Austin Trip Inquiry

South Congress stop - Hopdoddy's for burgers and about 8 local taps. Perla's for great seafood and cocktails. Probably a couple beers.

4th St stop - Easy Tiger. Waller Creek Pub. You could walk to Rainey St (Banger's/Craft Pride)

6th St stop - same general area as 4th St. Parkside is close. Swift's Attic a short walk.

 

Was in Austin this past weekend and hit up Lazarus, Hops & Grain and JK and had some beers at Witchcraft.

Definitely thankful for this thread as it gave me some options I otherwise wouldn't have tried.

 

I'm coming into Austin for a quick work trip on June 7th. I'm staying downtown, the Intercontinental to be exact. Are there any good bottle shops around there? I'm looking for barrel aged beers...
Any tips/advice would be great. Thanks!

 

Whichcraft is about 10 minutes away and the HEB mueller location has a great selection as well. Southwest parkway market is pretty close southbound. They are a little higher priced than most, but they have a lot of stuff others are sold out of. Good luck

 

Whole Foods downtown is the best place in downtown. From there, it is either East 1st Grocery or WhichCraft.

 

Appreciate it!

 

Was in Austin a week ago for a few days. Great city! For beer...
- Jester King: man oh man, what a crazy cool spot. Tons of their own beer at two bars, plus totally separate beer lists at the two bars in the pizza barn. Could have spent days there.
- Handle Bar: Beer list pretty unexciting but great upstairs patio.
- Easy Tiger: really awesome bier garden. Would have loved to play ping pong!! Beer list was fine, some locals, regionals and national stuff.
- Ginger Man: by far my biggest disappointment of the trip. Beer list was pretty flat with some locals and nothing special from the regional/national circuit. Was a Saturday night at 10pm, and not a person in the place. Music was horrible. Would not go back.
- Whole Foods on 6th: was pretty disappointing. Not that strong of a WF selection from others I've been to.
- Ginny's Litle Longhorn Saloon: Not a beer spot, but they did have some decent can and draft options. And CHICKEN SHIT BINGO!! And Merle Haggard tunes with a live band inside. How can you go wrong!?!?
- Hopes and Grain: Cool taproom, beers were all pretty well done.
- Wichcraft bottle shop (S Lamar): cool spot, owner was super cool to me opening a few cans to try. I didn't get to many places, but didn't regret stopping in to buy some stuff to take home.
- Pinthouse Pizza (S Lamar): this was a really good spot. Felt basically like a corporate Pizza Port. Like the surfer dude got a job and now wears a fancy suit and tie. Big long tables, a dozen of their beer and 2x that in guest taps. Build your pizza options. Great music. Could have stayed there for a while.
Craft Pride: awesome backyard garden, tap list all Texas stuff. Really liked it.

Great city, would love to go back!

Thanks to all the contributors for the recos.

 

Some clarifications on your post that won't really matter.

Jester King - They only own the taproom, brewer, and sometimes an outside jockey box bar. They are not the owners of the downstairs bar, pizza place or barn. They are two different owners. Not that it really matters, but just thought I would clarify that.

Ginger Man - I don't think many beer people in Austin would really recommend that place. The taplist is basically owned by Ben E Keiths (distributor) and they don't really change their list much. It is just boring...mainly nationally distributed stuff. This is my same gripe with Easy Tiger for mostly the same reason.

Surprised by the downtown WFs. Granted, I don't shop there so I can't say how good it is. Maybe it's gone downhill?

 

I heard WF's distribution has really gone downhill since the Amazon purchase.

 

I apologize if this was addressed, but aside from Hamilton pool, what non beer related thing are a must that are within an hour drive of Austin?

 

Over an hour, but Fredricksburg has the National Musuem of the Pacific War and the Nimitz Museum. As a history buff I really liked those. You can get fairly good German food, and beer, in Fredericksburg.

Enchanted Rock is north of Fredericksburg, good for some excercise.

Hamilton Pool was worth it, go if you can.

 

I'll be in Austin at the end of October. Hoping to hit Blue Owl for sure. I'll be downtown, but won't have a car. I've been here before and took the bus a little, but not a whole lot. I think Lyft will be my friend. Not sure if I'll go to Franklin (I know about the fire), but it is still tempting.

I'm mostly interested in sours. I'd like to bring something back, but it wouldn't be much if I did. Last time I stopped at the Whole Foods and picked up a few things.

 

If you're going to Blue Owl, stop at East 1st Grocery. You'll find a better selection than Whole Foods.

 

If you are hitting Blue Owl, be sure to take the time to check out Zilker, Lazarus, and H&G (goes without saying) which are all within a mile or so of Blue Owl.

 

Thanks! I'll check out those places as well!

 

If Franklin has not reopened yet... La BBQ just moved 4 blocks West of Blue Owl, into Quickie Pickie. Their BBQ is highly rated as well. Quickie Pickie is a bottle shop/cafe with taps so you can grab a beer while waiting in line for food.

I believe Blue Owl can sell beers to go if you plan on bringing some home.

 

Yes, they can.

 

Thanks for the info!! Now to see if I can bring a bottle of New Glarus down for a possible trade...

 

If you bring it down, I am sure you can get something.

 

I wanted to bump this thread to include Southern Heights Brewing in Austin.

Definitely a standout as far as new breweries go for Austin. Seems to have solid starting offerings, a good space, and worth checking out if you are trying to find places to go.