Austin, Texas: Beers, Etc

I'd put Circle on there - they have a few decent offerings.

That's it, though.

 

Food trucks? No. I'm an Oregon native, and I was recently in Portland last month. I am dumbfounded with how many food trucks/trailer/carts/etc Portland now have. They far outnumbers what we have in Austin. Having said that, I definitely agree with eating BBQ at Franklin's and their brisket/ribs are vastly better than Salt Lick!

 

You know nothing. Austin's full of hippies? Far from it... Maybe your' standards are low, but that's a given from someone from Dallas.

Portland is the epitome of hipsters on the west coast, so I'm sure the OP will find Austin to be still a very pleasant city to visit. (I love Portland, and I have nothing against hipsters up there, because they don't really affect me in any way whatsoever.)

 

That's nice. There are over 1300 food trucks in Austin for 820K people.

Have any stats on Portland?

 

+1 to 512 its one of the best IMO local spots/breweries....

 

According to foodtrucksportland.com - "as of December, 2011, there are 689 licensed mobile food vendors in Multnomah County." A check of population figures shows 748K people in that county.

So Austin has almost twice as many for a similar population

 

Sunrise is going to be pretty far from where you're staying, or from a train stop. Spec's Brodie and CM Westgate are pretty close to each other. Spec's probably, as CM is a huge high-end grocery store that has a decent beer selection and not a beer shop per se.

 

Of those 3, if you were to hit only 1, I'd say Specs Brodie. But I'd throw Whip In, East 1st Grocery, South Lamar Wine & Spirits and the Whole Foods downtown in there as well. Here's my take on them (just one man's opinion):

Specs Brodie - flagship Specs store in Austin. Big, lots of variety, but slow to get rare releases and they have a lot of old stuff sitting on the shelves.

Whole Foods Lamar - decent selection, but also slow on rare releases. Upside is they have a bar with 6-10 beers on tap, and they do pretty inexpensive growler fills, so you have some fresh options there too.

Central Market Westgate - I havent been to that one, but I go to the CM on Lamar. OK beer selection, but nothing to get super excited about.

Sunrise and East 1st - both small, without a mega selection, but both focused on getting new releases ASAP and having a good variety of stuff. Prices can run a little higher, but sometimes they'll have stuff other stores just dont have yet.

Whip In and S. Lamar - both sort of like Sunrise and East 1st, in that they get new things in quicker than the mega-stores most times, but prices can run a little high, especially at Whip In.

 

Live Oak Market is also a good place for beer hunting.

 

I believe that Oct 27th is the Draught House anniversary party. They tend to get rare kegs and casks plus one off or variations from local brewers. It's a fun event put on by a great bar. If you have a chance I would try to stop by.

 

You could potentially get off the train near black star coop (have some beers and/or food), then walk over to sunrise on Anderson Ln to buy some bottles. I dunno what your tolerance is for walks, but it would probably take you about 30 minutes, each way. FWIW, Sunrise is my favorite bottle shop in Austin and I recommend it highly, excellent selection, really nice guys, and none of the bullshit that goes along with certain other bottle shops in town.

 

I thought that too, but Google Maps says its 1.5 miles, and should take 29 minutes to walk. You can also take the bus between them, and thats 19 minutes. Surprising.

 

damn. if you were here on the 18th of october you could sneak some beers into a church and watch ravi shankar!!!

 

damn. if you were here on the 18th of october you could sneak some beers into a church and watch ravi shankar!!! also, my opinion: jester king limited offerings are the best if you can find them. followed by (512) IPA and Austin Beerworks (not the black thunder). Circle and South Austin just arent very good. Definitely go to Jester King in the hill country if youre there on a Saturday (the only day theyre open to the public). And someone said not to go to Salt Lick, but fuck that, its good. Franklin and J Mueller are better, sure, but still. Salt Lick is BYOB and pretty good. Eat BBQ and Street Tacos everyday. Go to all three BBQ places. Also, go to Uchi and Wink if you have money and want to eat the best food you'll ever eat. If you can't afford that, or if you want some good late night food, definitely go to East Side King. Go to alamo drafthouse for one of their weird wednesdays or terror tuesdays or another unconventional movie event (the food is okay, but they usually have a good beer selection). There is also a thing called "Chicken Shit Bingo". Do that. Don't go to whats called Dirty Sixth (the main section of sixth). if you have a rental car, drive out to lockhart for bbq, get some booze at the roadhouse thats on the way. go to the hidden mezcal bar called bar llegal on rainey street (but not on a weekend, and before 10pm, otherwise youll only be frustrated by the masses of people). steal a horse and shoot some guns. rob a bank. dont get arrested.

 

You can also make things a helluva lot easier and sign up for Car2Go.

http://www.car2go.com/austin/en/rates/

Use the code "college" and you get free registration (usually $35) and 30 minutes of free driving time. Take the train up to Black Star, use their app to find a Car2Go (they're just parked in the street... and there should be at least a couple up there) and drive to Sunrise and other places. It's $0.38 a minute after the 30.

 

Since Car2Go is in Portland too, if you're already a member then your account will work in all of the other US cities that have it too.