Discovering Celis Brewery Beer Garden

Over the last few years, beer gardens have become my favorite places to hang out. Relaxed, dog-friendly, spacious, easy counter service, delicious beer, food trucks… I love all of it. During this time when gathering outdoors is essential, beer gardens have only moved up in my book.

Celis Brewery has been around since 1992, but they only just opened an awesome beer garden space! They have a taproom space centered around their copper kettle, an old world-inspired main building, and now, a great beer garden.

The beer garden bar is located inside an indoor-outdoor patio space. Snag a beer and sit on the covered patio, feeling the breeze through the massive garage doors, or walk out into the open space. There are covered tables, chairs, long bars with barstools… take your pick! Bring your kid, bring your dog – all are welcome! Beautiful string lights over everything tie it all together. As you can see from the photos, we chilled at Celis Brewery for quite a while!

There are two food trucks on site at Celis Brewery. Backdraft Pizzeria is located in the front by the main building and taproom. Con Todo is located inside the beer garden. We decided to try Backdraft Pizzeria and I loved it. It was just my kind of pizza – thin crust, crispy, light sauce, perfection. The wings were also pretty tasty! The pretzel was… just fine. There are definitely better soft pretzels on the Austin food scene so this one didn’t quite cut it. The tacos from Con Todo look amazing also, so I’ll for sure give them a try next time. And I mean, with a food truck like that? Con Todo wins.

Celis Brewery also does a ton of awesome events! Customer Appreciation Mondays with half priced beers, live music and DJs on Fridays, Chicken Sh*t Bingo the last Saturday of every month, trivia night on Thursdays…What I love about all this is that it’s outside!

Bring your dog, bring your kid, bring your group of friends, bring your laptop - however you choose to visit Celis Brewery’s Beer Garden, you’re sure to have a wonderful time.

I’ll leave you with this wonderful Celis Brewery origin story written by Christine Celis, daughter of founder Pierre Celis and now owner of Celis Brewery. It’s too good not to share!

“In the Spring of 1992, my father, Pierre Celis, flew from Belgium to the United States to start a new brewery in the great state of Texas. No one suspected that he carried something very precious, concealed in his tube socks. It was the original yeast strain Pierre had been using to brew his world-famous Belgian-style Wit beer for the past 30 years. And there was no way he was going to brew without it."

"The first Celis Brewery opened on July 11th in 1992. It was an immediate success. Turns out Texans really liked our beer! Before we crazy Belgians arrived, most Texans were drinking one of the big three brands on the market. The small craft breweries that we all know and love today simply did not exist. When Pierre Celis started brewing his beloved beer, he created a craft beer that changed everything."

"Exactly 25 years to the day it first opened, the legendary beer is back, better than ever at Celis Brewery 2.0. Along the way in the Spring of 2011, we lost my Dad. But Pierres spirit and his commitment to quality lives on along with his original yeast strain."

"Welcome to the future, the legacy, the celebration, and the beer that started it all. Welcome to Celis Brewery.”

Article by Kelly Phillips

Kelly Phillips is the writer and photographer at discoveringatx.com

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