Lager Jam photo: Tyler Malone
FROM THE EDITORS Another year in beer in the books (guides). You should count yourself lucky for having this small publication in your hands. It’s super limited and jammed packed with goodness. In the world of beer this is known as a whale, bro. But unlike all your other whalez, you don’t have to feel bad for drinking this—read it and pass it on. All your votes are in and counted and we have picked our bests of the year. Turn the page and get it on. Now, how about a year in review, ABG wise. Our spring/summer issue featured an oral history of brewing in Austin during the 1990s, which is especially poignant with the recent passing of Texas beer legend Steve Anderson. If you can find a copy, read that now! Know your history. And if you can’t, no worries, it is online. Bing it. That issue had some other tasty stuff too, but that feature is easily the stand out. Then there was the fall/winter issue. Some are probably still out in the wild for you to snatch. It had a lot of good shit too, so check it out. Outside our print ventures, it was a hell of a year for ABG events as well. Obviously we all had fun at our issue release parties at Draught House (spring/summer) and Pinthouse (fall/winter). Hopefully you were able to grab a “Make Beer Great Again” hat at Pinthouse. We were pretty fond of that joke. But don’t wear it home for Christmas, unless you want to get into a long Trump conversation with your crazy uncle. Then of course, there was Lager Jam 2. What more could you ask for on a blistering summer day than some cool lagers and friendly company? Just look at how much fun we are having in that picture. If you missed Lager Jam, you blew it. Don’t make that mistake next summer. But if you were there, I bet you still got that Hans’ koozie—the best koozie printed this year. I had such a good time I think I stopped at In-N-Out Burger AND Wendy’s on the way home, the sure sign of a rockin’ party. What else did we do this year.... oh yeah, our bike pub crawl. With a little help from our friends, Team Super Awesome, we bombed around north central Austin to some of our favorite watering holes. I think that night I only stopped at In-N-Out Burger on the way home. So... great, not epic, but great. What will 2016 bring? I think we can safely say, three or more new breweries, one new president, and at least two issues of Austin Beer Guide. In the wise words of the Jim Greco, “More print!” –AC Chris Troutman Aaron Chamberlain Josh Spradling Shawn Phillips
COVER DESIGN...........Jessica Deahl PROOFREADERS ... Sofia, Sarah, and Kim
IT’S TIME ONCE AGAIN WE AS A SWILLING COMMUNITY UNITE UNDER THE BANNER OF judgement. This was a strong year for beer as we saw more breweries and brew pubs birth on the scene than any year since the 2010/11 swell. With this year’s freshman class of five new breweries and brew pubs in Austin proper, plus another seven peripherals, we increased our sudsy footprint by roughly 35% (can someone check my math?). And while the frontier has begun to move north with several of these new joints opening in Austin’s afro (Cedar Park, Round Rock, Georgetown), the mainstays have not been sitting on their laurels. We’ve seen an expansion in taproom space, offerings, and hours across the board, lending themselves for craft asses to plant up as many as seven nights a week. Others have increased their seasonal offerings, specialty programs, and packaging options to make our trip down the beer aisle an even more tenacious one as we’re confronted with more new options than nights (or days if you prefer) of the week to drink. We’ve even got one of our oldest breweries movin’ on up to the (more) east side. And while the uptick in craft specialty bars has slowed, we’ve seen the prevalence of local beer increase across the board from restaurant menus, dive bar four tap towers, and coffee shop blackboards. You can’t throw a man bun without knocking over a can of tasty local beer these days. And with more options comes more anguish, wrenching of hands, and gnashing of teeth in the ballot booth. There were a few clear winners and easy picks, but the majority of categories invited impassioned pitches, combative rebuttals, some posturing, and even some good old filibustering threatening to shut the democratic editorial selection down. But in the end, deals were made, dark smoky back rooms were visited, and aisles reached across in the name of the greater good (read: beer), to come to our 2015 editors’ picks. Will there be affirmations? Yes. Controversy? We hope so. Heartbreak? Unfortunately. But in the end this is only an exercise in clicking and buzzed debating with the means to the ends being another excuse to print a koozie and throw a party. Thank you, sincerely, to all our readers, industry friends, and casual Internet year-end-poll-aholics who worked your way through our survey, and especially to those of you who ONLY VOTED ONCE and VOLUNTARILY. IP addresses are a hell of a thing. But even to those who abused the poll, we appreciate you affirming our delusions of grandeur. We really must be as important as our moms tell us. Alright, enough from us, here are your 2015 Best of Austin Beer winners!! Illustration by John Rubio
Editors’ Choice BEST BREWERY |
JESTER KING BREWERY
It could be easy to dismiss Jester King as a hype factory. The brewery that opened to (and still maintains, at times) insurmountable lines, had the audacity to ditch their fan favorite first recipes for farmhouse interpretations, pull a majority of their product off tap walls and shelves to supply their tasting room only/first, and fend off hoarders and whale hunters, has delivered on the promises they’ve made. Fans of the Driftwood brewery from the beginning (including us) have been put through the ringer through all this, but thanks to the real, hard working, honest, creative people behind the hype, we have stuck with them and love them more for it all. In 2015 they released several second batches of their popular fruit terroir series, including a Sherry Barrel Aged version of their award winning Atrial Rubicite, which sparked a collective panic akin a T Swift living room tour. They also continued with their streak of collaboration brews, including two with the old-guard stalwarts at Live Oak. And in the spirit of doing what they want and not giving a fuck, they decided to put several of their year-round beers in #greenbottles just to get a little funkier, an experiment that was received with mixed reviews from the beer world, but yielded interesting delicious results. This was the year it finally settled in that the love and adoration for this brewery goes deeper than gimmicks—there’s something real and unmatched that keeps us driving out to Driftwood on the weekends, waiting in line for their new bottles, and putting down our Hans’ to drink something out of stemware.
Editors’ Choice BEST NEW BREWERY/BREW PUB
LAST STAND BREWING CO. It’s been a great year for new breweries in Austin. Like, really great. This was a hard one for your beloved editors, but when it came down to it, what clenched it for us was the feeling that Last Stand is that brewery you visited on that vacation in 2005 where you first fell in love with “craft beer.” Back then you called it “microbrew,” but the sentiment is still the same—it’s high quality honest beer made by a guy who poured it for you at the brewery. And it set you on this rollercoaster craft path we’re all on today. And Last Stand is a refreshing reality check to our palates. A collaboration for what “good beer” is and should be. No overthe-top experiments, no marketing, no hooks, just good fucking beer. Not to say there is anything wrong with all the experimentation and tangents craft beer has taken (and drinkers have entertained), but it’s about making beer great again, and the fine folks at Last Stand are hitting home runs right now.
Editors’ Choice BEST BREW PUB
AUSTIN BEER GARDEN BREWING CO. (ABGB) It makes us very happy to give this to the great folks at The ABGB again this year. Besides banging out the regular lineup that won us over in the first place, this year they brought back the Rocket 100, a pre-prohibition style lager, and with the advent of their anniversary they debuted their first foray into the wilder yeastier side of things, a perfect juxtaposition to the calculated perfection they’ve achieved with their lagers. They also brought all our beer dreams to fruition with the introduction of their first two bottle conditioned (not growler fills) releases. And in our book, great beer alone doesn’t a great brew pub make. Jesus (Tim Stevens) and company have been serving up noteworthy seasonal pies, sandwiches, and salads much better than we deserve when we’re just looking to soak up the beer. And as if world class beer and incredible food weren’t enough to hang their hat on, Mark Jensen keeps their stage booked with the best local artists the majority of the week. There’s nothing as fucking great as enjoying your favorite local band with a fresh pull of your favorite local lager. Here’s to another stellar year of beers, pies, a great local stage, and oak shaded good times.
READERS’ CHOICE BEST OF 2015 BEST BREWERY JESTER KING BREWERY BEST BREW PUB PINTHOUSE PIZZA BURNET BEST NEW BREWERY/BREW PUB BLUE OWL BREWING BEST LIMITED/ SPECIAL/SEASONAL BEER INDEPENDENCE REDBUD
BEST EVERYDAY BEER REAL ALE HANS’ PILS
BEST BREWERY TAPROOM JESTER KING BREWERY
BEST NEW BEER HOPS & GRAIN A PALE MOSAIC
BEST BEER BAR CRAFT PRIDE
BEST OVERALL BEER HOPS & GRAIN A PALE MOSAIC BEST PERSONALITY/ ADVOCATE TONY DREWRY BEST BEER + FOOD SPOT STANLEY’S FARMHOUSE PIZZA
BEST EVENT TEXAS CRAFT BREWERS FESTIVAL BEST BOTTLE SHOP WHICHCRAFT BEER STORE BEST SINGLE BEER PACKAGING/LABEL ZILKER MARCO IPA
Editors’ Choice BEST LIMITED/SPECIAL/SEASONAL BEER
PINTHOUSE BEST COAST IPA This. Beer. Is. The. Future. Juiciness, aroma, drinkability, and the future all combine as Pinthouse head brewer Joe Mohrfeld coerces his hoppy will on this beer to make these editors’ favorite special release beer of the year. Employing his trademark flavor-trumps-bitterness approach to hoppy brews, Mohrfeld concocted a more than comparable local contender to the new wave IPA trendsetter Ballast Point Sculpin, as (not so) subtly hinted at in this beer’s Christian name. And as a testament to the brewing prowess behind this bevy, the tasty hoppy front hides a formidable alcohol backbone lying in wait to put you in the corner should you attempt more than two in a single sitting. There isn’t enough dough in their PHP kitchen to save you should you try to drain a third. Best Coast is fantastic, Best Coast is the future.
Editors’ Choice BEST EVERYDAY BEER | OASIS METAMODERN God bless Spencer Tielkemeier. Up until this year, Hans’ had our hearts, weekly beer allowances, and fridge space. With cunning skills and (we think) sorcery, Mr. Tielkemeier brewed up a can offering that hit all the right buttons in our hearts’ beer hearts to sway to the sessionable hoppy side (though, lagers still jam). Being easy on the ABV yet heavy on the FLV (flavor), this new kid on the block was a shoo-in. Mr. T finds the sweet spot between maximum flavor and minimum cognitive disruption via a “secret sauce” combination of hops and brewing savvy that allows us all to drink like a boss, but still report in to ours in the morning. And with sixers of this backyard champagne increasingly becoming harder to get your hands on, we’re inclined to deduce we’re not the only ones kicking carrots to the curb in lieu of purple cans in the crisper drawers 4-7 days a week.
Editors’ Choice BEST NEW BEER |
LIVE OAK LICHTENHAINER
This category was a toss up between the Live Oak Lichtenhainer and the Live Oak Berliner Weisse. Besides dozens of shoddy Republican presidential candidates, 2015 also witnessed a swell of local tart or sour beers, several of those being of the wheat variety. All great on their own, the Live Oak folks nailed it with their subtly smoky, light, tart, unfathomably refreshing Lichtenhainer. Holy fuck, folks. This one was truly a fantastic beer. “New” in that we have never seen a tart and smoky marriage of the wheat variety, yet still “Beer” in 100% of the meaning. This beer only lasted a short enchanted time between May and late July, but it was the best two-and-ahalf months these editors drank. Here’s hoping they didn’t lose that recipe during the move and we’ll imbibe more next summer.
Editors’ Choice BEST OVERALL BEER | AUSTIN BEERWORKS
HEAVY MACHINERY DOUBLE IPA
The Beerworks bros have been pushing the Heavy Machinery specialty four pack tallboy IPA boxes for a couple of years now, and they’ve all been good to stellar, but this year’s Double IPA really rung our bell. This DIPA started turning heads in late spring and quickly flew off the shelves, creating a bit of a local frenzy for those 64oz boxes of sticky, hoppy booze. Slipped into a camo ABG tallboy koozie, this DIPA delivered in the best ways; making our winter-turn-warmer evenings into grand events worthy of cracking a vestige packaged in fours instead of sixes because it was that fucking special. Where other members of the noble HM clan have delivered on flavor, body, booze, or hoppiness, but never nailed all these majestic components all at once, the DIPA came in the form of a silver 16oz bullet savior. We love them all, but would not bat an eye if the DIPA inherited the Heavy Machinery moniker year round. 2015 was a great year for Austin IPAs, but overall, this was the best damn beer of 2015.
Editors’ Choice BEST PERSONALITY/ADVOCATE |
NIC DE LA ROSA
If you have to ask yourself, “Now who is this Nic fellow and why does he drop the ‘K’?”, then you’re reading the wrong ‘zine. Since the day we met Nic (at some Stay Hoppy thing at some bar through our mutual amigo, Carlos), he’s been the most sincere beer lover we’ve ever met, while still keeping it real enough to shotgun a Zoe or three between snifters of Cantillon Rosé De Gambrinus. Nic is the curly haired bearded dude that’s steered you right at WhichCraft, busted you when you’ve tried bringing your grandma to Jester King to mule whalez, masterminded Lambic Fest, poured you a taster of the best beer you’ve ever had at a Brew and Brew bottle share, and most likely delivered 70% of the Austin Beer Guides you have shoved in your glove box/ bedside table drawer/cubicle shelf/ bathroom magazine rack (yeah, we’re playing inside baseball here, but Nic deserves it). So next time you see that mass of hair with a big smile buried in the middle, buy him a beer or dozen, he more than deserves it.
Editors’ Choice BEST BEER + FOOD SPOT |
DAI DUE If you’ve been tracking our picks over the years, you’ll notice we go a little bi-polar on the beer+food joints from year to year. Dai Due is the type of place you’d expect to go to when visiting one of Austin’s cool sister cities. Nestled in an up and coming east side area, this butcher shop in the front/restaurant in the back serves up the goods, food and beer wise. With a food menu that changes with the seasons, so does their beer list. Keeping in line with their food ethos of only preparing and serving what is available fresh and present in their region, their beer list consists of a heavy dose of who’s who in Austin, while bringing in a balanced amount of accent beers from breweries from around Texas. They keep a healthy rotating tap wall robust with one-offs and seasonals, a consistent lineup of cans (with an ever present $2 Fireman’s #4), and a respectable bottle list, that once hosted the only off-site Eola School bottles this editor has ever seen.
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lunch. dinner. MUSIC. 1305 w. oltorf theabgb.com
Editors’ Choice BEST BREWERY TAPROOM |
ZILKER BREWING CO.
Like a pearl before swine, the majestic Zilker tasting room opens her doors wide to the urban trife scuffling bar to bar down east 6th. Zilker proper is a beautiful gift bestowed to all who enjoy drinking beer fresh from the source, and with custom designed physical aesthetics befitting the beers they serve, the Zilker tasting room is one of a kind. Besides design, what truly sets Zilker apart is their urban address. Sans a large parking lot, Zilker pilgrims must walk, pedal, Uber, Lyft, cab, bus, or train their way to this east side treasure. And upon planting themselves at the impeccably designed bar, they are rewarded with the first and freshest offerings of Zilker’s tasty Belgian-inspired American craft beers. And seeing the city’s strict zoning laws, we may not see another urban tasting room of this caliber for some time. Zilker isn’t the tasting room the City of Austin wants, but it’s the one we deserve.
Editors’ Choice BEST BEER BAR |
DRAUGHT HOUSE “Draught House” has become synonymous with “good beer.” Honestly, every year we strive to find a reason, any reason, to award another worthy beer bar this vestige, and we cannot. Brew and Brew, Craft Pride, Whip In, Hopfields and others have all taken a shot at the throne, and yet Draught House sits unscathed. And as if the bar that doesn’t give a fuck needed to, they raised their own bar this year by saying to hell with front parking and making the whole goddamn area a beer garden. Oh, and house beers are back and better than you remembered. And with the nightly food truck occupation, there’s no reason to leave, ever. There’s something magical about being served beer by folks whom have been tending that bar longer than you’ve been of drinking age. You just trust that they know something, are doing it right, and you are drawn to join in. And in an age of anniversary parties every other weekend, theirs is still the one to get it up for. To those behind that worn wood bar and those polished brass tri-taps about to pour, we salute you. You keep ‘em coming, and we’ll keep ‘em drunken.
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2015
MANWAY OPEN This is the best beer event PERIOD. Also, the best beer event you probably didn’t go to. We saw the second official, third actual Manway Open out at Twin Parks Country Club in Dripping Springs, TX in 2015. This event is like the best weirdest corner of the Austin beer wild west. Things happen there we cannot put in print. Benefiting the Texas Craft Brewers Guild, you’ll just as soon brush shoulders with one of Austin’s OG brewery founders as cross paths with a rattlesnake (ask William Bearden). Thanks to the twisted minds of CJ West and Dusan Kwiatkowski, this maniacal mix of disc golf and copious local beer has in just two official years become the fight club of beer events, with multiple injuries, lifelong camaraderie, and Grady Wright forcing keg stands on everyone attending for the first time. It’s the only event you can take a dip in the ABG kiddie pool with a cool MetaModern then stumble over to take a drag of Griddle Bone off the T$A Starship flank taps. We would tell you we’ll see you there in 2016, but we’re not sure you’re ready.
Editors’ Choice BEST BOTTLESHOP |
SUNRISE MINIMART
Two words: Cold. Beer. That’s what clinched it for these editors. That and them being like that local newscaster you grew up with, except if he were to always have a sixer or bomber of the latest beer you were craving. Sunrise has long been a heavyweight in the bottle shop class, but this year they’ve proved their grit as corporate ringers have elbowed in, new up and comers have flashed some bling, while other old timers have begun to show their age. Sam and his crew have continued to hustle the darker corners of craft to secure the newest, freshest, illest packages for you and yours while also providing the ever present excuse of “Hey honey, I’ll be a little late—gotta fill ‘er up on the way home,” to lock down that latest out of state bucket lister, or canned that day local IPA. It’s never not a good night to Sunrise and chill.
Manway photos: Tyler Malone
Editors’ Choice BEST EVENT |
Editors’ Choice BEST SINGLE BEER PACKAGING/LABEL
JESTER KING/LIVE OAK FOUDREWEIZEN Josh Cockrell is an artistic madhouse, spewing forth multiple outstanding pieces in a month, each touching on, and nailing, a different style. His art has long been a driving force behind the mythos of Jester King while giving beers their own personalities and history deep enough to match the complex flavors and storied process behind the contents of the bottles they drape. Cockrell’s work on the Jester King/ Live Oak collaboration “Foudreweizen” went a step beyond as it captured the likeness of two large brewing personalities, Live Oak founder Chip McElroy and head brewer Dusan Kwiatkowski, while also depicting the background of the brew as Dusan, the driving force behind the souring project, and Chip hanging in there just enjoying the ride. Unlike the breweries last joint project, Kollaborationsbier, which came out tasting a little like both breweries, this one was solidly influenced by Jester King’s mastery of the wood and the label reflects that. This one is truly fun to admire while drinking the beer within.
Best of the Rest STEVE ANDERSON, 1962–2015
WORST WORST TIE: Texas Let’s Talk Craft Beer / Austin Let’s Talk Craft Beer OSKAR BLUES BLUES Jeffrey Stuffings HAPPIEST HOPPIEST BREWER Pinthouse Joe GAME CHANGERS Live Oak cans BEST BYOB Little Deli
BEST PARTY T$A Starship BEST TREND #CRAFTSLACKER WORST TREND Root Beer
MOST LIKELY TO SEND PEOPLE TO THE WRONG PART OF TOWN Zilker Brewing BEST EXCUSE FOR A CROWD SOURCED VACATION Writing a book
MOST LIKELY TO BE KILLED BY FELLOW MEMBER OF THE CRAFT BEER “COMMUNITY” Craft Austin KEEPING IT REAL John Rubio WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Guns and Oil EARNED A MILLER LITE PASS Billy Forrester MOST LIKELY TO NAME HIS NEXT DOG “MOSAIC” Josh Hare MOST ANTICIPATED OPENING 2016 (OR ‘17) Jester King Bathrooms BEST EFFORT Waller Creek Pub
REALALEBREWING.COM
Best of the Rest Continued... BEST PLACE TO DRINK WHILE YOUR PARTNER SHOPS AT HOBBY LOBBY PH South Lamar BEST MOM AND POP Whip In LOCAL BREWERY MOST LIKELY TO SELL OUT Oskar Blues BEST BUN Pinthouse Jacob LANDLOCKED Jester King + Craft Beer Austin THE VOICE
MOST LIKELY TO HAVE A CHRONICLE COVER STORY AND A SECOND KID IN THE SAME WEEK Eric “An Avenue” Puga
BEST BOX Hans’ 12 pack
BEST WHATABURGER LIFE COACH Grady “Three Gravies” Wright
BEST NICKNAME Matt ‘Nate’ Benavidez
LAGER LOVER MOST LIKELY TO NEVER BREW A LAGER Jester King’s Garrett Crowell BEST BURNS IN THA BIZ Alex Walston AUSTIN COFFEEMUGWORKS Austin Beerworks
BEST VIEW Middleton Castle
BEST PRODUCT INTEGRATION ATXCraftChevy
BEST BREWERY SOFA Blue Owl
OFF THE RAILS Hans’ FB group MOST LIKELY TO INVENT A SOUR MEASURING UNIT Jeff Young
BEST BIKE SHOP Ozone
BEST USE OF PRESS RELEASES Liquid Austin
MOST IMPROVED Independence Brewing CRAFT TORNADO Untapped Fest 2015
DON’T CALL IT A “COME BACK” Draught House house beers
TOTAL HOT AIR Total Wine
WILL BLOG FOR FREQUENT FLYER MILES Bitch Beer
BYOANTACID Blue Owl
JUST WHY? Cream Ale
BEST CHEESEBURGER BASKET Crown & Anchor
STILL KICKING AFTER ALL THESE (5) YEARS Stay Hoppy
BEST TRAIN STOP Black Star
CRAFT BAND(JO) Shotgun Friday
FACEBOOK DRUNK SNITCH Second Shooter
GREAT #HASHTAGS, OK PHOTOS KeepAustinBrewed
MOST LIKELY TO HONOR A DEAD DARE DEVIL 8 YEARS TOO LATE South Austin Brewery
BEST PLANNER Dipak
CURRENTLY SEEKING COLLAB OPPORTUNITIES WITH BREWERIES IN CLOSE PROXIMITY TO KILLER CLIMBING SPOTS Stuffing / Steffing Brothers BEST NON HANS’ UNDERSTUDY NXNW Porchtime Pils
BEST BREWER IN A COVER BAND Spencer Tielkemeier BEST PLACE TO FEEL OLD Brew & Brew BEST NICHE FEST Lambic Fest DOPEST RIDE ATXcursions BEST TABC TROLL Hops & Grain BEST KOOZIE
Drink Respectably See our full craft beer menu: opaldivines.com Penn Field
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3601 S Congress Ave K100 Austin, TX 78704
Parmer Crossing 12709 N Mopac Expy Austin, TX 78727
Davenport Village 3801 N Capital of Texas Hwy #180 Austin, TX 78746