Looking for the original Bar Towel blog? You can find it at www.thebartowel.com.

We have a trivia question in order to register to prevent bots. If you have any issues with answering, contact us at cass@bartowel.com for help.

Introducing Light Mode! If you would like a Bar Towel social experience that isn't the traditional blue, you can now select Light Mode. Go to the User Control Panel and then Board Preferences, and select "Day Drinking" (Light Mode) from the My Board Style drop-down menu. You can always switch back to "Night Drinking" (Dark Mode). Enjoy!

Austin, TX

Discuss beer travel and regional information, including the best bars and places to check out around in Canada and around the world, and other chat that is not specific to Ontario.

Moderators: Craig, Cass

Post Reply
kafercrazy
Posts: 307
Joined: Tue Mar 01, 2011 9:52 am
Location: Peterborough, ON

Austin, TX

Post by kafercrazy »

heading to ATX in the fall...

any input for a first-time Texas traveler?

User avatar
markaberrant
Seasoned Drinker
Posts: 1664
Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2007 4:28 pm
Location: Regina, SK

Post by markaberrant »

Austin is exploding in terms of craft beer, every year I go back there are new places.

Jester King is the rockstar brewery there. They are a farmhouse brewery, so basically everything is a saison, but they have have saisons that are sour, smoky, hoppy, roasty, light, strong and everything else in between. They used to be known for their Saturday afternoon "brewery tours" (aka massive party out in the hill country), but they are now allowed to sell beer on premise so they are expanding their hours, and have dropped the tours. And there is a farmhouse pizza place next door.

You have to check out the downtown Whole Foods Market. It is the original location of the chain, and is their flagship store. It may seem odd to say this about a frickin "grocery store," but it will blow you away. They have a craft beer bar in the back (growler fills avail as well), and there is a massive walk-in beer cooler that is pretty much entirely craft beer. And that is just the beer, there is so much more there, we end up eating 50% of our meals there.

Banger's is a crazy big sausage house that specializes in craft beer.

24 Diner is just what the name says (24 hour diner). Across the street from Whole Foods. Very high quality diner food. And of course the beer selection is great.

Spec's is the big chain of liquor stores, some of them look more like grocery stores. Pick one and check it out.

The Whip In is an awesome pub. There is always a band playing, the food is fantastic Indian/Tex-Mex, and they have an impressive tap selection, as well as a few aisles of beer coolers for take home.

Pinthouse is a new pizza place specializing in craft beer and wood fired pizza.

The Ginger Man is a great downtown craft beer pub. Don't bother eating there, but they have an impressive tap selection. Lots of wood and dark corners to hang out in.

Black Star Co-op is a rich hippie/hipsters delight! It is a high end, self serve pub (no tipping allowed). Pretty much all the food is locally sourced, organic, etc. And all the beer is craft. Very top notch. They make their own beers, but I wouldn't bother with them.

Alamo Drafthouse is a movie theater that serves craft beer.

Flying Saucer is similar to Gingerman but further north. I think the Gingerman is better.

Hops and Grain is a new brewpub that is doing some cool creative things. Just east of downtown.

I still haven't made it to Draught House, but it is supposed to be excellent.

As for local brews, I already mentioned Jester King. Live Oak and 512 are also topnotch. Austin Beerworks makes some nice stuff. There are a ton of other new ones, most are hit and miss.

I've left out a ton of other places, there are many other pubs, brewpubs and small restaurants that carry a great selection of craft beer. Even most of the dive music clubs will have something decent to drink, I think the "worst" I've settled for was New Belgium Ranger IPA and Oskar Blues Dale's Pale Ale.

Not too shabby for a city of 800,000. What I really like is that the pubs go out of there way to offer different beers.

And I didn't even mention the BBQ...

kafercrazy
Posts: 307
Joined: Tue Mar 01, 2011 9:52 am
Location: Peterborough, ON

Post by kafercrazy »

woah.

thanks!

User avatar
Cass
Beer Superstar
Posts: 3828
Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2001 8:00 pm
Location: Toronto
Contact:

Post by Cass »

This news might help some Toronto beer hunters (I know it will mean a trip for me at some point soon!)

http://aircanada.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=838
Toronto-Austin

New daily, year-round Air Canada Express service starts May 18 operated by Jazz Aviation LP with 75-seat CRJ-705 aircraft offering both premium and economy cabins of service.

User avatar
northyorksammy
Seasoned Drinker
Posts: 1193
Joined: Thu Nov 04, 2004 11:17 am
Location: Eglinton and Yonge
Contact:

Post by northyorksammy »

a little too late for my vacation in early January, which is Houston. I hear great things about Austin as the least Texas-like city, but only direct AC is to Houston.

User avatar
screw2000
Posts: 65
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2001 8:00 pm
Location: Formerly GTA, now HRM!

Post by screw2000 »

Some notes on downtown Austin beer bars from places I hit on a recent trip:

Handlebar (121 E 5th St)
18 taps, as well as a decent bottle selection (mostly tallboys and bombers).
Cool vibe: a lively dive bar downstairs, rooftop deck upstairs.

Waller Creek Pub House (603 Sabine St)
East of the 6th Street craziness, nice cozy bar inside, large patio with trees out front.
Well-curated list of 30 taps, good food as well.

Easy Tiger (709 E 6th St), across the street from Waller Creek
Bakery upstairs, cool warehouse basement downstairs, awesome back patio that overlooks the creek.
About 35 taps, smaller bottle list as well. Didn't try the food, but looked pretty good.

Banger's (79 Rainey St), about halfway down Rainey
Insane list of 100+ taps. (was there after their anniversary party so there were a lot of rare and exotic ones still on tap)
Food was excellent, especially the wild game sausages.
Beer hall / cottage vibe inside, huge backyard beer garden. Really fun atmosphere.

Craft Pride (61 Rainey St), south end of Rainey
Great list of 50 taps, emphasis on Texas breweries.
Food truck parked out back that does Detroit-style pizza.

Ginger Man (301 Lavaca St)
Dark and cozy pub. About 50-60 taps, mix of both local and import.

Star Bar (600 W 6th St)
About 15 taps, when I was there, all were from California (including 4 Ballst Point Sculpin variants) for some odd reason.
Cool streetside patio with Astroturf for people-watching, large standing room area inside.

Brew Exchange (706 W 6th St)
About 50-60 taps of craft, macro in bottles
The gimmick here is the prices go up/down based on demand. There's a huge stock ticker scrolling around the bar showing the current prices.
I was there during happy hour ("market crash").

Further out:

Pinthouse Pizza (4236 S Lamar)
Large suburban space in a mall. Beer hall atmosphere inside (counter service for both beers and pizzas).
20 of their own beers on tap plus about 15 other craft taps.
Pizzas were very tasty.

Also made it out to Jester King Brewery. It's about a $50 cab ride from downtown.
Wasn't too busy since it was a rainy day, but was a fun time hanging out on the deck all afternoon.
About 10 of their beers, 10 guest taps, and an insane bottle list.

Random notes:

1. I was told Texas liquor laws were a strange mix of conservative and liberal regulations. Didn't really notice anything, no problems hitting bars on Sunday. Only item to watch out for: 2:00am last call means drinks off the table by 2:10.

2. Uber and Lyft no longer operate in Austin. There are a number of startup rideshares that are compliant with city laws. The one suggested to us (by both a bouncer and a few bar patrons) was Fasten. Worked smoothly.

rejtable
Bar Fly
Posts: 632
Joined: Fri Nov 12, 2010 2:05 pm

Post by rejtable »

Will be in Austin and San Antonio early June, any updates would be appreciated.

User avatar
DeMarco
Posts: 317
Joined: Mon May 04, 2015 2:01 pm
Location: Toronto

Post by DeMarco »

I was there in January, what screw2000 posted is still relevant. A few things to add...

- Live Oak makes some highly rated german style beers. Their hefe just got rated the best hefe overall by paste magazine.

- Jester king is worth the trip, even just to check out the area.

- I overlooked a lot of breweries, but hops and grain have a pale lager that was surprisingly good called "The one they called zoe".

- Independence makes a great berliner called redbird.

- Blue Owl does a lot of kettle sour stuff but I can't comment on them as didn't have anything.

- If you're staying downtown or east of downtown, go to East 1st Grocery. It's like a run down gas station with some pretty amazing bottles including jester king/Prairie and a bunch of local stuff i've mentioned.

- Pinthouse pizza makes a hazy ipa called electric jellyfish. It came out really grainy/corny when I had it, I was expecting it to be at least on par with Ontario stuff. I'd pass on it, especially considering how much bars will charge for it.

rejtable
Bar Fly
Posts: 632
Joined: Fri Nov 12, 2010 2:05 pm

Post by rejtable »

Back from a few days in San Antonio and Austin. Fun sppots.

San Antonio:
- Weathered Souls: chill big tap room, beers were fine, nothing world beater, but solid.
- Freetail: way out of the way, beers were pretty meh, lively spot during a basketball game.
- Friendly Spot: man, I LOVED this place. Former Ice House. Something like 80 taps between the two bars, no real beer list, just figure it all out from the tap handles and asking the friendly bartenders. So chill. Sitting in 34 degrees at 10pm watching a movie on the big screen drinking pints... what a life!!
- Big Hops: just east of the center, cool spot with lots of taps. A bit of a sketchy sot, but really fun.

Austin:
- Jester King: man oh man, what a crazy cool spot. Tons of their own beer at two bars, plus totallly separate beer lists at the two bars in the pizza barn. Could have spent days there.
- Handle Bar: gay bar? Not that there's anything wrong with that, I had fun! Beer list pretty unexciting but great upstairs patio.
- Easy Tiger: really awesome bier garden. Would have loved to play ping pong!! Beer list was fine, some locals, regionals and national stuff.
- Ginger Man: by far my biggest dissapointment of the trip. Beer list was pretty flat with some locals and nothing special from the regional/national circuit. Was a Saturday night at 10pm, and not a person in the place. Music was horrible. Would not go back.
- Whole Foods on 6th: was very dissapointed. Maybe the worst beer selection (bottles) of any WF I've been to?
- Ginny's Litle Longhorn Saloon: Not a beer spot, but they did have some decent can and draft options. CHICKEN SHIT BINGO!! And Merle Haggard tunes with a live band inside. How can you go wrong!?!?
- Hopes and Grain: Cool taproom, beers were all pretty well done.
- Witchcraft bottle shop (S Lamar): cool spot, owner was super cool to me opening a few cans to try. I didn't get to many places, but didn't regret stopping in to buy some stuff to take home.
- Pinthouse Pizza (S Lamar): this was a really good spot. Basically Pizza Port with a fancy suit and tie. Big long tables, a dozen of their beer and 2x that in guest taps. Build your pizza options. Had the Jellyfish, was pouring great for me.
Craft Pride: awesome backyard garden, tap list all Texas stuff, so not the craziest spot around, but still. Really liked it.

Hit a bunch of other places along 6th and Rainy, everyone at least had some ok taps/bottles to try.

Neither city a real big beer destination (Jester King aside), but lots of tasty beer along with interesting tourist/local vibes. Had fun.

User avatar
DeMarco
Posts: 317
Joined: Mon May 04, 2015 2:01 pm
Location: Toronto

Post by DeMarco »

nice! I really like austin and san antonio. Glad to hear you had a good time!

Post Reply