Brew Pubs

[crankyyankee]

Yo denizens,

Not that I'll have much time to travel any time soon, but I like to keep tabs on the best brew pubs in any given place. I live in Austin, so I'm most interested in places within a day's drive of the Hill Country, but I love to hear about any place that can draw you in. In any given city (preferably in Texas), where are the best places to go to get a pint of something that they've brewed on the premises? (Please don't distract me with other bars -- I'm just talking about the ones that brew themselves. I love The Ginger Man, but it's not a brew pub, no matter how many taps they have.)

To start off: in Austin, I recommend the Draught House and Lovejoy's. The first is a smallish English-style pub with lots of taps, but the bargain is their selection of homebrews. (They're all only a few dollars per glass from 7-11 pm.) The best I've had is their dunkel weizen. Lovejoy's is a punk-rock-inflected hangout for anarchists, kickers and pretentious grad students. (I'm one of the latter.) Their own brews are $2 a pint before 8 pm; the price goes up a scandalous 50 cents after that. Samson's Best Pale Ale is dependably smooth and hoppy, and their cask-conditioned ales can be amazingly good -- they never have more than one cask-conditioned at a time. I seem to recall that, now and again, the brewmaster tries his hand at a Belgian-style ale.

What else ya got?

Draught House

Lovejoy's

Cranky Yankee

"In fermentum veritas"

[TetOff]

San Antonio: Blue Star Brewing in the Blue Star art district (on S. Alamo, just south of downtown, right by the White Wings flour mill) is excellent, and one of the best brewpubs in Texas. The Laboratory (in the Quarry, off 281) closed...but is reopening under the brewing guidance of Paul Farnsworth: so look for excellent beers there soon (if not already).

Real Ale, while a microbrewery and not a brewpub, brews some excellent beers in Blanco Texas. If you take 281 to SA from Austin, you can swing by for a visit. It's right on the sqaure, underneath an antiques shop. Otherwise, Real Ales are on tap at G-man and other fine bars in Austin.

In Houston, Two Rows is okay; new brewpub off Shepherd at 59, called Sidestreet Brewing. Pretty good stuff. That cask you like comes from Saint Arnolds...also in Houston and Texas' largest independent brewery. Saturday tours are fun and include free beer.

For more Texas beer info, check out the Texas section of my webpage.

Have fun.

Edited February 6, 2004 by TetOff (log)

[Rustmeister]

In El Paso, definitely Jaxon's (the one on Airway). They have a great range of styles and they've placed in the GABF from time to time.

Knowing how far El Paso is from you, you may want to try Memphis.

If you ever get to the Bluff City, we have a Hops and Gordon Biersch in town, however the place to go is Bosco's. It's in the Midtown reigon, and is hands down the best of our three brewpubs. They've taken the gold at GABF two years in a row in the exerimental category (Juniper Stone and Ninkasi), and is the home of Bosco's Flaming Stone beer. I almost got to try the Ninkasi, but the web site and the pub weren't quite in sync, I missed out.

They just opened one up in Little Rock, too. Might be a bit closer. One thing about the Flaming Stone: Each Bosco's (Memphis, Nashville, and Little Rock) do theirs a little different. Check out their website: www.boscosbeer.com for details.

Is Pecan Street still in business? I liked their True Bock.

Rust

[bandregg]

A little north of Austin (take I-35 north and to Kansas City and make a left onto I-70 get off at Lawrence) you'll find the Freestate Brewery. They make amazing beer and the food in the restaurant is superb. Anytime I'm at home in KC I lose a day to a trip there and usually leave extra room in my bags to bring a growler or two back.

[crankyyankee]

Is Pecan Street still in business? I liked their True Bock.

Rust

Pecan Street Brewing Company, right? I've only lived here for a year and a half, but I've never heard of them being around. Odds ar it either went belly-up, as a number of brew pubs and brewing companies in town apparently did. I think I've heard, though, that August Schell's company up in Minnesota actually brewed most of the beer for Pecan Street under contract. Is Mr. Schell still in business?

Dan