Top 10 Austin Breweries - Austin Chronicle

Well, this article was just posted. I'd have to agree with it...

Top 10 Austin Breweries

 

I think the top 4 in that list are definitely the top tier in Austin (The top 4 in Texas I personally think).

Jester King would definitely be top choice for the people here... They have great farmhouse beers, and a great brewery grounds. But Austin Beerworks has a great variety for all sorts of drinkers, casual, extreme, hop-heads. Every one I've had is great.

I love Real Ale... Their Helles was absolutely delicious, Sisyphus was the beer that got me and my wife into barleywines, and their beers seem(ed) dated but they have definitely been refreshing their lineup. They do have a lot of history and competition with them is one of the reasons I believe Austin has really strong breweries.
But I would personally put Real Ale right behind JK and ABW.


My top 4 would probably be ordered.
1. Live Oak
2-3. Austin Beerworks OR Jester King
4. Real Ale

 

I first included an exception for Celis but they aren't fully operational yet and I have no idea if they are as good as I hope they are.

I was last in Houston the last two weekends in April. During that time my wife and I went to Yellow Rose distillery, Eureka Heights, Karbach, B-52, Southern Star, and Copperhead.

We bought a 6'er of Back Pew brewing's beers and a couple of Stesti.

I've not been a fan of No Label, or Brash, or Buffalo Bayou. I personally have always felt that Real Ale was a little better than Saint Arnold although it's a close call.

What brewery there is better than Live Oak, Real Ale, or Austin Beerworks?

Edit: I'll next be heading back sometime in July or August to visit my grandmother in-law. If there's a brewery we really need to check out I can work on that.

 

I really didn't care where the thread went. I thought that list was interesting and other people may like to see what this one source thought was the top 10 list.

I didn't really expect any responses, I didn't know if it was going to stay centered around Austin breweries or expand to breweries throughout Texas.

I agree that I haven't really cared much for Blue Owl... But I've only really had a beer of theirs a couple of times. I really want to try the Czech Czech to see if it's good.

I think Jester King's brewery grounds are really cool, and I really like their low abv beers (Commercial Suicide and Petite Prince), I really liked the 4 SPON bottles that I tried over Christmas, and I really enjoyed the Wytchmaker and Black Metal before the wild yeast overran everything. They make good farmhouse beers but I'm think they're overdone. They are hyped because people want to like them, not necessarily because everyone actually DOES like the beers.

I've also never had the opportunity to try St Elmo's or Friends & Allies.


Next time I go to Houston I'll work on getting to Holler before going up to Conroe for Saturday night.

 

It is odd, but Real Ale has been lumped into the Austin area beers (Hill Country breweries) for as long as I've been drinking beer (since 2006 or so).

It appears to be basically equidistant from Austin and San Antonio but it's been claimed by Austin. I don't know if its because the brewery originally relied upon the Austin market to get successful or if the Hill Country is just more closely associated with Austin.

I don't know if Oasis would have been the next choice even if Real Ale wasn't considered an Austin brewery. The next three in their listing was Independence, Hi Sign, and Zilker.

I like Oasis but I think I'd personally put Uncle Billy's above them in the list (I'd personally put both before Independence as well.)