hey guys! i'm going to be moving from Austin to Oklahoma City in about a week. i was wondering if any of you would like to meet up and/or exchange beers. i was thinking of bringing a case of Jester King Commercial Suicide to keep me company or to trade with. any Austin or Texas beers i can bring for you guys? also, are there any tasting circles i should be aware of? i host/attend beer and wine tastings pretty regularly and i'd like jump right in and start tasting some Oklahoma beers. and one more thing. i've researched the breweries and drinking spots in Oklahoma City. there are a few i'd like to visit. are there any hidden gems i should know about? thanks guys. i look forward to meeting some of you and getting involved in the beer scene in Oklahoma
Welcome to OKC! Prairie should keep you pretty happy and be a decent substitute for your loss of JK. Otherwise we have some locals you will probably dig (COOP, Marshall), which are good to keep the fridge stocked with some standards. The usual suspects of Tapwerks and Mcnellies are fun and have a good amount of taps. Unfortunately there aren't that many other beer-centric places, but you can usually find some respectable beers wherever you go, just not a lot of selection. You might venture to the Plaza District and over to Western Ave. to begin exploring. As far as stores, Freemans liquor on Western is a must stop, and Mayfair on 50th is also has a good selection with decent prices. The Drunken Fry and Speakeasy are fun places you might check out as well. You will likely miss some of the national selection your used to (Stone, Firestone, Clown Shoes etc...) and you will definitely miss Live Oak and many of your other locals. Hopefully some of the other aspects of OKC will help with that.
As well as the places listed above, Republic Gastropub has a great Taplist and fantastic food! Prairie, Coop, and Roughtail are very good (in that order).
I just moved to OKC from Austin too. So far F5 and $6 Bomb! keeping me from missing home too much...yet. I'm also interested in local bar meetups/tastings. Send me a bm if you want and maybe we could meet up for a beer sometime. Cheers!