On my recent trip back to my hometown in Texas, I spent a great deal of time (and liver capacity) sampling the best "craft" beer that Texas had to offer. 3 weeks should leave lots of time for tasting and recovery, but once you start subtracting the time spent keeping my wife and kids happy (and visiting relatives and friends), it turned out to be much, much less than I would have liked. Having said that, I went out of my way to drink only local Texas beers, with an emphasis on German styles. I also had an itch for IPA's (which, as you know, are virtually impossible to get in Germany...), but I will focus here on the German styles I consumed. Overall, I was quite impressed. Franconia Dunkel - Very impressed by this. Dark beer from the Hill Country near Austin. Slightly roasty, with a touch of sweetness as well. Very similar to many of my favorite German dunkels. It was exquisitely balanced and imminently süffig. Just a stand-up German-style dark. Never heard of the brewery before, but I'm happy to have stumbled across it. Hops and Grain Alteration - an alt-style local beer from Austin that I was quite surprised to enjoy. Dark and slightly roasty. Great head. Decent caramel notes, but also some peppery and crisp aspects. Quite good, very drinkable in hot weather. Nothing super-special, but I would be quite happy having several. Since I've still not had a proper "alt" from the source, I can't judge as to authenticity, but as a stand-alone beer, I was happy. Pedernales Hefeweizen - Sorry no photo. To be honest, not really worth taking a photo of anyway. Very clear pour, with excellent head. The flavor, though, was not a real hefeweizen. This was more like a very lemony and bready pilsner. It wasn’t bad, in fact I think it is actually a decently good pilsner (and I generally don’t like pilsners), but as a hefeweizen it was a complete miss. Live Oak Schwarzer Rauchbier - Special one-off, I think, from Live Oak - on tap at Craft Pride in Austin (a fantastic place, by the way...). Dark and really beautifully smoky. Subtle and quite complex. Some maltiness and roast, also some ashiness but just wonderfully creamy and inviting. This was the real deal. I could have had this all day long and been a very happy man. Live Oak Hefeweizen - Not much of a photo, but the beer requires a definite mention and any photo I can give it. This was the real deal. Deserves all of the accolades it gets. Had this on tap, and it was extraordinary. Creamy, lemony, some banana and cloves. It was the textbook hefeweizen and extremely drinkable. I love a good hefeweizen, and this was top-class. Not quite as good as a Weihenstephaner, but very, very close. I had huge expectations for this beer, and it met them, no problems. Very impressed. In an actual weizen glass, it might have been even better... German style beers for which I have no photo: Karbach Weisse Versa Wheat – Superb weizen. Cloudy with lots of clove and banana. A bit of a banana bomb, but still strangely balanced. Not sure I can explain that. Minimal citrus or lemon. Still supercreamy and an almost decadent mouthfeel. Every bit as good as the Live Oak. Unexpectedly impressed. Live Oak Doppelbock – Also on tap at Craft Pride. A nice beer, but not great. Had the caramel of a good doppelbock, but the sweetness was just out of tune with the rest of the beer. Balanced nicely with some roasted nutty flavors, but I was hoping to be astonished, and I wasn’t. Perhaps a victim of high expectations, but it was only very good, not great. Oh yeah, and I had this too: As good as the beer was, this was ... better.
Ah yes, the ol' Clear Hefeweizen. I wonder if the brewers feel that the American beer buying public doesn't understand what a Kristall-Weizen is, so they just call it a Hefeweizen. And while I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed the Live Oak hefeweizen more, what happened to that famous hefeweizen head? I will blame the pint glass.
There are a number of craft breweries in Texas that make respectable German style beers. Many were mentioned in the post by JHDStein. Two not mentioned that I really like are Real Ale Brewery and Austin Beerworks One that was mentioned, that is my favorite, is Live Oak. Live Oak Hefeweizen is very, very tasty! Cheers!
If there's one thing I missed/craved more than U.S. C-hopped beers while living in Germany, it was (Tex)Mexican food.
Live Oak Pilz is very nice also. Franconia? OK a search shows they are out of a northern suburb of Dallas, not the Hill Country.
Proper glassware would have been nice, but I guess you can't have everything in life (even on vacation...). I had the Real Ale DIPA on cask, and it was entirely forgettable. JAIPA, as they say. As to the Austin Beers Heavy Machinery DIPA, that was another story. One of the best beers of the trip. So good, in fact, I brought a couple back in my suitcase, and they're already gone. Thanks for the correction. I think I got the Franconia and Pedernales back stories mixed up, since the labels were so similar. The beers, on the other hand, were worlds apart. Franconia was an unexpected treat. Just looked them up, and it seems their owner and brewmaster is from Nürnberg. Makes sense, the Dunkel was spot-on.
