Dallas & Austin

I live in Austin and don't get to DFW much, but I'll give my two cents.

1) I haven't had any of their beers yet, but Turning Point gets a lot of hype for the NE IPAs.
2) If it were me, I'd do Turning Point and then drive over to Collective Brewing Project and Martin House in Fort Worth
3) If you can only do one in Austin other than JK, then I'd say it depends on what you're most into. Live Oak and the ABGB are world-class for lagers, but if that's not your thing, then I'd choose Pinthouse Pizza or Oddwood Ales. They both do IPAs and hoppy beers really well and have good food. Pinthouse has a much larger selection of beers, but Oddwood is now getting their barrel-aged program off the ground, and they've done some great farmhouse ales in the past. Or you could just go to East Austin or North Austin and hit up a number of breweries within walking/biking distance of each other (East: Lazarus, Zilker, Hops and Grain, Blue Owl; North: Austin Beerworks, Adelbert's, 4th Tap, Celis, Oscar Blues--probably forgetting some).
4) The Bearded Lady in Fort Worth is great. I've heard good things about Meddlesome Moth in Dallas, but haven't been.

 

In Dallas I like Deep Ellum, Community, or a little known place called On Rotation.

In Austin it’s Live Oak as #1, with EVERYONE else a distant second.

Honestly, coming from Dallas, I think you’ll have a better time in Conroe (Southern Star, B52, Copperhead) than Austin.

FWIW

 

I agree. Hit up Conroe if you're looking for unpalatable NEIPAs and malty IPAs circa 1995. If you have to slum it down in Austin, go to Pinthouse, Oddwood, or Hops and Grain.

 

The passive aggressive type, huh? Good for you brah, I hear those hipster Austin chicks dig that these days

 

OP, don't listen to this guy. He's just pissy that he went to Austin in the hottest part of the summer last year and the breweries had the gall to have summer seasonals.

 

Turning Point is making the best NE IPA's in the Dallas Area in my opinion. Just wish they were closer to my house. That is a beat down drive from Plano.

 

And I'm late to the party lol. Hope the trip was amazing!

Collective and Half Acre are fun, as well as Panther Island time and again. Martin House is great is you like to go next door and throw axes at Flying Axe Factory too(I believe it's bring your own beer too).

Bearded Lady just moved or is in the process of moving to main street I believe. They have a killer 4 cheese grilled cheese sandwich that I generally had with a pale ale.

 

As someone visiting Austin next month this post was very helpful. Thanks and cheers!

 

I second this. Ill be out from AZ next month

 

This might be the funniest post I’ve read on BA ever!! I assume this is a troll post or just a flat out joke.

 

Well. Surprisingly I may come to his defense.

The post in whole I don't think is trolling.

I know my familys favorite brewery in DFW may be Deep Ellum. I like their standard offerings a bit, one of the few Session IPAs that I'll regularly buy. I've only been to the brewery once and everything tasted the same. It all tasted like a single IPA even their strong Belgian ale. I've heard there's been some changes in the brewers a few times and it's kind of gone back and forth. I don't know from going there.

On Rotation I hear a lot is good. I've only been once and did not have a favorable opinion of their beer. A cucumber beer that tasted like a bitter bad cucumber with no normal cucumber flavor. The other 3 or so beers were either unremarkable or a bit sweet for what they were trying to do. But I assume it was just a bad time for them based on what I hear from them. Note: I went before NEIPAs were a thing here.

Community is boring. Very average beers. Everything just seems to either be trying to adhere to the midpoint of the BJCP style or is flavored like a funnel cake or something like that. When I went on a tour there a customer was asking about why certain beers had certain characteristics the only thing the guide would say is that is what the style says... It may have just been a guide with very little knowledge of the brewery and beers but it did not leave a good impression with me.


I also agree that I think Live Oak are the best brewers in Austin. That necessitates other breweries be second place but I think there is very strong competition there.
Jester King makes exceptional wild ales exceptionally expensive.
ABGB makes some of the best pilsners.
Celis makes the best Witbier I've had.
I've only had a few St. Elmo beers but was impressed by them.
I know Bryan12345 hated ABW because he went there in July and the seasonals were all their summer beers variants of their Berlinerweisse. But I think of the brewery like Southern Star but with a slightly higher level of beer.

That said I do like B52's Pils and Southern Star's classic beers (The best beers I've had from them has been the Pine Belt, Buried Hatchet, and Bombshell). But unless you want the milkshakes at B52 there is better stuff all over Austin than what you get at either of those two breweries.

 

I know awards are definitely not all. But I did think that the GABF awards were interesting. Out of 18 awards for Texas breweries, only 2 went to a Houston area brewery and both were to Saint Arnold.

North Texas got 4, San Antonio definitely knows their chili beer. Austin area won the bulk of the awards for Texas.

 

This x1000, nail meet head.

Have to include Jester King though, obvious, but JK are one of the only breweries people outside TX give a shit about, and for good reason.

 

Looks like this thread is as good as any for a "Visiting Austin" post. Thanks for the great suggestions so far - my family (wife and 2 little kids) will be visiting from LA for a long weekend in a couple weeks - staying in the East Austin area with a rental car. Already put a lot of those East Austin breweries on my radar, along with JK of course. Definitely open to any beer/food suggestions for anything that wouldn't be too far of a drive and relatively family friendly. I've done a lot of research already through BA, Yelp and just googling but figure it can't hurt to ask here as well.

Besides those breweries - any strong preference between ABGB, Pinthouse Pizza, Live Oak, Oddwood? I probably can't make it to all of them. Not to sound crazy but I'm not too picky about the beer - more interested in if the atmosphere/vibe is appropriate for families and how the food is. I trust the beer will be great at all of these places.

Also - can anyone recommend great BBQ that doesn't require an hours long wait ? I just don't have time for the type of waits described in these Yelp reviews for the top bbq places.

Anyway - all advice on anything would be appreciated - thanks in advance!

 

As far as family-friendly, the best I can recommend would be Jester King (tons of open space for kids to safely run around and play) but maybe make a day of it, it's a bit of a trek. Pinthouse Pizza is also a good spot to hit with kids. The South Lamar location more-so, in my opinion.

The eastside isn't very family-friendly in general, and is more for younger people going out to bars, clubs and venues, but you'll be close to a lot.

La Barbeque is in the area where you'll be staying and is pretty great. Lines can sometimes get bad, but don't think it will be hours long waits. Weekends are rougher line-wise.

 

I really like Oddwood. They have good pizza and some arcade games. Fairly small place though so more of a meal time with kids.
The only time I've been to PHP it was difficult to find seating.

Of what you listed Live Oak doesn't have their own food although there's a permanent food truck on site.

If you want some hole in the wall BBQ there's Sam's BBQ on East 12th. It's good BBQ. When I went there were no lines. And if you're adventurous you can get mutton which was very common back before WW2 in Texas.

 

Most of the best BBQ spots are outdoor food trailers w/ no seating and long waits, which obviously sounds like a nightmare with two young kids. Best indoor sit-down place with little/no wait is Stiles Switch. Black's (on Guadalupe) is also a good indoors no-wait option; the food's not quite as good as Stiles Switch but it's still very good, it's closer to downtown, and it's attached to Hopfields which is one of the best beer bars in the city. Obviously get the brisket at either spot

As for breweries, JK is the best brewery for kids in addition to being the best brewery period. The other four you mentioned by name (ABGB, Pinthouse, Live Oak, and Oddwood) are in my opinion the only other breweries in town worth hitting up. Other than those 4 + JK, I find pretty much all the other breweries (including all the East Austin ones) fairly forgettable...if you're only here for a few days I'd skip all but those few and spend your limited time exploring the other awesome stuff Austin has to offer. Anyways, of those 4, all are pretty kid friendly for different reasons, although Live Oak (beautiful outdoor space, lots of board games, often a band playing or vendors around, food truck, etc.) and Pinthouse (come on, it's arcade games + pizza) probably more so than the other 2. Live Oak is super close to the airport, so it could be a fun way to unwind on your way to/from your flight

Enjoy your trip! Weather's beautiful here right now, hope it holds up for you. If you need any other recommendations, I have a whole google doc of stuff to do in Austin for when family/friends come to visit, feel free to PM me and I'll shoot it on over

 

Live Oak has a lot of outdoor space (not as much as JK) but still. I think that it can be a lot of fun for kids to play around. Plus if you like planes as much as my son being right across the street from the airport is good because you can watch the planes coming in or leaving.

I definitely can't say that Jester King is the best brewery period. The farm it's on is cool. But it just can't be compared with other breweries like Live Oak due to every beer being some sort of sour beer.

They do sour beers well but not everyone likes them. I'd say Live Oak is arguably a better brewery because they make lagers and weizens so well. It's really comparing apples to tomatoes.

If you want expensive sour beers then go to JK.
If you want lagers and Hefeweizen then go to Live Oak.
If you want good Sours along with good IPAs and an interesting lagerish wild beer then Oddwood is good but smaller.

I wouldn't go all the way to Jester King if food is your priority even though I thought the pizza was pretty good.

 

ABGB and Live Oak are going to give you the best Austin experience, have the most space for kids to move around without disturbing others (especially if the weather is nice) and are both favorites with our family. ABGB has free live music inside on Sunday afternoons which you can still enjoy while in the beer garden. Southern Heights is also really friendly-friendly, on the east side, and offers gratis juice and goldfish at the bar if you ask (only food trucks/pop up for meals). Most places here are family-friendly if you go at the right times and pay attention to your kids. As mentioned, I would avoid east 6th on the weekend (or go really early) as a lot of bachelor/bachelorette/day drinking groups start swarming the bars as the day goes on. Have fun!