday, 11am (no tours in August)Reservations: made online, but did not seem necessary
Cost: Free—6 free samplings, one more full pint with purchase of a glass ($5)
Beer Selection: 6 beers on tap—standard fair (hefe, pilsner, big bark, celebration, stout, seasonal)
Favorite Beer: Roggenbier—so good!
Tour quality: Super fun—informative on types of beers, but less so on the process.
Gift Shop: limited—a few mugs and t-shirts, a couple of wall decorations
Food: Nope, but on the east side so a lot of options near by
Pros: German beer master! Great location, easy and quick to get to
Cons: Very small brewery so it can get crowded and hard to move around
Recommendations: Make a day of it in east Austin at hipster bars and food trailers. Go with friends, not much to do or appreciate as a solo visitor.
Website: http://www.liveoakbrewing.com/
Real Ale
About the Brewery (from their website): Welcome to the Texas Hill Country - the home of Real Ale Brewing Company, where a dedicated team of brewers produces quality handcrafted ales. Utilizing a 60-barrel stainless steel brewing system, we incorporate 100% malted grain, domestic and imported hops, and crystal clear water into our unique recipes. We've been brewing since 1996, and now you can find Real Ale all over the Lone Star State. If you don't see us at your favorite stores, bars, and restaurants, make sure to ask for us by name! Cheers and thanks for your support!
My Experience: Drove out on a Friday and made a nice day of it, driving in the countryside. The tour was a little crowded (also the weekend of the biker rally), but the facilities are larger and there’s multiple tours in a day, so it was too bad. We got very close up to all the machinery and actually walked the process of the brewing-from mill to mash to fermentation to bottling, so it was a great tour to learn about the brewing process. They also have a cooler where they store kegs and cases—that’s where the brew dawgs hang out. The tasting room was really crowded and it was difficult to get samples; along with that, you didn’t learn much about their actual beers because it was too busy to have the staff talk you through each one. An older crowd; we were one of the few 20-somethings there, most were over 40 or 50.
Location: 231 San Saba Ct., Blanco Texas
Tour day/time: Fridays 2-5, with tours at 3 and 4pmReservations: Nope (unless a big group)
Cost: Free, limitless samples (as far as I could tell), but didn't seem to fill pint glasses (which were $5)
Beer Selection: Fairly good. Four on tap
Favorite Beer: Pale Ale
Tour quality: Excellent. Really informative. The brewmaster gave a great introduction to the processes involved in brewing beer and about the various ingredients that go into the beer. He also provided detailed information on the specific productions of this brewery—how many barrels they produce every year, how they anticipate growing, and so forth. This was also the only brewery (along with Shiner) that had a bottling facility on hand to view.
Gift Shop: Very good—lots of t-shirts and mug selections, koozies, and other beer knick-knacks
Food: No—definitely bring snacks
Pros: Gorgeous drive to get there, very informative, good beer selections, brew dogs!
Cons: Very small tasting room, so you have to drink outside and there’s not much seating or shade
Recommendations: Bring chairs; make a day of it and go visit some other places in the hill country
Website: http://realalebrewing.com/home
Shiner
About the Brewery (from the website): From its earliest time under the Shiner Brewing Association in 1909, to that fateful day in 1914 when Kosmos Spoetzl saw an opportunity to bring classic Bavarian brewing traditions to his fellow immigrants, through the “Great Experiment” of Prohibition and the Great Depression, the “Little Brewery” has stuck to what they know best—handcrafting the finest beer!
My Experience: I drove out there on a Tuesday with five other friends and we had a great time. It did seem a little rushed because we had to get back into Austin and the drive is long. But the tour was excellent, very informative, and it was great to visit the gift shop for all the cool Shiner swag—very little of it is available anywhere else! We went on the 1:30 tour and there were about 20 other people taking the same tour and a few more in the gift shop. Everything ran smoothly, but not a lot of discussion about the traits of individual beers, beside the Ruby Redbird (one of the guys on the tour asked about it). A wide-ranging crowd—older couples, young groups and friends, one family with kids!
Location: Shiner, Texas
Tour day/time: Mon-Friday, 10am (summer only), 11am, 1:30, 2:30 (summer only)Reservations: No
Cost: Free, with 4 samples
Beer Selection: Decent, but a little disappointing given the variety they produce (Shiner, Black, Blonde, Light Blonde, Hefe, 102)
Favorite beer: 102—surprisingly light, with a hint of sweetness
Tour quality: Excellent—a great historical narrative on the founding of Shiner and the brewery, as well stories about people that have worked there over the years. A great tour of the facilities, which a lab for testing and tasting and a highly elaborate bottling operation (like something out of ‘How it’s Made’). Less informative on the actual process of brewing beer.
Gift Shop: Excellent—by far the most extensive of the breweries. 15 or so different shirts, mugs, koozies, posters, knick-knacks, cookbooks, benches…just about everything!
Food: No—but there is a fried chicken place down the road
Pros: Great gift shop, larger brewery offers things the others don’t (bottling facility, lab), and very informative tour on the history of the brewery
Cons: Long drive—almost two hours from Austin; would have been nice to have some of their harder to find beers on tap (like those only available in the Family pack)
Recommendations: Make a day of it (or a weekend). The town of Shiner has some really cute antique stores; or grab some BBQ in Lockhart on your back to Austin; go with friends!
Website: http://www.shiner.com/main.php
Thirsty Planet
About the Brewery (From their website): I fell in love with beer while studying British politics in England. The beer there was unlike anything I had ever had. It came from a beer engine, it was full bodied, flavorful, and it even came in a cooler glass! It was then that I decided to start home brewing when I came back to the states. In Vail, I gave a tour to some college students from Oklahoma that offered me an ownership piece of a brew pub. I took them up on it and we opened our Brewery in 1993. As time went on, our concept grew, and grew. The business was a success, but I really tired of the khaki pants and longed for the days spent in rubber brewing boots. Together with my wife, we traveled looking for a place that was community oriented and a great place to raise a family. We kept coming back to Austin, and knew without a shadow of a doubt that this place was for us. So, we sold our part of the businesses, packed up all of our belongings plus our trusty brew dog Maggie, and moved south.
My Experience: I went with a friend on a Saturday morning and had a great time. The facilities are new and large and very clean. There was a spacious tasting room and definitely the most beer for your buck here. It was great to just enjoy each beer. I had another engagement that afternoon, so we left early. But it would be great to go and make an afternoon of it—there was a food trailer out front and lots of nice people. Definitely an older crowd.
Location: 11160 Circle Drive, Austin, Texas 78736 (West on 290)
Tour day/time: Saturday, 11am and 1:30pmReservations: Yes, online
Cost: 4 samples free or $7 = mug and 4 mug-fills
Beer Selection: limited, but good: Buckethead IPA, Pale Ale, Amber, and two porters—very smoky. The porters are not regularly available, so it was nice to try those (even though I’m not much of a porter fan.
Favorite Beer: Pale Ale
Tour quality: Great—I felt like the brewmaster was once a middle school science teacher by the way he explained the brewing process, ingredients, and machinery. I actually understood what malt was and it was a large enough (and very clean) facility to grasp the whole route that the ingredients take to become beer.
Gift Shop: Adequate—basically just t-shirts and mugs, but very spacious with nice tables to sit in the air conditioning to enjoy your samples
Food: Yes—they had a hotdog/sandwich food truck outside
Pros: Great tour, large/new/clean brewery and tasting room, ample beer for the money
Cons: Basically just brew the basics, most of which are easy to find, but otherwise not a lot of negative on this one.
Recommendations: Get a DD and make a day of it! Thirsty Planet is just down the road from Jesterking!
Website: http://www.thirstyplanet.net/#
