FROM THE EDITORS
Contents
In the weeks leading up to this issue my wife asked what would be this issue’s theme. “Theme? How about the same theme as all the others—try to deliver on some concepts we thought were good ideas while drinking a month or two before.” I get it, people like things in a nice package. And it’s a bonus if it’s relevant. So we present to you . . . the Campaign Issue. You’ll have to turn the page to see if our Obama/Romney brewmors made the final cut. We kicked things off by partaking in the democratic process and inviting some non and novice beer drinkers out to cast their vote to help us find Austin’s perfect gateway beer (p. 20 ). While we put our panel through the wringer at times, they were able to come out with an undisputed winner. Thanks to them you now know what’s safe to order for your mom next time family comes to town. We also visited with some of Austin’s homebrew heroes (p. 14) to learn more about their craft, see how much of their house has been overrun with stainless pots and glass fermenters, and find out how they are making an impact on the local and national scene. Aaron and I debated about whether these guys are more Libertarian or Tea Party (ask either side and they’ll tell you there is a difference). And finally, because this is America and you have the freedom to abuse your liver ‘til your heart’s content (assuming you have someone to drive you home), we present the fall calendar of beer events (p. 26). Fall is an endless maze of festivals and parties. To help you figure out where it’s worth breaking commitments and damaging relationships, we’ve cut through the clutter to make our recommendations on the ones you can’t miss. Go crazy kids, #YOLO. -JS Chris Troutman Aaron Chamberlain Josh Spradling Shawn Phillips
www.austinbeerguide.com
News & Brewmors ........................................ 02
season’s drinking .......................................06
PODCAST .......................................10 Brewer’s brain .......................................12
HOmebrewers .......................................14 Gateway Beers .......................................20
Fall Events .......................................26 Beer & loathing ............................................30
BREWERIES .......................................36 Brew pubs .......................................62 BP: Daytrippers .......................................67
MAPS .......................................70 Over a Pint .......................................76 BONUS STAFF COVER DESIGN.................... Josh Cockrell PHOTOGRAPHY......................Casey Moore PROOFREADERS.... Sofia, Sarah, and Kim
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NEWS & Brewmors
This is the News OPEN AND SHUT
Lovejoys ended their long stint downtown as one of the most badass, hardest, and unique brew pubs around. They closed August 5. Even the Dive-bars-with-good-beer feature from last issue could not save them. Bummer. The dudes from Beer Bouquet and some other dudes are working towards opening Austin’s next brewery, Infamous Brewing Co. They are hoping to start selling beer this fall. John Brack (AKA JB) of Austin Homebrew Supply started new venture called Craft Beer Seminars.
Austin and their menu will be centered around pizza and salads with a focus on ingredients from local farms (and beer!). And who will fill the brew boots at the two Uncle Billy’s locations? Well, out at the lake Spencer Tielkemeier, previously of (512) Brewing, will take hold of the brewing beauty. Michael Waters left Independence to take over brewing duties at the Barton Springs location.
Shake Up Amos Lowe (head brewer at Uncle Billy’s Barton Springs) and Brian “Swifty” Peters (head brewer at UB on the Lake) are leaving to start Austin Beer Garden Brewing Company (ABGB), along with Mark Jensen, Curt Knoblock, Tim Stevens and Jill Knobloch. ABGB will be located in South
. . . turn page, we got two pages of news!—>
Austin Brewmors
(brew·mor [broo-mer]: 1. a beer related story or statement in general circulation without confirmation or certainty as to facts. 2. brewing gossip; hearsay) Lance Armstrong unable to participate in annual “Beer Town Austin vs Craft Austin” Austin Beer Guide Austin Beer Week bike pub crawl due to lifetime cycling ban.
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Whip-in starts lobbying to be state’s first legal medicinal marijuana dispensary after popularity of 4:20 beer tappings .
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Michael Waters, formerly with Independence, reportedly excited about becoming Uncle Billy’s Barton Springs new head brewer, “bummed out” to shave beard to fit within UB’s corporate personalhygiene guidelines.
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Hot on the heels of their app, Circle Brewing launches new website. Next steps include hiring a social media coordinator, digital publisher, and IT support staff. Brewing to continue as time permits.
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Jester King to forgo all “year round” beers and focus on making another fucking “must have” beer every goddamn week, wrecking grocery budgets state wide and prompting all wives to ask “didn’t you JUST buy this SAME beer last week?”
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Edible Austin agrees to buy out Austin Beer Guide for $1300, a case of Lone Star, and two dozen free range, cage free quail eggs. At the last minute, ABG pulls out of deal learning that the eggs were in fact not free range, nor cage free.
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news Continued . . . More Cans Austin Beerworks has signed a lease on more warehouse space, allowing them to store more cans in the nearish future. Why do you care? Expect seasonal cans (including Einhorn!) sometime next year. Need more cans? Ok: Sixpoint out of Brooklyn, NY recently hit the shelves as one of the more anticipated additions to the Texas market. Sure it’s not local, but when your cans look that good, who cares.
Pinthouse Pizza Update Pinthouse is probably open by now. Perhaps you’re reading this in Pinthouse. If so, raise your hand. The picture below was taken the day we sent this issue to press.
Bathroom Reading The Texas Craft Brewers Guild published a study: Economic Impact of the Texas Craft Brewing Industry. It is a must read for any Texas beer fan. We haven’t read it, but you should. Point your browsers to texascraftbrewersguild.org right now.
Comeback Kids Celis Brewery (remember them?) is coming back to Austin. After years in the corporate beer desert and the passing of the beerly beloved Pierre Celis, Christine Celis (Pierre’s daughter) has plans to reopen the brewery in Austin soon. Details are sketchy and rumors abound, but a delicious witbier is surely in the mix.
BUY US OUT Local importer Artisanal Imports bought importing rights from SBS Imports, which includes some great beers like De Proef. Will this mean more beers for Austin? Probably not, but you never know.
Season’s Drinking
Fall Into Porters So we asked ourselves , “What’s the definitive fall/autumn beer?” Oktoberfest? No, too topical and it’s more of a state of mind than a beer style. Pumpkin or spiced ales? Hmm, too 90s. What about browns or ambers? Possibly, but they’re a little more year-round and we learned our lesson when we named IPA the spring beer. So after a few rounds of deliberation and some healthy democratic filibustering, the majority settled on porters.
What makes your porter special and/or different? Jeff Young Black Star Co-op Recalcitrant Dockhand. Rich, complex roast, maltiness. Uses molasses to bind and balance the many flavors. ERIK OGERSHOK Real Ale Brewing Co. Our base porter is a pretty traditional modern robust porter recipe. What we do to it after fermentation is what makes it different. We make as many different versions that our twisted brewing minds can come up with. Adding coffee and dry hopping are only two examples. JOSH HARE Hops & Grain The porter that we’ve been brewing at Hops & Grain utilizes our in house lager yeast strain. It’s more on the order of a baltic porter with rich coffee and chocolate notes and a touch of raisin with a clean, lager finish. Michael Graham Austin Beerworks Our porter is special and different because it’s a schwarzbier.
Yes, porters. Not stouts, porters (and according to the pros we talked to, defining the difference is as simple as nailing jello to the wall). Yes, porters; they’re roasty, malty, sessionable, abominable, robust, baltic, common, complimented by coffee, peppers, smoked malt, sour malt, and even crawfish tails. So here’s hoping we actually get a few days of Fall and if we do, be sure to enjoy them with porter in glass. —Chris Troutman
Jake Maddux Thirsty Planet Brewing Co. We brew a smoked porter with the malt smoked at Franklin BBQ. The flavor of a smoked porter has a lot to do with the type of wood used to smoke the grain and Franklin’s uses an aged post oak that doesn’t impart any astringency, which is a good thing. What is your favorite food to pair with a good porter? ERIK OGERSHOK Real Ale Brewing Co. Due to porter’s complexity you can pair with many different foods. Cheese, check. Shellfish, check. Chocolate check. Porter float, check. JOSH HARE Hops & Grain Not really down for mixing my porter with food. John McIntosh Barber Shop Bar A peanut butter and jelly sandwich goes very well with a porter. Brian Smittle Thirsty Planet Brewing Co. Depends on the porter. For example I would pair our
Franklin Smoked Porter with a rib eye. What’s your favorite commercial porter besides your own? ERIK OGERSHOK Real Ale Brewing Co. Geary’s London Porter, Fuller’s London Porter, Alaskan Smoked Porter, Odell Cutthroat Porter. JOSH HARE Hops & Grain Anchor Porter. Michael Graham Austin Beerworks (512)’s Pecan Porter is great. I also really like Edmund Fitzgerald from Great Lakes. John McIntosh Barber Shop Bar Cutthroat Porter from Odell. Brian Smittle Thirsty Planet Brewing Co. My wife and I are huge fans of the Alaskan Smoked Porter. We had a very fun trip to their brewery a few years back. We rented bikes to get there and after one or six smoked porters we had to find a cab to take us and our rented bikes back.
Jake Maddux Thirsty Planet Brewing Co. Alaska Brewing Co. Smoked Porter. It’s truly a world-class beer.
don’t. But there are a ton of subcategories to both styles and they overlap. A porter becomes a stout on BeerAdvocate.
When does a porter become a stout? What’s the difference?
Brian Smittle Thirsty Planet Brewing Co. When the roasted barley characteristic becomes the more dominant flavor.
Jeff Young Black Star Co-op I try to distinguish the two with stouts having astringency from roasted barley and porters do not. However, nowadays, it’s really just distinguished by what the brewer calls it—porter or stout. We did a blind tasting one time where you had to pick whether the beer was a porter or a stout. The average of people being correct was 50%. So, we concluded it didn’t matter what you called it, what was in it, or what the brewer called it; it just matters if you enjoy it. ERIK OGERSHOK Real Ale Brewing Co. They are related, but I am a strict believer that the difference is roasted barley. That should never go into porter. JOSH HARE Hops & Grain A porter becomes a stout when you space out whilst weighing out your specialty grains and end up with way too much dark malt. Scenario two could involve the aforementioned space out but this time you found some extra roasted barley in the back of the mill room that needs to be used. Voila, you know have a stout. And that’s a scientific fact. Michael Graham Austin Beerworks Stouts tend to be darker, drier, more astringent, and less hoppy. Stouts use roasted barley and porters typically
Jake Maddux Thirsty Planet Brewing Co. Stouts began life as a porter but generally had a higher alcohol. The name changed to stout porters then eventually just became known as stout when porter fell out of vogue. Today, they’re nearly interchangeable to most brewers. How do you feel about using additional ingredients to flavor porters (coffee, pecans, smoked malts, yada yada)? Jeff Young Black Star Co-op Porters are probably the most versatile beer style. From Recalcitrant Dockhand, we make Rebellious Dockhand (raspberries and sour-mashed), Cantankerous Dockhand (chili blend with cacao nibs), Crotchety Dockhand (oats and coffee), and the secret Redonkulous Dockhand (???). So, you might say I’m all for additional ingredients in porters . . . as long as you can get the base beer correct . . . ERIK OGERSHOK Real Ale Brewing Co. As long as it compliments the beer, throw it in. JOSH HARE Hops & Grain Hell yeah, throw it all in. This IS Texas after all. We’re working on a porter recipe right now that involves black licorice, currants, beets, crawfish tails and just a touch
of ginger. Then we are going to dry-hop it with jicama at a rate of 20 pounds per barrel, should be rad. Michael Graham Austin Beerworks Like when I used to climb the rope in gym class. John McIntosh Barber Shop Bar Experimentation is fine, but a well made porter is such a treat, I don’t think it needs additions. Jake Maddux Thirsty Planet Brewing Co. I love to add other things into porters, they carry other flavors very well. It’s a great canvass. What’s the most outrageous porter recipe you’ve ever brewed? ERIK OGERSHOK Real Ale Brewing Co. We made firkins of Ghost Face Melter. It was our base porter that we added cacao nibs, smoked poblanos and jalapeños, and ghost chilies. We have also added obscene amounts of coffee to our porter in firkins as well. Oh and we can’t leave out that we have added bacon as well. Michael Graham Austin Beerworks I once made a homebrew batch with 100% of the ingredients farmed by child labor. I also added clippings of pornographic magazines during secondary fermentation. Jake Maddux Thirsty Planet Brewing Co. I’ve made porters and added in things like mole spices, chipotle peppers and figs. My biggest swing and a miss was with burnt ends from Franklin. Waste of good meat but a good experiment.
Celebrating American Craft BEER | WINE | FOOD | COCKTAILS 207 East 53rd, Austin, TX (512) 614-6683 www.drinkwellaustin.com in good spirits 4p-11p 7 days a week open at 11am on weekends
ABG Podcast
Podcastin’ With Thirsty Planet (Give That Planet a Glass of Water Already!) We spent one of the first nice evenings of the 2012 autumn season out in the Thirsty Planet biergarten, or beer-orarium as it came to be known later in the evening, with the always enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and hospitable Jake Maddux and Mike Haiges. Use the QR code to link directly to our podcast page.
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brewer’s brain
From the Mind of Pinthouse Joe . . .
Not long ago I found myself at that place where 6th Street ends and life begins - talking shop and drinking beer. After a couple pints, Josh Hare and I began discussing the culture of craft beer. As the afternoon progressed, our discussion began to focus on the importance of the culture surrounding craft beer and how we, as brewers in Austin, both go about maintaining and advancing it . . . but let’s back up. The guys at Austin Beer Guide recently asked if I would write this issue’s Brewer’s Brain. They proposed it as a good opportunity to introduce myself to all of you, seeing as the issue would be coming out right around the time Pinthouse Pizza would be opening (my fingers are crossed as I write this, hoping the home stretch of construction went smoothly and you’re actually reading this at Pinthouse!). So, for the past couple weeks I’ve sat looking at a blank word document thinking about how to introduce myself to all of you, and it finally hit me: that conversation with Josh, about the culture of craft beer . . . it was this whole “craft beer culture” thing that drew me into this industry in the first place and what ultimately drew me down here to Austin. When it comes down to it I am very fortunate to even be a part of this industry. I was simply a passionate homebrewer, coming out of grad school, when I started volunteering at Odell Brewing Co. in Fort Collins, Colorado. Luckily they ended up hiring me and I eventually worked my way into the Head Brewer role. While there I had the great fortune of learning about recipe development and process management from some of craft beer’s pioneers: Doug Odell and Brendan McGivney. I gained a respect for the English tradition of brewing and the importance of drinkability and balance in a complex and flavorful beer,
while also learning that as an American craft brewer we are not limited by style guidelines or traditions like some other brewers. I also learned that above all else craft beer is a collaborative endeavor; rarely are successful attempts done individually. It’s always more fun to develop a beer with fellow, like-minded artists. More than that, though, it takes the support of an entire community to grow, and support the future growth and success, of our industry. This is the essence of craft beer culture. It’s exciting to see how the entire community of Austin brewers and beer enthusiasts share this vision of craft beer culture. Since I’ve arrived in town, so many brewers have reached out to offer their help, advice, and support for our project. A special thanks to Austin Beerworks, Hops and Grain, Twisted X (we will give your mill back soon, I promise!) and Thirsty Planet for all the help, advice, hop storage, water discussions, guest brewing and lots of beer! Thanks to all of the brewers in and around Austin for welcoming us into the community, showing us around your breweries, often on short notice, and for making tasty beer! A lot of local beer was consumed in the build out of Pinthouse Pizza and we look forward to drinking a lot more local beer with y’all!
Joe Mohrfeld is head brewer at Pinthouse Pizza on Burnet Road (hopefully open now).
H MEBREW HEROES! Words by Chris Troutman Photos by Casey Moore
As we all know, Austin is ripe with beer. Enough so to warrant a guide. (Austin Beer Guide, that is. Beware of imitators.) But unbeknownst to many of the exceptionally crafted local beer swilling masses, we are also sitting on a national hotbed of homebrewers. Seriously, Austin is like a sleeper cell of religiously fanatical homebrewers ready and willing to take zymurological jihad to homebrew competitions across the nation. This year alone, Austin is home to the 2012 National Homebrew Conference Ninkasi award winner, a 2011 Sam Adams Longshot winner, and at least half a dozen pro-am winners whose beers will be poured at the Great American Beer Fest in Denver, CO. You may ask why we are highlighting Austin’s homebrew scene. Well, we believe that the quality of our fair city’s craft beer scene is directly related to, indebted to, and somewhat dependent on Austin’s vibrant homebrew culture. If you’ve even paid half attention, you may have noticed that a significant amount of the folks brewing the beer we all enjoy today have history in Austin’s homebrew culture, either as a Zealot, Austin Homebrew Supply (AHS) employee, or just that persistent guy showing up at events and tastings with bottles of his brew in hand ready to share. Homebrewing is nothing new in our city. AHS has been an outpost for the thirsty creative whom have taken it upon themselves to create what they can’t buy or think they can make better for the past 20 years and has been homebrewing’s biggest proponent in Austin since Jimmy Carter. “Since I bought Austin Homebrew Supply at the end of 1999, the quality of ingredients have improved dramatically and the number of homebrewers in Austin has grown dramatically,” says AHS owner, Forrest Rogness. “The beer culture in Austin is really hot right now. This has had a direct impact on the increase of people starting to make their own beer.” Austin is also home to the Austin Zealots (Zymurgic Enthusiasts of Austin Loosely Organized Through Suds) and the nearby Texas Carboys (Round Rock) homebrew clubs; both of which show very well in the statewide and national competitions. So we thought it was high time that some of Austin’s great homebrew folk get some recognition for the great beers they’ve been making. We’ve profiled a few of the several local homebrewers that have made some pretty significant contributions to our city’s great beer scene.
Chris Rauschuber
Making beer since 2005
Best Known For: Uncle Billy's 2012 Kellerbier Pro-Am Schwarzbier Favorite Beer to Brew: I enjoy brewing all kinds of beer, but I especially love making styles that age well and watching them improve over the months and years. Homebrewing Highlight: My proudest homebrewing moment was when my wife and I had over 50 gallons of homebrew on tap at our wedding. We had helles, pale ale, Belgian quadrupel, Vienna lager, cider, oatmeal stout, weizenbock, a pumpkin ale brewed by our close friend and officiant, Jamie Snelson, and a special "Wedding Blend" of imperial stout, English barleywine and Jamie's schwarzbier. Pro Tip: Proper fermentation temperature, pitching rate and yeast health are huge. Brewers only make the wort, so we need to make sure the yeast have everything they need to make beer the way we want them to.
Corey Martin
Making beer since 1988 Best Known For: 2011 Sam Adam’s Longshot Dark Night in Munich Favorite Beer to Brew: I really can’t comment to one style of beer, I pretty much like them all, if they’re done right. And I think that’s the trick, beer is a wonderful product if it’s made properly, and is drinkable. That’s why we all love it so. Homebrewing Highlight: That’s simple, last year I won the Sam Adam’s Long Shot competition. That by far is my greatest accomplishment as a homebrewer, and I couldn’t have done it without the support of my lovely wife and the Zealots. Pro Tip: First and foremost is sanitation, but that should go without saying. After that, temperature control makes a world of difference. Then I would say yeast pitching rate, quality of ingredients and water.
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H MEBREW HEROES!
Keith Bradley
Making beer since 1993
Best Known For: Funkwerks ProAm Belgian Witbier flavored with various citrus and coriander Favorite Beer to Brew: My favorite styles to brew are big beers, 7+% alcohol and lagers. I also enjoy decoction mashing. Homebrewing Highlight: In 2011, Pam (Bradley) and I won homebrew team of the year for the second time in the Lone Star Circuit. In 2010 I won homebrew team of the year with Jay McEvers. Pam and I also won three best of shows in the Lone Star Circuit that year. Pro Tip: Sanitation, temp control, pitch rate, water treatment . . .
Mark Schoppe
Making beer since 1993
Best Known For: National Homebrew Conference 2012 Ninkasi Winner Favorite Beer to Brew: Right now, I’m really into sour beers. I’ve been playing around with sour mashing and have done six batches so far this year (with a seventh souring as I speak). I’m also a big fan of smoked beers. Every year I do a batch of Imperial Rauchbier. Homebrewing Highlight: My biggest accomplishment as a homebrewer is definitely winning the Ninkasi award at this year’s National Homebrew Competition. A close second is winning Homebrewer of the Year on the Lone Star Circuit last year. Pro Tip: Practice, practice, practice. As with most things, you get better at brewing by doing it. The more you brew, the better you get at the process and the better your results will be.
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Dan and Joel Dewberry
Making beer since 1996
Best Known For: Flix Brewhouse fruit beer Pro-Am Mango Hefeweizen Favorite Beer to Brew: That is difficult to narrow down but Pale Ale and Double IPA are what we brew the most, but we love brewing all sorts of Belgian styles, plus German-style light lagers. Homebrewing Highlight: Winning a second place medal in the National Homebrew Competition in 2012 for our Scotch Ale. Pro Tip: Most important thing to make good beer at home is sanitation and temperature control for fermentation.
HOMEBREW TO PROBREW Jeff Stuffings, Owner Jester King Craft Brewery
Nate Seale, Head Brewer/Yeast Wrangler (512) Brewing
A friend of mine from school introduced me to homebrewing. He shared his homebrew with me and let me borrow his equipment. It wasn’t long until I headed to Austin Homebrew Supply to get my own gear. John Brack from AHS sold me my first kit and went over the basics with me. From there, I spent a lot of time reading homebrewing books, listening to The Brewing Network, and learning how to brew through trial and error in my kitchen. I’ve found that recipe development and creativity at the homebrew level has translated well into commercial brewing. An understanding of how ingredients and flavors work together can be had by brewing five gallons at a time. Inspiration and creativity on paper must pass the test of turning into good homebrew before making the jump to a commercial batch. This is especially true in Texas where it’s illegal for a production brewery to have a small system that makes experimental beer for sale at its tasting room. Every beer we brew at Jester King begins its life as homebrew. We still do all our recipe development on my original homebrew setup. Most recently I spent a lot of time working on our rendition of an ancient style called Gotlandsdricka. I homebrewed it over and over again to dial in the level of smoke, bitterness and botanicals. The scale up from five gallons to 930 gallons wasn’t a perfect match, but it was sufficiently close that we were happy we took the time to really dial in the homebrewed version.
I started getting seriously interested in craft beer in the mid-90s after discovering beers like Sierra Nevada, Franziskaner, etc. The first time I ever tasted Guinness was actually my big “aha!” moment. I started trying every style and brand I could get my hands on, and read and reread Michael Jackson’s Beer Companion more times than I can remember, and by the end of 2000 I had decided to try and make my own. I got a starter homebrew kit and a few days later brewed my first batch (Austin Homebrew’s Steamroller Stout for the record – it was delicious). From there, I was off and running and started brewing like a maniac. I spent about 14½ years in the restaurant industry, which certainly had its rewards, but by 2008 I had gotten pretty burnt out on the business and was increasingly feeling like I was wasting every day I spent not in the brewing business. So I quit my job and started trying to find a job at one of the local breweries, and eventually with a little cosmic intervention I got in touch with Kevin Brand, who was just starting (512). We hit it off and he put me to work, and that was that. Very early on – I want to say the third or fourth recipe I ever wrote and only my fifth or sixth batch overall – I decided I wanted to try my hand at a Brown Ale. Being pretty inexperienced, I basically screwed up the math and ended up with a Brown Ale that was much stronger than I meant for it to be, but serendipitously delicious. Then in 2009 when we needed a new fall seasonal, that beer, with a few minor tweaks, became (512) BRUIN.
Finding the perfect Gateway Beer Words byJosh Spradling Photos by Casey Moore
We all had the one. It eventually crossed us over to something more bitter, roastier, tart and maybe funky. Without it we may still be drinking the same American light lager 10, 15, 20 years after college. The gateway beer. More flavorful but not offensive, the gateway beer opens your mind beyond beers you regularly see packaged 24 (or 30) at a time. There are plenty of national ones you may find easily at any decent hotel bar or TGI Friday’s, but we wanted to find Austin’s definitive gateway beer. Remember, keep it local. At this point our palates can’t taste anything that’s not barrel-aged, sour, or over 9% ABV so we thought it was best to recruit a few friends that don’t drink beer or only do so when it’s free, cheap, or easily accessible, to be the judge. And we may write about, drink, and even brew our own beer, but really, what do we know? We needed help. So we headed down to Rainey Street to hit up Banger’s where certified cicerone and professional beer wrangler Chris Booth pulled off a flight of six Central Texas beers from their 100+ taps. We’ll take a quick detour here to say that we realize six is pretty limited considering the growing number of Austin 20
breweries and everyone has their own preferences, but we knew our panelists could only take so much. We set our volunteers to work asking them to make comments and rate their favorites. They choked their way through most and found solace in a few. When all was said and done there was a clear winner, but it seemed far from surprising.
THE CONTENDERS: 512 Wit (Witbier)
Austin Beerworks Peacemaker (Extra Pale)
Real Ale Fireman’s #4 (American Blonde)
Austin Beerworks Pearl Snap (German Pilsner)
Live Oak Big Bark (Amber Lager)
Thirsty Planet Yellow Armadillo (American Wheat)
MEET THE PANELISTS: Name: West, aka “The Outlier” Beer History: “My first time to try a beer I was a little kid that wanted to try what my dad was drinking. He gave me a sip and I detested it. Next time I had a beer I was 22 years old.” Drink of choice: Mexican martini Name: Stephanie, aka “Awkward beer girl” Beer History: “I’ve only crossed over from fruity, girly drinks to beer in the last couple of years.” Drink of choice: Mexican beer (Modelo or Pacifico)
Name: James, aka “Drunk After This Tasting” Beer History: “I started drinking anything people had (read: free), then I met some drinkers that introduced me to tastier beers. ” Drink of Choice: Chimay (Ed note: We later heard he discovered when it was flowing freely at a friend’s house) Name: Sarah, aka “No Thanks” Beer History: “Had a Corona in college, never drank beer again.” Drink of Choice: “I tend to order the most expensive thing on the menu.” If unsure, vodka and cranberry juice. 21
Finding the perfect Gateway Beer
TASTING NOTES: THE GOOD: “I would drink it if it was available at a party.” “Oops, I drank it all.” “I would definitely drink if ordered for me.” “Tastes more ‘beerier.’” “This one tastes more like what a beer should taste like.” “When I think of Al Bundy reaching for a beer, I imagine this is what he is reaching for.” “I would buy this.” “Very intriguing. Lots of flavors going on in this one.” “Beers are getting better, I would buy this for sure.” “This is the beer I would have on hand and save for guests.” “Delicious!” “No weird bitter flavor. I would order again.” “I could actually drink more than one sip. Victory!” “I could maybe drink this. Is this Lone Star?” “I would drink it because it reminds me of Dos XX. I wish I had a lime or whatever you are supposed to put in this.”
The Bad: “Can I have a Lone Star now?” ”Not my bag.” “Has a funky aftertaste.” “Made my belly button pucker.” “Kinda reminds me of Christmas.” “A little ‘too much’ beer for me. This shit will put hair on your chest.” “Probably not gonna order this one.” “Strong aftertaste. It’s like a trick where it tastes okay at first and then sneaks up from behind and gives you a wedgie.” “Intriguing, but not in a good way.” The Ugly: “Oh, that was so bad. Need more of #2 to wash that that horrible taste out of my mouth!” “I don’t even . . . words cannot describe.” “When is it going to taste better? This has the worst aftertaste.” “Strange form of torture. Like eating rubber.” “Not a gateway beer, this would turn someone off beer.” “Would not finish if it were free.”
WINNER: Real Ale’s Fireman’s #4. It was the only one not to find a hater or two in the group. “I could actually drink more than one sip. Victory!,” one drinker remarked. What more does a brewer want to hear? Some of the other contenders did have advocates, but in the end they couldn’t make the cut. We could have possibly guessed this would be the people’s choice, but at least this gave us an excuse to leave the house, check out one of the newest craft beer bars in town, and get some great pics and memorable quotes. 22
FALL Event Calen’duh Words by Chris Troutman
Any Austin beer drinker whose been around the block a time or two knows that fall is beer season in Texas’ capital. As the weather chills and the leaves begin to drop, your beer calendar begins to fill up quickly. Besides the ubiquitous Oktoberfests (celebrated in September in Germany, yet October in TX . . .) there are quiet a few weekend-engulfing worthy events this time of year. Here are a few of our favorites in calendar order.
Flying Saucer Fall Beer FeAst
SEP 29
Saturday, Sept 29 1pm-7pm Triangle Park, 4800 Guadalupe St. “40 breweries and 60 craft beers” Tickets $40 at gate www.beerfeast2012.com This will be the Saucer’s 5th Fall Beer Fest/Feast since their landing (pun intended) in Austin as many years ago. The FS flexes their corporate chain muscle to pull in some incredible brews from all over the map. As the years have gone by, these pros have figured out how to avoid too long lines, empty plenty of potties, and keep everybody mostly happy. After all, it’s a beer festival!
Texas Craft Brewers Festival
OCT 06
Saturday, October 6 2pm-8pm Fiesta Gardens, Austin “Best Beer Event 2011, clear winner in the category”- Us Tickets $20-$77 pre-order www.texascraftbrewersfestival.org Voted Best Beer Event 2011 by you, our readers, and us, the editorial staff. We missed out on the original runs, but since the festival’s resurrection in 2011 it’s kicked more ass than the 1992 Dream Team. Yeah, it’s that good. Full disclosure, we’re an official media sponsor this year, so yeah, we’re a bit biased. But if WE think it’s good enough to hang our brand on, then it must be legit. Trust us, we don’t steer you wrong [that often].
Hops & Grain 1 Year Anniversary Fiesta
OCT 07
Sunday, October 7 Hops & Grain Brewery “Twelve different beers on tap, proper Beer Mile race, food trucks, music and some gypsy aerial dancers, just to round out the vibe.” Tickets on sale in September www.hopsandgrain.com It’ll be one year since Mr. Josh Hare and crew have been making their yummy well crafted beers at the end of East 6th, and they are looking to celebrate. Sure it’s the day after the TCBF, but whatever. You’re not a pussy, right? With the Green House beers as testament, H&G are more than prolific at creating some tasty one offs, and we’re sure they will have a fair share pouring at their celebration.
Austin Beer Week
October 20-28 The City of Austin Prices/tickets vary per individual event www.austinbeerweek.com Ever thought, “Austin’s got more beer than just one night can handle. Maybe a week could do it justice”? Well wonder no more. This will be the third ABW and if we may use the past two years to judge, this one will be fantastic. You can expect a healthy dose of special tappings, events, brewers, new beers, food pairings, dinners, parties, movies, BIKE PUB CRAWLS, beer olympics, etc., popping up all over the city for the week. It’s hella fun and totally worth a few weekday morning hangovers.
OCT 20–28
Jester King Second Annual Funk’n Sour Fest
October 20 Jester King Brewery Tickets are $30 and include a Funk’n Sour Fest t-shirt, a Jester King stemware glass, and a tour of the brewery www.jesterkingbrewery.com/events This event may not be for everyone, but if it is for you, it’s the event of your year. For a while now Jester King has been using their tasting room to dispense some mighty fine beers from around the globe that aren’t easily found in Texas in addition to their own rambunctious, delicious concoctions on a weekly basis every Saturday. Well, this event takes those Saturday events up to eleven. Tickets will sell out for this fast, so run, don’t walk to acquire yours.
OCT 20
Draught House Pub and Brewery 44th Anniversary Party
October 27 Purchase tickets for special beers, by the pint/pitcher at the bar www.draughthouse.com This party started it all. Craft beer as conceived in the back of a Subaru Forester in the DH parking lot after one of these parties back in the 90s, so they say. Josh Wilson and company bring out more rare, one-of-a-kind, bizarre, exceptional, and debut beers at this event than most bars do in their entire life. No fucking joke man. Here’s the trick to getting the most out of a Draught House Anniversary party: come on time, bring a chair, get in line for the rare stuff and enjoy the afternoon and 70s funk courtesy of DJ Jubal. Then leave, take a shower, get some water, maybe a nap, some proteins, and then come back with plans to call for a ride home.
OCT 27
O-Fests NXNW, October 27–28, nxnwbrew.com/events/oktoberfest Scholz Garten, October 27, scholzgarten.net
Dig Pub, 5th Anniversary, October 27, thedigpub.com Zax, date unannounced at press time, zaxaustin.com/events
Each O-fest has it’s own flavor, and you’ll only know them if you attend all. Yeah, we maybe missed one here or there, but you get the general idea that there are a lot of them. We mainly highlighted the ones that would most likely pour better/local beers. Whatever, you don’t go for the beer, you go for the brats, steins, and the opportunity to dust off your lederhosen.
ADVERTORIAL
ABG’s Guide to TCBF
In our opinion, the Texas Craft Brewers Festival is Austin’s undisputed best beer event by far. Just check out last year's readers’ poll—everyone loved it the most. And this year is looking to be even more fantastic with the lineup expanding to over 30 breweries and well over 100 different MADE IN TEXAS beers. With that many options, we thought perhaps you’d appreciate a guide. Please allow us to humbly offer our services. These are just our suggestions and opinions, please explore beyond our list the plethroa of fine Texas–made beers available only one time a year at this incredible event.
Get it while the getting is good:
Festival firsts (or close to first release)
Outside Austin City Limits:
Hops & Grain French Oak Cabernet Barrel-Aged Pale Dog
(512) Brewing FOUR
Deep Ellum Rocktoberfest
Circle Brewing SMOKIN' BEECH (Rauchbier)
Wicked Beaver Timber Ale
Jester King Gotlandsdricka
Ranger Creek Red Headed Stranger (American Red Ale)
Jester King Whiskey Barrel Rodeo Real Ale Brewing 4-Squared (cask) Thirsty Planet ChiGoatle (Amber with Peppers)
Tickets Available
ONLINE & at the
Gate.
Rogness Brewing Boomslang IPL
No Label Black Wit-O (Dark Wheat Ale)
Real Ale Brewing Brewer's Cut (Black Quad)
OCTOBER 6
Fiesta Gardens 2-8 pm / VIP @ noon*
* VIP includes intimate 2-Hour Brewer Meet & Greet Session!
New Republic Sklylight Dunelweizen
TEXAS CRAFT
BREWERS FESTIVAL
TexasCraftBrewersFestival.org Produced by:
Follow on Twitter: @TxBrewersFest
Benefitting Austin Sunshine Camps
he Establis d 1928
Beer & Loathing
Ultimate TGIF Pub Crawl Words by AaRON CHAMBERLAIN
WE ROLLIN
Photos by Casey Moore
It’s Friday. You just skipped out of work an hour early. What do you do? You go on the Ultimate TGIF Pub Crawl! The plan was to scam some company to give us a limo for the night in exchange for a free plug or two. We had grand plans of pulling up to Austin Beerworks in a stretched hummer (equipped with a hotub in back, of course), opening the door, and rolling out a red carpet right up to the taps. That would have been ultimate, but alas, it was not meant to be. We were unable to secure the limo. Instead we had to squeeze five dudes into my father-in-law’s Saab. Sure it was a tight squeeze, but come on it’s got turbo. That’s sort of ultimate. The crew of five was Josh, Chris, Casey, JJ (my new brother-in-law), and me. Our arrival at Austin Beerworks was a bit more humble than we planned, slipping in the side door and groveling for beer tickets. Austin Beerworks has regular Friday Happy Hours. Space is limited, so you need to RSVP for tickets. Follow them on Facebook
AUSTIN BEERWORKS
for RSVP info. Einhorn was still on, so you know most of us had a couple pints of that. Beerworker Adam told us all about their new seasonalish beer, Super Awesome Lager. It wasn’t ready for sampling, but it was on tap a week later. We looked at their new tanks, stood in a circle, and finished our beers. Before leaving we tried finding where they hide the unicorn (see page 40), but only found a troll, three elves, and a wizard. Our next stop was going to be Adelbert’s but they were having a private event that Friday. Most Fridays plan to head there next for a tour and tasting. Instead we were off to C. Hunts.
ICE ICE BABY
You know C. Hunts. You read about it in our Dives-with-good-beer feature in the last issue. We loved it so much, we couldn’t stay away. Best thing about C. Hunts—no not the giant grape vine, though that is nice—it’s the ice. Lots of ice. Ice trough built into bar to set your bottle in, ice in the urinals to pee on, and endless ice refills on your buckets of beer. It never ends. We picked a nice spot in the
sun, next to the parking lot. We bumped into Casey’s brother while there, though I’m still not sure if he was really his brother. I always assume people are lying to me. At the time Casey’s “brother” left, Bryan (from your favorite podcast: ours.) joined us. Just in time too, JJ was about to polish off the last Lone Star. I had to snatch it out of his hands and pass it to Bryan. I was trying to show my dominance over him, as he just married my baby sister and he was in MY town. I don’t think it worked. Plus he is a 6’7” Coast Guarder. He didn’t blink.
TRY THE CHIPS
When we got to Black Star it was packed. Both lines were peeking out the door and few tables were open. Some would complain about this, but I like the lines. They give me time to decide on what I want to eat (portobello or veggie burger? ) and drink (hoppy or malty?). When we all figured out our orders we had magically transported to the front of the line. And, uhhhhh, nothing really interesting happened at Black Star. My portobello and chips was tasty and my Narcissus was fantastic. Everyone else seemed happy. We left for Sunrise.
C. Hunts
I’LL TAKE THAT BEER
Maybe your asking yourself, “Why are they going to a gas station on a pub crawl?” First, we needed brewskis for Pinballz Arcade, our final destination, which is a BYOB joint. Second, because Sunrise is not your average gas station. They are one of the best bottle shops in North Austin. As I entered Sunrise I saw a bottle of the rare and coveted Deschutes Black Butte XXIV and shouted back to the other guys, “Hey they still got some XXIV!” Sam (Sunrise’s cheerful beer pusher) quickly corrected me, “No, that is his beer,” pointing at some dude behind the counter. “Oh, ok.” We went to the back corner of Sunrise to choose our beverages of choice. Cans were popular choices for the group. JJ grabbed a big ole bottle of Adelbert’s Triple B, which is over 9%. As we walked up to pay for our beers, Sam asked me if I wanted the Black Butte XXIV. “I thought it was his.” “Hey buddy, let them have the beer,” Sam told the dude. “Are you gonna get more of it?” “Maybe.” Dude shrugged.
bLack Star Co-Op
SUNRISE SAM
“Come on.” He passed it across the counter to me. I felt bad buying it, but I wasn’t going against Sam. We waved goodbye and went to pack our cooler.
PINBALL WIZARD
We pulled into the Pinballz parking lot and decided to split a Ghost Face Killah, a beer made with six different peppers. Chris carefully poured out six equal pours of the chile beer. We clunked our cups together and downed the spicy mess. We complained about the burn, except for JJ. He thought nothing of it and moved onto popping open his Tripel B. Hardcore. If you’ve never been to Pinballz you should make plans to go tonight. You can bring your own beer in (one at a time, fyi) and play awesome video games, pinball machines, skee ball, prize claws, etc. They have everything. My only complaint is that there are no games under two tokens. Josh was the hero of the hour(s), racking up tons of tickets and buying each of us little gifts.
ONE LAST ONE
Yeah, this is where the loathing begins. Bryan and Casey were smart. They ducked out early after Pinballz, but the rest of us decided to forge on to Draught House for one more beer. But finally (finally!), I was able to take down JJ. He looked miserable at DH. He was either sleepy or drunk, or both. We gave him the true Beer and Loathing experience. First we bring you up and then drop you way, way down. If you are still reading, let me give you one last bit of information for the Ultimate TGIF Pub Crawl. Skip this stop. Come to DH the next day. Go home. Your wife is waiting for you and you probably forgot to feed the damn hermit crabs.
BREWERIES
(512) Brewing Co. INFO
Current Seasonal
Brewer/Founder . . . . Kevin Brand (Owner), Nate Seale (Brewer) Established . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Summer 2008 Tours . . . . . . . . . . . Some Saturdays with RSVP url . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.512brewing.com
(512) Tripel Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tripel ABV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.5% Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft Quick sip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Slightly spicy, dry Food it Chases Down Well . . . . . . . . Grilled chilean sea bass, clams in butter sauce, pork belly pizza pie
Year Round Beers (512) Pale Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . American Pale Ale ABV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.8% Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft Quick sip . . . . . . . Drinkable, hoppy, quenching Food it Chases Down Well . . . . . . Burgers, chiles rellenos, fish and chips (512) IPA Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . American IPA ABV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7% Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft Quick sip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hoppy, citrusy, solid Food it Chases Down Well . . . . .Spicy thai, tex-mex, italian, ALL pizza, BBQ (512) Pecan Porter Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Porter ABV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.8% Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft Quick sip . . . . . . . . . Full bodied, roasty, pecans Food it Chases Down Well . . . .Red meats, ice cream, chocolate
(512) Bruin Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Imperial Brown Ale ABV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.6% Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft Quick sip . . . . . . . . Roasty, nutty, slightly sweet Food it Chases Down Well . . . . . . . . Grilled sausages, fish
coming soon (512) FOUR Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . English Strong Ale Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft
we recommend Pecan Porter, Bruin, Tripel *See full listing of available beers at www.austinbeerguide.com
Kevin Brand moved back to Austin from California in early 2008 to start the brewery and began brewing beer that summer. Brand’s initial lineup was the Wit, Pale, and IPA, but quickly added the Pecan Porter to the year round line up after the enormous reception it received as the first winter seasonal. Currently (512)’s beers are only available on draft but they have released a limited number of bottles of Whiskey Barrel Aged Double Pecan Porter (along with Wild Bear and THREE) in the past and sprinkled them around town. They just celebrated their four year anniversary with the release of FOUR, an English Strong Ale. We suggested a Quad in the last issue, but we guess they didn’t read that issue.
Currently available: (512) TRIPEL Next up: (512) FOUR
512brewing.com
Unique Ales Brewed in South Austin Local, Domestic & Organic Ingredients Hand Crafted & Self Distributed Family Owned & Operated
BREWERIES
Adelbert’s Brewery INFO Brewer/Founder . . . . . . . . . . . . . Scott Hovey Established . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Winter 2011/12 Tours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fridays, 5-8pm url . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.adelbertsbeer.com
Year Round Beers Rambler Ale Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Belgian Style Blonde Ale ABV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3% Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft/Bottle Quick sip . . . . . . . Bright, semi-spicy, drinkable Food it Chases Down Well . . . . . . . Chicken, cheese, grilled tilapia, rustic bread
Dancin’ Monks Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Belgian Style Dubbel Ale ABV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2% Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft/Bottle Quick sip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sweet, nutty, plum Food it Chases Down Well . . . . . . . . . . Ribs, brie, brownies
we recommend Scratchin’ Hippo, Tripel B *See full listing of available beers at www.austinbeerguide.com
Scratchin’ Hippo Style . . . . . . . . . . . Belgian Style Biere de Garde ABV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.8% Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft/Bottle Quick sip . . . . . . . . . . Malty, earthy, semi-sweet Food it Chases Down Well . . . . . . . . . . Thai, steak, spicy Italian Tripel B Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Belgian Style Tripel Ale ABV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.3% Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft/Bottle Quick sip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cloudy, candy, fruity Food it Chases Down Well . . . . . . . Spinach salad, strawberries, lobster
In early 2010, Scott Hovey was ripe for a mid-life career change and when he looked for inspiration he found it in the eclectic and exciting life of his deceased older brother, Adelbert. Inspired by his brother’s willingness to chase his dreams, Scott decided to turn his homebrew hobby into a career. Always a fan of Belgian style ales, Scott was introduced to the complexities and flavor possibilities in bottle conditioned aged Belgian beers at the 2010 Craft Brewers Conference. He returned and set out to start Austin’s first all Belgian style bottle and keg conditioned brewery, aptly named after his older brother. Of the six beers to be released in 2012, each one is named after an experience or story that his brother Adelbert loved to tell.
BREWERIES
Austin Beerworks INFO Brewer/Founder . . . . . . . . . Adam DeBower, Michael Graham, Mike McGovern and Will Golden Established . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Summer 2011 Tours . . . . . . . Fridays, 5-8pm (RSVP required) url . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.austinbeerworks.com
Year Round Beers Fire Eagle American IPA Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . American IPA ABV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2% Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft/Cans Quick sip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hoppy, piney Food it Chases Down Well . . . . . . . . . Thai, steak, spicy Italian Peacemaker Extra Pale Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . American Pale Ale ABV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1% Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft/Cans Quick sip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Drinkable, crisp Food it Chases Down Well . . . . . . . . Vegan hotdogs, pickles, Sidora’s homemade Chex mix
Quick sip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Light, hoppy, crisp Food it Chases Down Well . . . . . .Sausage, breads, mustard, burgers
Current Seasonal Super Awesome Lager Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Helles Lager Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . Draft (Early Fall) Quick sip . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sweet, bready, biscuity Food it Chases Down Well . . . . Any type of sausage, pretzels, steckerlfisch Battle Axe Imperial Red Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Imperial Red Ale Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . Draft (Late Fall) Quick sip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hoppy, sticky, big Food it Chases Down Well . . . . . . Cheddar popcorn, Chicago style hot dog
we recommend Fire Eagle, Super Awesome Lager, Battle Axe *See full listing of available beers at www.austinbeerguide.com
Pearl-Snap German Pils Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . German Pilsner ABV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3% Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft/Cans Austin Beerworks is a collection of four friends spanning from the East coast to Austin, united and “hell-bent on excellence” in beer making. The beerworkers, Michael, Will, Adam and Mike, have raised an impressive production brewery and cannery in the northwest sector of town since April 2011. With their regular lineup of four beers, including 2011 GABF silver medal winner Peacemaker Extra Pale, the four friends have come storming out of the gates and onto the Austin beer scene. The Austin Beerworks fellows aim to make super tasty, yet drinkable beers, perfect for our refined, but also often heat-parched Austin palates.
BREWERIES
Circle Brewing Co. INFO
Brewer/Founder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ben Sabel and Jud Mulherin Established . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Winter 2010/11 Tours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Check website url . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.circlebrewing.com
Year Round Beers Blur Texas Hefe Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hefeweizen ABV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.6% Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft Quick sip . . . . . . . . . . . . Bananas, light, gulpable
Food it Chases Down Well . . .Pizza, salad, crab legs
Envy Amber Ale Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Amber Ale ABV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.8% Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft Quick sip . . . . . . . . . . . . . Light hops, spicy, crisp Food it Chases Down Well . . . . . . . . . . Grilled meats, chips and salsa, seafood
we recommend Blur Texas Hefe, Alibi, Circle App *See full listing of available beers at www.austinbeerguide.com
Ben Sab and Jud Mulherin were childhood friends in Tennessee. As youngsters they shared a dream to open a “shop.” As adults they both loved beer, so it was inevitable that their dream would morph into becoming brewery owners. Circle Brewing appeared on the internet beer rumor mill in the second half of 2008. Fast forward two years, Ben and Jud were brewing their first batches of beer for Austin.
BREWERIES
Hops and Grain Brewery INFO Brewer/Founder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Josh Hare Established . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Winter 2011/12 Tours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Friday 2-6pm Saturday 12-4pm url . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.hopsandgrain.com
Year Round Beers Pale Dog Pale Ale Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . American Pale Ale ABV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.0% Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft/Cans Quick sip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dry, hoppy, bitter Food it Chases Down Well . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fish tacos, salt and vinegar chips, gummy bears Alt-eration Ale Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Düsseldorf-style Altbier ABV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2% Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft/Cans Quick sip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Malty, nutty, moody Food it Chases Down Well . . . . . . . . . . .Grilled fish, any kind of meat on a stick
Volumes of Oak Style . . . . . . . . . . . Oak aged small batch series Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft Quick sip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Oak & booze
Note: Follow H&G on Twitter, Facebook, or their newsletter for latest Greenhouse and Volumes of Oak beers.
Current Seasonal O-Fest* Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Märzen/Oktoberfest ABV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.0% Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft
Note: O-fest unavailable for tasting at press time. we recommend Alt-eration, Greenhouse, Volumes of Oak
The Greenhouse Style . . . . . . . Rotating series of small batches Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft Quick sip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Taste the rainbow Bringing his Colorado beer knowledge and inspiration to Austin, Josh Hare has opened one of Austin’s two East side breweries. With two year-round beers canned for easy use during your outdoor drinking endeavors, and a constantly rotating selection of Greenhouse beers, Hops & Grain has something for everyone. Recently, the ALT-eration took home gold at the 2012 World Beer Cup. The Greenhouse lineup have grown to include the popular “The One They Call Zoe,” a hoppy lager, a Baltic Porter, Belgian Porter, and the Volumes of Oak series of oak aged beers. They even collaborated on a beer with us called Night RYE-der. If that isn’t enough, Hops and Grain is an environmentally sustainable operation that uses up-cycled malted barley from brewing to make natural and wheat free dog treats called Brew Biscuits.
BREWERIES
Independence Brewing Co. INFO Brewer/Founder . . . Rob & Amy Cartwright Established . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fall 2004 Tours . . . . . . . . . . . First Saturday of the month url . . . . . . . . . www.independencebrewing.com
Year Round Beers Bootlegger Brown Ale Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . American Brown Ale ABV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6% Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft/Bottle Quick Sip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Big roasty malt flavor, caramel, nutty Food it Chases Down Well . . . . . . . . Steak, roasted pork, Chinese takeout Independence Pale Ale Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . American Pale Ale ABV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.5% Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft/Bottle Quick Sip . . . . . . . . . . . . Piney, hoppy, light malt Food it Chases Down Well . . . . . Reubens, sausage and peppers
Quick Sip . . . . . Very hoppy, balanced malt body Food it Chases Down Well . . . Greasy-fatty Mexican, pizza Convict Hill Oatmeal Stout Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Oatmeal Stout ABV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.5% Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft/Bottle Quick Sip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cacao, licorice, roast Food it Chases Down Well . . . . . . . . . . . Ice cream, chocolate, toffee
Current Seasonal ESB Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Extra Special Bitter ABV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6% Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft
we recommend Convict Hill, ESB *See full listing of available beers at www.austinbeerguide.com
Stash IPA Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . American IPA ABV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8% Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft/Bottle Husband and wife Rob and Amy Cartwright started Independence Brewing Co. in South Austin in 2004, but were active members of the ATX brewing community long before. Rob began brewing at Austin’s Copper Tank (RIP) in 1994 and after meeting Amy decided to open the brewery. Prior to opening the brewery the couple embedded themselves in the Austin beer community by putting on the Texas Craft Brewers Festival in 2004 and 2005. Since opening, Independence has created a local niche for themselves by packaging the OU Suks bottles every fall for the UT vs. OU game, supplying the Alamo Drafthouse house beer from 2004-2009, and hosting the largest monthly beer gathering at their first Saturday tasting and tours. They have been releasing one-off beers in their Brewluminati series. For latest info on this series stay tuned here: www.independencebrewing.com/our-beers/brewluminat
BREWERIES
Jester King Craft Brewery INFO Brewer/Founder . . . . . . . . . Jeffrey Stuffings and Michael Steffing Established . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fall 2010 Tours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Most Saturdays, 1-4pm url . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.jesterkingbrewery.com
Year Round Beers Black Metal Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . Farmhouse Imperial Stout ABV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10% Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft/Bottle Quick sip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Big roast, coffee, chocolate Food it Chases Down Well . . Cheesecake, roast beef and other bloody meats Le Petit Prince Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Farmhouse Table Beer ABV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.9% Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft/Bottle Quick sip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Subtle hop spininess, yeast esters, wild flowers Food it Chases Down Well . . Crackers and light cheeses, pears, grilled flaky white fish Mad Meg Style . . . . . . . . . . . . Provisional Farmhouse Ale ABV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.6% Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft/Bottle
Quick sip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Spicy, earthy, dry Food it Chases Down Well . . . . . . . Tomato salad, soft cheeses, sardines
Current Seasonal Buddha’s Brew Style . . . . . . . . . Sour Wheat Ale w/ Kombucha ABV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.7% Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft/Bottle Quick sip . . . . . . . Tangy, refreshing, tart, acidic Food it Chases Down Well . . . .Kombucha, sheeps milk cheese, summer sausage
we recommend Le Petit Prince, Buddha’s Brew *See full listing of available beers at austinbeerguide.com
Conceived in the fire of a homebrewer’s heart, Jester King was birthed by brothers Jeff Stuffings and Michael Steffing in the early fall of 2010 amongst the hills in Southwest Austin. Ambitious from the start, the brothers made their commercial debut with a session beer, wearing the moniker Commercial Suicide. It was anything but. They followed this shortly with the wildly popular Rye IPA Wytchmaker, a beer that bars could rarely keep on tap. The brothers could not fail. Recently, they have moved their original lineup to farmhouse versions (Farmhouse Wytchmaker, Farmhouse Black Metal, etc.), in part won a court ruling against the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, and brewed a second collaboration beer with gypsy brewer, Mikkeller, called Beer Geek Rodeo / Whiskey Rodeo / Weasel Rodeo. Also, they are now a certified organic producer under the USDA’s National Organic Program.
BREWERIES
Live Oak Brewing Co. INFO Brewer/Founder . . . . Chip McElroy (owner, founder), Dusan Kwiatkowski (Brewer) Established . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1997 Tours . . . . Saturdays at Noon (RSVP required) url . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.liveoakbrewing.com
Year Round Beers HefeWeizen Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hefeweizen ABV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1% Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft Quick sip . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bananas, cloves, hazy, super refreshing Food it Chases Down Well . . Blue cheese! Pilz Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Czech Pilsner ABV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.7% Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft Quick sip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hoppy, dry, refreshing Food it Chases Down Well . . . . . .Sausage, pizza, burgers, anything really
current Seasonal Oaktoberfest Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Märzen/Oktoberfest ABV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.8% Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . Draft (Early Fall) Quick sip . . . . . . . . . Malty and sweet, drinkable Food it Chases Down Well . . . . . . . . Grilled sausage and pretzel with beer mustard Primus Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Weizenbock ABV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~8% Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . Draft (Late Fall) Quick sip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bananas, booze, clove Food it Chases Down Well . . . . . . . . Coffee and scone on a cold night, by itself
we recommend Pilz, Oaktoberfest, Primus *See full listing of available beers at www.austinbeerguide.com
Liberation Ale Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . American IPA ABV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3% Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft Quick sip . . . . . . . . . . Hoppy, great malt balance Food it Chases Down Well . . . . . . Tobacco, foie gras or other duck dishes Built by hand by Chip McElroy and Brian Peters (now of Uncle Billy’s fame) in a small (and now worn) building on the east side of town, Live Oak has been an Austin staple since 1997. They use an old-world style of brewing mostly practiced throughout Germany and the Czech Republic and use techniques such as open fermentation and secondary lagering on some of their styles to give their beers a very distinct Live Oak taste. This is best reflected in their Pilz and much beloved HefeWeizen.
BREWERIES
Real Ale Brewing Co. INFO
Brewer/Founder . . . . . . . . . . Philip & Diane Conner (Founders), Brad Farbstein (Owner), Tim Schwartz, Erik Ogershok (Head Brewers) Established . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1996 Tours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fridays 2-5pm url . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.realalebrewing.com
Year Round Beers Devil’s Backbone Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Belgian-Style Tripel ABV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.1% Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft/Bottle Quick sip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sweet, boozey, honey Food it Chases Down Well . . . . . . . . . Tuna salad, grilled cheese, tomato soup Lost Gold IPA Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . American IPA ABV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.6% Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft/Bottle Quick sip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Citrusy hops, strong malt background Food it Chases Down Well . . . . . . . . . Fried chicken, gorgonzola, gumbo (spicy or otherwise) Rio Blanco Pale Ale Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . English Pale Ale ABV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3%
Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft/Bottle Quick sip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Light hops, spicy, biscuity malt, crisp Food it Chases Down Well . . . . . . .Seafood grilled chicken, chips and salsa
Current Seasonal Oktoberfest Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Märzen/Oktoberfest ABV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.7% Imbibing Options . . . . Draft/Bottle (early Fall) Quick sip . . . . . Smooth, slightly spicey, sweet Food it Chases Down Well . . Smoked fish, pickles, schnitzel Shade Grown Coffee Porter Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . American Porter ABV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.6% Imbibing Options . . . . . Draft/Bottle (late Fall) Quick sip . . . . . . Coffee, slight roast, quaffable Food it Chases Down Well . . . . Chocolate, beef jerkey
we recommend Devil’s Backbone, Oktoberfest, Coffee Porter *See full listing of available beers at www.austinbeerguide.com
One of the longer running breweries in central Texas, Real Ale has been in operation since 1996. The brewery originally operated out of a basement of an antique shop in Blanco (50 minutes outside Austin). In 1998, current owner Brad Farbstein took over. Maxed out at 5,500 barrels a year, Real Ale moved just outside the downtown area in 2006 to a new facility that allowed them to produce 10-12 times that amount. In 2009 they started bottling their seasonal beers, with the most recent edition being Hans’ Pils this summer. In 2010, they began turning out a series of experimental Mysterium Verum (Real Mystery) beers, including seasonals aged in oak barrels or entirely new brews. They are also rolling out their new Brewers’ Cut small batch series this fall. They just celebrated their 16th anniversary this summer with the release of a 16th Anniversary Doppelbock and a doubled of version of Fireman’s #4 called 4-Squared. Those two might still be around town. Seek them out.
REAL ALE BREWING CO.
CO M I N G T H I S FA L L
brewerscut.com
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BREWERS’ CUT SERIES
A new series of brewing projects from Real Ale Brewing Co.
realalebrewing.com
BREWERIES
Rogness Brewing Co. INFO
FounderS . . . . . . Forrest and Diane Rogness Established . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Spring 2012 Tours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Check website url . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.rognessbrewing.com
Recent Releases Beardy Guard Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Biere de Garde Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft (Cans/Bottles Soon) Quick sip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Slight spice, earthy, Food it Chases Down Well . . . . . . . . . .HEB rotisserie chicken (you know, the kind you get when you are too lazy to cook, but want something somewhat tasty) Ost Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Porter Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft (Cans/Bottles Soon) Quick sip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Smooth, cocoa, malty Food it Chases Down Well . . . . . . . . Veggie burger, fried anything
Vinton Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Blonde Ale Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft (Cans/Bottles Soon) Quick sip . . . . . Quaffable, nontraditional, tasty Food it Chases Down Well . . . . . . .Poultry, artisan bread, asparagus Rogtoberfest Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Märzen/Oktoberfest Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft Rattler Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pale Ale Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft
Note: Rogtoberfest and Rattler unavailable for tasting at press time.
we recommend Ost, Beardy Guard
Rook Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Scotch Ale Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft (Cans/Bottles Soon) Quick sip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Smoky, sweet, toffee Food it Chases Down Well . . . . . . Smoked gouda, pork chop, brisket
Founders Forrest and Diane Rogness, along with Dave Ebel, Dave Heath, and Dan Wheeler, their three brewer-sales-label approval-other-jack of all trades, collectively brew and conjure up recipes that they enjoy and hope others will too. All done without too much concern over style guidelines or popular “safe bet” beers. With the ethos of a homebrewer, Rogness aims to change it up, and keep it interesting, while delivering high quality brewed beers. As of Summer 2012, they are still defining their regular lineup and trying out new recipes. They plan to begin canning their more popular beers as early as late Summer 2012, and soon after begin packaging “bigger” beers in large format bottles for aging and sharing.
BREWERIES
South Austin Brewing INFO
Brewer/Founder . . . . . . . . . . . Jordan Weeks Established . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Winter 2012 Tours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Check website url . . . . . . . . . . . www.southaustinbrewing.com
Year Round Beers Belgian Style Golden Ale Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Belgian Golden Ale ABV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.8% Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft/Bottle Quick sip . . . . Fruity esters, quaffable, smooth
Food it Chases Down Well . . . . . . . . . .Fish, fruits and honey, soft cheeses, frites Saison D’Austin Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Belgian Saison ABV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8% Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft/Bottle Quick sip . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sweet, spicy, peppery Food it Chases Down Well . . . . . . . Salads, chicken, pheasant, fruit
we recommend Belgian Style Golden Ale, Saison D’Austin
Parked in the same neighborhood as Independence and (512) breweries, South Austin Brewing Co. opened earlier this year. Founder Jordan Weeks has a rich brewing history in Austin, and with his trusty 50-barrel Newlands brewhouse plans to supply the fine folks of South Austin and beyond with yummy Belgian inspired beers. SABC are slinging beers both on draft and in 750 ml cork and cage bottles to be found at finer locations.
BREWERIES
Thirsty Planet Brewing Co. INFO Brewer/Founder . . . Brian & Tammy Smittle Established . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Summer 2010 Tours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Saturdays, 11am-3pm url . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.thirstyplanet.net
Year Round Beers Buckethead IPA Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . American IPA I ABV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.9% mbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft Quick sip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Slightly sweet, bitter finish, hoppy nose Food it Chases Down Well . . . .Pâté, pizza, fish and chips
Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft Quick sip . . . . . . . . Crisp, refreshing, drinkable Food it Chases Down Well . . . . . .Sausage, crawfish
Current Seasonal Smittlefest Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Oktoberfest Imbibing Options . . . . . Limited Draft Release Quick sip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Malty, bready Food it Chases Down Well . . . Currywurst, baked potatoe, pickles
we recommend Buckethead IPA, Smittlefest
Thirsty Goat Amber Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Amber Ale ABV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.8% Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft Quick sip . . . . . . . . . . . . Malty, clean, drinkable Food it Chases Down Well . . Sandwiches, chips and queso Yellow Armadillo Wheat Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . American Wheat ABV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1% Everyone remembers when they first really started falling in love with beer. For Brian Smittle it was while he was living in England studying British politics and experiencing true “real ale.” Following college graduation, Brian made the move to Colorado where he took his affection for beer one step further and volunteered at a brewery in Vail. He soon became a paid employee and full-time brewer (a.k.a. “living the dream”). Through his work there he met some college students who offered him an ownership piece of a brew pub in Oklahoma. They opened in 1993 and grew to include a brewery and four satellite stores. While successful, Brian wanted to get back to the brewing operations so he and his wife Tammy looked for a location to set up their own operation. They chose Austin and started putting their beers on the market in the summer of 2010 beginning with the Buckethead IPA. They celebrated their two year anniversary this past summer with the release of Franklin Smoked Porter, a beer containing malts smoked in the famous Franklin BBQ pits.
BREWERIES
Twisted X Brewing Co. INFO Brewer/Founder . . . . . . . . . . . Jim Sampson and Shane Bordeau Established . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Spring 2011 Tours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Check website url . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.texmexbeer.com
Year Round Beers Cow Creek Premium Tex Mex Dark Lager Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Vienna (Dark) Lager ABV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.4% Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft Quick Sip . . . . . . . . . . Drinkable, slightly sweet Food it Chases Down Well . . . . . . . Gorditas, tostadas, tamales
Quick Sip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sweet, agave, oak Food it Chases Down Well . . . . . . . . . . . Mole or by itself after a big meal of mole Twisted X Premium Tex Mex Lager Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Light Lager ABV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2% Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft Quick Sip . . . . . . . . Light, very drinkable, clean Food it Chases Down Well . . . . . . . . . . Elote, nachos, enchiladas
we recommend Fuego, Señor Viejo
Fuego Jalapeño Infused Tex Mex Pilsner Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chile Beer/Pilsner ABV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2% Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft Quick Sip . . . . . . . . . . . . . Crisp, slightly dry, hot Food it Chases Down Well . . . . . . . . Steak, roasted pork, Chinese takeout Señor Viejo Tex Mex Imperial Black Lager Style . . . . . . Barrel Aged Imperial Schwarzbier ABV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.2% Imbibing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draft Since our first issue in April 2011, Austin’s beer scene has changed (it seems to change and grow each month). One of those changes: Twisted X. It was started by Jim Sampson and Shane Bordeau in Cedar Park (though they have plans to move to a destination brewery in Dripping Springs in the future). They held their initial release party on Cinco de Mayo, where they introduced beer fans to the Fuego Jalapeño Infused Tex Mex Pilsner, Twisted X Premium Tex Mex Lager and then unnamed Premium Tex Mex Dark Lager. The dark lager has now been blessed with the moniker: Cow Creek. Also be on the look out for Siesta, a prickly pear lager. It is a summer seasonal that proved to be quite popular and could still pop up around town. With a Tex-Mex theme they are bound to quench the thirsts of a large swath of Austin beer drinkers. Austinites love Tex-Mex. Austinites love beer. Tex-Mex beer? Forget about it, a match made in heaven. Could a pico-de-gallo beer be in the works? Let’s hope so. Mole Porter—that’s the ticket!
BREWERIES
More Texas Breweries *
Alamo Beer Company
Guadalupe Brewing Company
Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . San Antonio url . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.alamobeer.com
Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . New Braunfels Established . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2012 url . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.guadalupebrew.com
Deep Ellum Brewing Company Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dallas Established . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2011 url . . . . . . . . . . . . www.deepellumbrewing.com Franconia Brewing Company Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . McKinney Established . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2008 url . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.franconiabrewing.com
No Label Brewing COMPANY Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Katy Established . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2011 url . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.nolabelbrew.com Pedernales Brewing Company Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fredericksburg Established . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2012 url . . . . . . . . . . . . www.pedernalesbrewing.com Rahr & Sons Brewing Company Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fort Worth Established . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2004 url . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.rahrbrewing.com Ranger Creek Brewing & Distilling Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . San Antonio Established . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2010 url . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.drinkrangercreek.com Saint Arnold Brewing Company Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Houston Established . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1994 url . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.saintarnold.com Southern Star Brewing Company Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conroe Established . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2008 url . . . . . . . . . . www.southernstarbrewery.com Spoetzl Brewery (Shiner) Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shiner Established . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1909 url . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.shiner.com *Texas breweries with beer currently available in Austin
AVAILABLE YEAR ROUND 速
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Brew pubs
Black Star Co-op INFO
Brew pub Snapshot
Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7020 Easy Wind Drive Midtown Commons, Suite 100 Austin, TX 78752 Phone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 512-452-BEER Hours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4pm–12am url . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.blackstar.coop
Black Star Co-op is the first known cooperatively run/owned brew pub in the world with members from across the globe. Monthly beer socials, starting in 2006, provided an outlet for recruiting new members and grew to host up to 500 members at each gathering. Black Star Co-op encapsulates everything Austin with an emphasis on local producers and community action, all through enjoyment of local beer.
House Beer sampling High Esteem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pale Ale Double Dee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Amber Ale Vulcan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rye IPA Recalcitrant Dockhand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Porter House Brown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hoppy Brown Ale
we recommend Vulcan, Recalcitrant Dockhand
Draught House INFO
Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4112 Medical Pkwy Austin, TX 78756 Phone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 512-452-MALT Hours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mon-Thu 5pm–2am, Fri-Sun 1pm–2am url . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.draughthouse.com
House Beer sampling Red Planet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Red Ale Bombay IPA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . American IPA Guy Smiley Mild . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dark Mild Ale Sidamo Milk Stout . . . . . . . . . Milk/Sweet Stout Pumpkinhead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pumpkin Ale
Brew pub Snapshot Brewer Josh Wilson likes to keep his beers moving. Josh doesn’t adhere to the general brew pub rules that say you have to develop four solid recipes and keep those on year long while only reserving a few taps for experimentation and seasonals. After visiting Draught House for a few years, you may notice that Josh keeps a loose yearly brewing schedule with styles and specific brews mirroring the seasonal calender.
we recommend Pumpkinhead, Red Planet, Bombay IPA
G N I W E R B S ’ T A WH
P O O C R A T S K C AT B L A
HUBRIS SIMCOE HOP CONES HARVESTED THE DAY BEFORE ADDING
OLD SOUR DEWBERRY SOUR-MASHED STRONG OLD ALE WITH BLACK TREACLE
EPSILON PEATED SCOTCH ALE AGED IN BALCONES BRIMSTONE BARRELS
7020 EASY WIND DRIVE, SUITE 100 • 512.452.2337 • WWW.BLACKSTAR.COOP
Brew pubs
Namaste Brewing at the Whip In INFO
Brew pub Snapshot
Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1950 IH-35 Austin, TX 78704 Phone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 512-442-5337 Hours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10am–12am url . . . . . . . . . . . www.whipin.com/brewery.htm
Born a simple family owned convenience store on the side of I-35, Whip In was not content to live its days out that way. After becoming one of the top bottle shops in Austin, they slowly crept tap by delicious tap to becoming one of the largest draft and Texas brewed beer selections in town. And now, they are home to Namaste Brewing.
House Beer sampling Brahmale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . American IPA Shakti Ale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sour Fruit Ale Lakshmi Hefe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Spiced Wheat Ale Kalidurgale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barleywine Ganeshale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Belgian Quad
we recommend Brahmale
North by Northwest INFO
Brew pub Snapshot
Location . . . . . . . . . 10010 Capital of TX Hwy N Austin, TX 78759 Phone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 512-467-6969 Hours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Varied, check website url . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.nxnwbrew.com
North by Northwest is Austin’s most upscale brew pub and offers a complete menu, with the restaurant itself driving many people to the establishment. Identifiable by the grain silo out front, the feel is very “Northwest lodge,” rounded out by stone, wood and a fireplace. The beers are solid and their monthly cask nights have a dedicated following.
House Beer sampling Northern Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pilsner Duckabush Amber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Amber Ale Pyjingo Pale Ale . . . . . . . . . . American Pale Ale Okanagan Black Ale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Black Ale Barton Kriek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sour/Lambic
we recommend Pyjingo Pale Ale, Barton Kriek
Brew pubs
Uncle Billy’s INFO
Brew pub Snapshot
Location #1 . . . . . . 1530 Barton Springs Road Austin, TX 78704 Phone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 512-476-0100 Location #2 . . . . . . . . . . 6550 Comanche Trail Unit B - Suite 201 Austin, TX 78732 Phone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 512-266-0111 Hours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Varied, check website url . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.unclebillysaustin.com
Texas is BBQ heaven. Austin is Texas Craft Beer heaven. Put them together and you get Uncle Billy’s Brew and Que. Now with two locations, Uncle Billy’s is the ideal spot after boating on the lake or a day of festival-ing at Zilker Park. Along with their regular lineup of four beers, you’ll find 2-3 rotating house beers and a handful of Texas guest taps.
House Beer sampling Back 40 Blonde . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Blonde Agave Wit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Witbier Bottle Rocket Lager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pilsner Ax Handle Pale Ale . . . . . . . . American Pale Ale
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we recommend Agave Wit, Bottle Rocket Lager
9/4/12 3:58 PM
Brew Pubs: Daytrippers
Barber Shop INFO
Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207 Mercer Street Dripping Springs, TX 78620 Phone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 512-829-4636 Hours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Varied, check website url . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.barbershopbar.com
Brew pub Snapshot Barber Shop is another testament to the iron will of homebrewers. With an emphasis on the “bar� in Barber Shop, they left the historical buildings name the same, while sprucing up the inside with a lush wood bar, rustic amenities and a strategically occupied tap wall. Brewer John McIntosh intends to focus on English pub ales.
Brew pubs: Daytrippers
Double Horn Brewing Co.
Middleton Brewing
Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208 Avenue H Marble Falls, TX 78654 Phone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 830-693-5165 Hours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Varied, check website url . . . . . . . . . . . www.doublehornbrewing.com
Location . . . . . . . 9595 Ranch Road 12, Suite 4 Wimberley, TX 78676 Phone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 512-847-3435 Hours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Varied, check website url . . . . . . . . . . . www.middletonbrewingllc.com
Brew pub Snapshot
Brew pub Snapshot
Double Horn, the first and only brew pub in Burnet County, is seated right off 281 in Marble Falls. Frustrated by the lack of quality beer, food and atmosphere to enjoy it in, owner Dusty Knight opened Double Horn last May. Knight and head brewer Eric Casey have made it their mission to supply residents with quality house beers and local craft brews.
The owners, the Middleton’s, hale from the sunny state of California. They brought with them, like many other west coast brewers, a love for the HOP. In addition to hoppy monsters, they specialize in subtle Belgian style ales. They are housed in the same complex as Wimberley Brewing Company, a one stop pub crawl!
INFO
INFO
Flix Brewhouse
Brew pubs: Daytrippers
INFO
Pecan Street Brewing INFO
Location . . . . . . . . 2200 South IH-35, Suite B1 Round Rock, TX 78681 Phone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 512-244-3549 Hours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lobby opens one hour before first show time (See website for show times) url . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.flixbrewhouse.com
Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 East Pecan Drive Johnson City, TX 78636 Phone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 830-868-2500 Hours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Varied, check website url . . . . . . . . . . . www.pecanstreetbrewing.com
Brew pub Snapshot
Pecan Street resides in a space formerly occupied by the town hardware store, in Johnson City’s historic town square. Owners Tim and Patty Elliott, with their head brewer and son Sean, aim to make the brew pub the town gathering center that the hardware store once was. Their house beers and guest taps are complimented by head chef John Yachimski’s eclectic brick oven pizza, salad and burger menu.
How many movie theatres have a brewhouse in their front window? Not many. You might even catch brewmaster Justin Rizza, formerly of Independence Brewing, brewing up something tasty as you rush in for the latest Hunger Games flick. Drink from their four regular and two seasonal house taps or one of many guest taps.
Wimberley Brewing Co. INFO
Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9595 Ranch Road 12 Wimberley, TX 78676 Phone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 512-847-3435 Hours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Varied, check website url . . . . . . . . . . . . www.wimberleybrewing.com
Brew pub Snapshot Wimberley Brewing is housed in the same complex as Middleton Brewing (Wimberley was there first). As you walk into Wimberley you will notice there are a lot of kids running around. Actually, they are not running around, they are working. This is a true family business. The beers are good here and the pizza is surprisingly fantastic. Try the spinach pizza.
Brew pub Snapshot
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BARS & restaurants A. Flying Saucer 815 West 47th Street B. Crown and Anchor Pub 2911 San Jacinto Boulevard C. Dog and Duck Pub 406 West 17th Street D. Scholz Garten 1607 San Jacinto Boulevard E. 24 Diner 600 North Lamar Boulevard F. Opal Divine’s Freehouse 700 West 6th Street G. Little Woodrow’s 520 West 6th Street H. Kung Fu Saloon 510 Rio Grande I. Alamo Drafthouse - Ritz 320 East 6th Street J. The Ginger Man 301 Lavaca Street K. Frank 407 Colorado Street L. Hopfields 3110 Guadalupe Street M. Contigo 2027 Anchor Lane N. House Pizzeria 5111 Airport Boulevard
O. Easy Tiger Bake Shop and Beer Garden 709 East 6th Street P. T he Brew Exchange 706 West 6th Street Q. Banger’s Sausage House & Beer Garden 79 Rainey Street R. J ackalope 404 East 6th Street S. S tar Bar 600 West 6th Street T. Gourmands 2316 Webberville Road U. Haddingtons 601 West 6th Street V. N asty’s 606 Maiden Lane W. S pider House 2908 Fruth Street X. T hunderbird Coffee - Manor 2200 Manor Road Y. Violet Crown Social Club 1111 East 6th Street Z. The Grackle 1700 East 6th Street AA. The White Horse 500 Comal Street BB. Cherrywood Coffeehouse 1400 38 1/2 Street CC. Swift’s Attic 315 Congress Avenue
BREW PUBS DD. Draught House Pub & Brewery 4112 Medical Parkway EE. Double Horn Brewing Co. 208 Avenue H, Marble Falls
BrewERIES FF. Hops & Grain Brewery 507 Calles Street GG. L ive Oak Brewing Co. 3301-B East 5th Street
STORES HH. Central Market 4001 North Lamar Boulevard II. H yde Park Market 4429 Duval Street JJ. Whole Foods Market 525 North Lamar Boulevard KK. Antonelli’s Cheese Shop 4220 Duval Street LL. in.gredients 2610 Manor Road MM. T win Liquors - Hancock 1000 East 41st Street NN. Rosedale Market 1309 West 45th Street OO. Wiggy’s on 6th 1130 West 6th Street
South Austin
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BARS & restaurants A. Zax Restaurant & Bar 312 Barton Springs Road B. Alamo Drafthouse / Highball 1120 South Lamar Boulevard C. Hopdoddy Burger Bar - SOCO 1400 South Congress Ave D. Barley Swine 2024 South Lamar Boulevard E. Black Sheep Lodge 2108 South Lamar Boulevard F. Red’s Porch 3508 South Lamar Boulevard G. Opal Divine’s, Penn Field 3601 South Congress Avenue H. Draft Pick 1620 East Riverside, #1618 I. Alamo Drafthouse - Slaughter Lane 5701 West Slaughter Lane
BREW PUBS J. Uncle Billy’s - Barton Springs 1530 Barton Springs Road K. The Barber Shop 207 Mercer Street, Dripping Springs L. Faust Hotel & Brewery 240 South Seguin Avenue, New Braunfels M. W imberley Brewing Co. 9595 Ranch Road 12, Wimberley N. Middleton Brewing 9595 Ranch Road 12, Wimberley O. Pecan Street Brewing 106 East Pecan Drive, Johnson City P. Namaste Brewing / Whip In 1950 South IH-35
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BREWeries Q. Jester King Craft Brewery 13005 Fitzhugh Road R. Thirsty Planet Brewing Co. 11160 Circle Drive S. (512) Brewing Co. 407 Radam Lane, F200 T. Independence Brewing Co. 3913 Todd Lane U. South Austin Brewing Co. 415 E Saint Elmo Rd, Ste 1D
STORES V. Thom’s Market 1418 Barton Springs Road W. Central Market 4477 South Lamar Boulevard X. Spec’s-Brodie Lane 4978 West Hwy 290 Y. Live Oak Market 4410 Manchaca Road
We employed the distinct avor of Nelson Sauvin hops to bring American pale ale and American lager together in this crisp and congratulatory Shift. So clock out and crack open a Shift Pale Lager to reward your work. Or play. Or, if you’re like us, combine the two and surround yourself with drinking buddies.
shift pale lager is brewed by new belgium brewing fort collins co
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BARS & restaurants A. The Dig Pub 401 Cypress Creek Road, Cedar Park B. Alamo DrafthouseLake Creek 13729 Research Boulevard C. Mister Tramps 8565 Research Boulevard D. Alamo Drafthouse-Village 2700 West Anderson Lane E. Pour House Pub 6701 Burnet Road F. Billy’s on Burnet 2105 Hancock Drive G. Hopdoddy Burger Bar - Anderson 2438 West Anderson Lane H. Westside Alehouse 1500 N IH-35, Round Rock I. D rink.Well 207 East 53rd Street J. Workhorse Bar 100 North Loop Boulevard East K. C. Hunt’s Ice House 9611 Mcneil Road L. Opal Divine’s, Marina 12709 Mopac & Parmer Lane M. BB Rover’s Cafe & Pub 12636 Research Boulevard
BREW PUBS N. Pinthouse Pizza 4729 Burnet Road O. North By Northwest (NXNW) 10010 N Capital of TX Hwy P. Black Star Co-op 7020 Easy Wind Drive Q. Flix Brewhouse / HomeField Grill 2000 S IH-35, Round Rock R. Uncle Billy’s - Lake Travis 6550 Comanche Trail, #201
BrewERIES S. Circle Brewing Co. 2340 West Braker Lane T. Austin Beerworks 3009 Industrial Terrace U. Adelbert’s Brewery 2314 Rutland Drive, Ste 100 V. T wisted X Brewing Co. 3200 West Whitestone Boulevard, Cedar Park W. Rogness Brewing Co. 2400 Patterson Industrial Drive, Pflugerville
STORES X. W hole Foods Market 9607 Research Boulevard
Y. Specs-Arbor Walk 10515 N Mo Pac Expwy Z. Sunrise Mini Mart 1809 West Anderson Lane AA. Specs-Airport 5775 Airport Boulevard BB. Austin Homebrew Supply 9129 Metric Boulevard CC. King Liquor 5310 Burnet Road DD. Hamrick’s Market 401 Cypress Creek Road, Cedar Park EE. Pecan Liquor 1912 West Pecan Street, #205, Pflugerville
Scan this and be magically transported to our maps page on website, which has links to each location’s website (maybe, no promises)
Over a Pint
Namaste Brewing at the Whip In Recently we spent some time at Whip In, that beer, bottle, Indian food fusion fun-house sitting South and just a hair West of I-35, to talk about their newest venture, Namaste Brewing. Brewers Kevin Sykes, Arjit Mahapatra, and Ty Wolosin graciously gave us a few minutes mid-brew to talk shop. ABG: So you guys are brewing your IPA today, right? Kevin: Yes, the Brahmale, it’s a post colonial IPA with local honey, grapefruit peel, and lemon grass. With generous hop editions of both British style hops and American citrusy-yumminess. So I guess people can look forward to seeing this IPA on tap pretty regularly? Kevin: Yes, we hope to have the IPA on tap at all times, in addition to two other regulars. There’s also a trippel with rose hips and rye, and a stout with oatmeal, bourbon, white pepper and dates. We’ll probably start concentrating on the stout within the next few weeks. You’ll expect to see that in a couple months I imagine. And today you let us sample a Berlinerweisse. Kevin: Yeah, we’ve been playing around. One of the fun things about brewing here is Dipak (Whip In owner/manager) gives us certain styles that he wants us to do, but we also have the freedom to brew whatever we feel. We’ve been playing around with a berlinerweisse recipe. This specific batch you tasted had organic bluberries that added a little more tartness. We’d like to keep brewing that berlinerweisse as much as we can keep experimenting with other fruit flavors. That sounds fun; A berlinerweisse as a consitent beer with different fruits per the season. Ty: We’re lucky to have a state where we can get different fruit all year from different farms
where there is citrus in the winter from down in the valley or blueberries in the spring and blackberries throughout the summer. That kind of makes it fun for us too, since Whip In has always had a connection with using locally sourced products and Namaste brewing is continuing that with our Belgian and English style beers. That’s cool. So tell me about your brewing philosophy. Where are you coming from? Arjit: So we have a really great opportunity with the small batch system to make the one-offs or some unique beers with the same base beers, or maybe change it up, it doesn’t really matter. We get to use local ingredients, we get to use some herbs that no one really gets to use in commercial brews, and be able to sell it in a way that’s a lot different than commercial breweries or brew pubs in general. I see a lot of brew pubs making their staple beers, and while we have that, we also want to make some unique beers that people have never tried before, or they maybe never even thought of using these ingredients before. And you can come here and try it and see if you like it. If it’s for you, you might want to try it in your own beer and you can make something completely different and maybe start a revolution off of that. But it’s all a matter of trying to make something unique and small that’s noticeable. Alright, cool.