San Antonio breweries

Thanks for the heads up! I think we'll be heading there on a Sunday, but nothings set in stone yet.

 

I'll be staying in the "King William Historical District". I've read a few guides listing whats bars and restaurants are in the area, but anybody have any suggestions for that area? Particularly places with a large selection of local craft beer?

 

Prefer places i can walk to, but we'll have a car. If it's worth it, I don't mind driving there.

 

I'm not the biggest Shiner fan, but is Spoetzl Brewery worth my trouble?

 

Yea, I get what you're saying. My thinking is Shiner is the only beer down there that gets distributed up by me, so itd be cool to check out the brewery. I'm not doubting that Austin wouldn't be a good time though. We'll see how things play out.

 

Just wrapped up my trip to San Antonio, here's a summary of the beer I sampled:

Saturday:
Right off the plane, we stopped at Freetail's Brewpub. Beer selection was very good here. Had the Freetail ale and an IPA (forgot the name). Enjoyed both. The food was pretty good, but nothing really worth bragging over. Later that evening we stopped at Alamo Beer Company. The beer selection is definitely limited here, but after a hot day, their lager selection really hit the spot. Cosmetically speaking, Alamo really stood out. Really cool looking place.

Sunday:
This was our beach day to Port Arsansas. Kept it simple and just grabbed a six pack of Lone Star at a Stripes for the beach. Living in NJ, I can't get beer from a convenience store or drink on the beach, so I really enjoyed being able to do both on my trip. For dinner, we stopped at Castaway Seafood & Grill. Had a St. Arnolds IPA called "Elissa". The beer was pretty solid. The food wasn't bad either, but nothing worth noting.

Monday:
Spent the entire day in Schlitterbahn. While they had plenty of options, i decided to not partake in any drinking while there. At night, we stopped at Friendly Spot and Bar 1919. Friendly spot's beer selection was pretty amazing. I just asked the bartender to suggest an IPA that was made locally, and he suggested Branchline's "The Visitor" and Ranger Creek's "Hard Days Night". Both beers were outstanding. Probably the best I had on the trip. Bar 1919 is really all about cocktails, but they had a pretty impressive bottle list. I just got Free Tail's "Bat outta Helles", to go with my Old Fashion. Very good lager, and the cocktail was impressive. Definitely recommend checking this place out if you're looking for a good cocktail bar. Very cool speakeasy vibe.

Tuesday:
Drove out to Shiner to tour the brewery. This was more about seeing a large production brewery in action oppose to actually sampling beer. They did give out 4 free samples of their beer, but obviously they paled in comparison to what else I tried. I had 2 samples of the bock, the premium, and the prickly pear. Again, nothing special, but you can't beat free! That being said, the wife and I dropped like $120 in the gift shop while we were there. They obviously know what they're doing! After Shiner, we drove over to the Pearl Brewery complex for lunch. Really cool what they have done with the place. We ate lunch at the Granary, and I had their coffee IPA. Food and beer was very good, but a little overpriced. Based off the recommendation we got from a local, we headed to Rudy's for dinner. We wanted to try the best brisket in the area, and it definitely didn't disappoint! Had a Shiner Bock while I was there. Finally, on our last stop on the trip, we stopped at Pat O Brien's. My wife loves the location in Universal Orlando, but this location didn't really match up. That being said, I had 2 Amber Lager's from Alamo that I really enjoyed.

Thank you all for your recommendations. It definitely helped out a lot. Hopefully this post helps anyone else planning a trip to the area as well.

 

oh yeah, I also had a Mexican Imperial Stout made by "Calavera" from "The House Boozy Ice Cream and Brews". This place was really really cool. Awesome ice cream that's infused with liquor. Highly recommend stopping here if you're in the area. Wife loved the ice cream here so much, we actually made 2 trips.

 

Thanks, I tried my best to mix in some of the suggestions I received with the activities that we had planned. We definitely enjoyed the area and want to come back eventually.

Shiner was pretty cool. I've done a lot of these types of tours, and it was one of the better ones.

 

This is a weird request, but would anyone be willing to mail me "Lonestar" and "Free Tail" bottle caps? I collect bottle caps of beers I tried, but forgot to get these. Obviously I'll reimburse you for the postage.