Live Oak Brewing Company

Love this place — for the convenience to the airport (about a 10-minute drive), the setting (trees and tables outside, tables and bar inside), the service (excellent), the food from their weekend food truck (very good), and most of all the beer (excellent and a great selection): loved their dopplebock, their rauchbier, and their roggenbier! Have stopped there during each of our two trips to Austin, and wouldn’t consider it a complete trip to Austin again without time and beer at Live Oak.

 

 

They only serve their beers, but luckily their beers are good. Standards like the PIlz, Hefe, and Big Bark are always there with a host of seasonals. You have to try one of their smoked beers.

I checked this brewery out when staying near the Austin airport. I had been to the old Live Oak location years ago, but this was the first time I saw the new, improved and super-sized brewery. This one is located literally next to an airport long-term parking lot, probably a mile or less from the runway as the regional jet flies, but it will take you a while to navigate there through the divided highways, U-turn lanes and access roads.

The brewery is on a sizable property with a large parking lot, a disc golf course and a large outdoor patio. The production brewery is visible behind the taproom bar through large windows, with multi-story tanks and equipment looking modern and clean. The taproom is pretty large, with long wooden tables and benches to share. The servers behind the long bar were friendly and enthusiastic about their beer. They had 10 beers on tap, all their own, and all in a German/European theme. some were true to their old-world styles, and others had a unique twist. There were several with smoked grain additions that had given them interesting flavors and aromas. The brewers' dedication to using old-world techniques and ingredients showed through.

If you are anywhere near the Austin airport, I highly recommend a stop at this excellent brewery.

Cold winter day in February, Texas weather as erratic as a bartender on his third double shift—one day a sun-scorched hellscape, the next you’re wrapped in a blanket like some frostbitten refugee from a lost Arctic expedition. Austin, the great contradiction, where the highways are spaghetti-thin death traps and a short walk across the road might as well be a pilgrimage to Mecca.

Live Oak sits right across from the airport, but don’t let that fool you. You don’t just stroll over from baggage claim with a thirst and a dream—you navigate a twisted labyrinth of overpasses and feeder roads, only to find yourself back where you started, questioning the meaning of infrastructure and possibly existence itself. Assume a ten-minute detour. Texas roads are cursed.

But it’s worth the effort. Out back, a sprawling disc golf course stretches into the wilderness, a playground for the upright and semi-coherent, those still nimble enough to grip a disc and summon the power to hurl it into the abyss. It’s a spectacle, watching grown men pretend this isn’t just another excuse to drink beer in public.

And the beer—Live Oak doesn’t fuck around. This is a temple to German brewing, backwards and forwards, not a hazy New England monstrosity in sight. One IPA on the menu, because you have to appease the hop-heads, and even that carries a Germanic sneer—Kalt means cold, for those who never paid attention in school.

I arrived on the tail end of a smoked beer festival, which meant the air still held ghosts of charred malts and long-extinguished campfires. Smoked beers are a dangerous game—too much and you’re chewing on burnt lumber, a liquid ashtray for the truly deranged. But Live Oak has restraint. These weren’t the hellbroths of misguided ambition; these were refined, balanced, drinkable. They’re like the Red Hot Chili Peppers—one or two is fine, but after that, you’re screaming at Anthony Kiedis to shut the hell up about California and fantasizing about slapping Flea.

I went for a flight, which at Live Oak means several 8oz pours, a respectable commitment to testing the waters before diving headfirst into oblivion. But at that point, you may as well man up and order four pints like a goddamn adult. Their fabled Live Oak Hefe—a banana-clove dream, smooth as a politician’s lie—was the obvious winner. There’s a reason people talk about this beer in hushed, reverent tones.

The service? Exceptional. The bartender—a woman with the patience of a saint and the wisdom of an old-world brewer—guided me through the menu with the steady hand of a captain steering a ship through troubled waters. No condescension, no bullshit, just a genuine love for the craft and a willingness to help a weary traveler find his way.

Live Oak Brewing is the real deal. No gimmicks, no hype-chasing, just rock-solid beer in a setting that feels like Texas in its truest form—vast, unpredictable, and just a little bit insane. Bring your drinking boots, watch out for the disc golfers, and if you make it out in one piece, consider yourself among the lucky ones.

 

 

Just outside of Austin, by the airport. Just a bit out of the way, but well worth the 10 minute excursion. Tap room is connected to the brewery with fermenters visible behind the bar.

Nice room with high ceilings and big windows. Impressive wooden bar and nicely crafted bar and seating area with benches, inside and out. Also a lovely shaded outdoor seating area for enjoying some fresh air and fine beer.

Fine beer it is! Lots of styles, including many classic Germany centric options on tap and in cans/bottles to go.

Also a quality and highly enjoyable disc golf course that flows around the facility and provides a super fun recreational option upon visiting this fine operation.

 

Laid back, not very crowded. Every beer they carry is pretty much guaranteed to be quality, quick service. Disc golf is also a lot of fun. A great place to spend an afternoon hanging out.

Visited 3/28/2023.

Such fun seating inside and out and right on a great disc golf course!

Vibe was a little cold, but we were here at a very slow time of day.

Amazing selection of different lagers and pilsners, some are very highly rated! Excited to try two new styles for us (a Rauchbier and a Grodziskie) and the #2 rated Hefeweizen, and a decent IPA.

First visited to pick up beers in June 2020 (!!) - glad to return recently for normal operations. Live Oak is a true craft og. The location is pretty remote, but the beer is worth the hike from the city. The vibe is very millennial: no 22 year old pounding hazy IPAs, so I like that (get off my lawn). Mundane taproom but loads of shaded outdoor space. Popular with disc golfers. Beer ranges from good to outstanding, styles are focused on Central European classics. Limited food options: chips, nuts, and a food truck. A nice place with great beer.

 

After nearly 25 years I finally visited Live Oak, just outside of Austin. This brewery sits on a picturesque stretch of land, with lots of room for walking and wandering outside—so nice to have during this era of COVID. All the Live Oak beers are on tap, and the beertender couldn’t have been friendlier. Now that I’ve visited once I’d like to return.

This year will be my 5th year living in Austin, and if there's one thing that I'm certain of now, it's that Live Oak is by far the best place to go if you even remotely enjoy lagers, hefeweizens, or smoked beer.

The must-tries are definitely the Hefe (obviously), Pilz, and Grodziskie all of which are fantastic, particularly on tap. I usually get a flight since everything is stellar, though. If you get a pint, you can even get the Pilz from the side pull tap that they have if you want a thicker or creamier head.

If you go on Thursday - Sunday, definitely check out Black Forest food truck as well for German food that pairs fantastically with any of the beers. My personal favorite might be the beer nuts (if you go around the time of the annual Rauchfest in January, there's a smoked version that's somehow even better).

 

 

A brewery that focuses on German classic styles, and does them exceptionally. Place sits on a large acre property behind the airport parking. Nice relaxed vibe.

Beers are all classics; Berliner a Wiesse, helles lager, grodziske..... and all darned good.

Totally worth a trip to Austin to try these.

Live Oak sits on several acres with seating available outside under a grove of trees and inside in a beer hall. The beer hall has several tables, with seating for around 60. The beer hall is wide open with 1/2 of the surrounding walls being windows, bringing in lots of light. The bar is long, but with no seats. Instead, it offers up two order stations to help keep large crowds with a full glass. Beyond the outdoor bier garden is a 9 hole disc golf course. It's a rather short course, but works in a collection of hyzer, anhyzer and straight forward holes, along with some narrow shoots through brush and tree groves. Most of it is open, making for a hot course in the summer. Picnic tables are generally available at the tee pad (which is two stones, with mulch for the runway). Parking seems to be plentiful. Staff was friendly and offered up some suggestions, although with the shorter, focused tap list, it didn't take much explaining. Selection is all German style beers, with an emphasis on lagers, so in that sense - it's limited. The beer that is available is all quality.

 

Very modern look brewery near tha airport. Spacious taproom with vaulted ceiling seems massive. Very much a local vibe. Long standing bar, easily 30 feet, large communal tables and outdoor picnic area. 10 beers on tap, all German focused. The 2 I had were solid. Friendly bartender, food truck.

 

 

 

these guys have made one of the best hefeweizens in the country for a long time, so it was really exciting to go visit this place when i got to texas, close enough to the airport, apparently a newer location, they have been around for ages and this spot appears to be a relatively recent upgrade. its a neat spot, set up like a long beer hall with the bar running the length of the place, high ceilings, picnic tables, and bright natural light coming in. the large brew house is behind the bar, looks like they make a ton of this stuff! they have an awesome outside space too, a nice shady grove that stretches out with some scattered picnic tables, looks so pleasant, but it was too hot to be out there this time of year. they also apparently have a disc golf course on site you can walk around with cans, how amazing is that?! the beer list is solid, i was stoked to see some unconventional things that still sort of fit the german style vibe, like a smoked hefe and a smoked dark lager, and obviously it was awesome to have a hefe at the source! its what made them famous and its still awesome. i liked all the beer we had in here, and time really flew by just hanging out. good service, great energy, and some of the better german style beers in the country. definitely a spot to visit when you are in this part of the state!

 

 

 

 

The brewery is unreal. Huge plot of land they are on (we walked back pretty far) with disc golf baskets. Awesome beer and a great flight.

 

 

 

Visited on a Thursday early afternoon as I was headed to the airport. Almost empty.

V - A nice open space both in and out. Clean and bright inside. 4

Q - Clean and proper glassware. Love it for the traditional German styles. Can't beat the freshness that comes from get beer on tap at the brewery. 4.5

S - Fantastic, but I was the only one in the place. 4

Sel - Maybe the only negative. A bit narrow as Live Oak brews fit a certain niche that does not satisfy everyone. But if you like the styles they make (and I believe that do a wonderful job with those styles) then you will love their selection. 4

Great tap room in South Austin...inside is great and outside is kind of like Jester King but on smaller scale. Lots of trees, shade and picnic tables.