Austin & Hill Country
JESTER KING CRAFT BREWERY
13005 Fitzhugh Rd., Bld. B • Austin, TX 78736 • (512) 537-5100 • jesterkingbrewery.com • Established: 2010
SCENE & STORY
Few breweries have to remind visitors to leave pets at home so as not to spook the livestock. Located fifteen miles outside of town on a ranch in the beautiful Texas Hill Country, Jester King is a first for the American South: an ambitious farm house brewery working primarily in the rarified world of oak-barrel aging and second fermentations in the bottle. With a massive 8,000-square-foot barn next to the new stone-walled brewery, the owners opened for business with a rapid-fire release of highly rated beers including a collaboration with Dane Mikkel Borg Bjergsø of Mikkeller, the acclaimed globe-trotting brewer.
What happened in this brewery’s first few years is remarkable. Much of the brewhouse was hand-built or modified—even the boiler—thanks to one of the founders learning how to weld. The brewing shed was uninsulated, causing havoc in the brewing process. The first beer released was a conservative-sounding English mild ale. But by calling it, punkishly, “Commercial Suicide,” Jester King seemed to capture the hearts of all of Austin’s beer drinking public in one fell swoop. Soon came the pizza place next door (Stanley’s Farmhouse Pizza), the corn- hole games, and a growing sense that something truly special was coming to life.
While some early beers like Commercial Suicide relied on dried, lab grown English ale yeast at first, the Jester King crew has now moved almost exclusively into wild-yeast territory, harnessing the unique microflora of the area in a line of superdistinctive beers. Under the watchful eyes of brothers Jeffrey and Michael Stuffings, and longtime beer industry maven Ron Extract (plus a talented team of brewers, blenders, and staff, and various do-gooders helping out), Jester King has, in just a few short years, vaulted into the upmost ranks of breweries worldwide, among those that focus on wild and sour ales. On weekends, crowds of hundreds, even thousands show up at the brewery (so plan ahead). What’s more, the owners have been tireless in working for legal reforms to Texas’s antiquated beer laws, and seem to be perpetually “on tour” at beer tasting events around the globe.
Lately collaborations have been a major focus, with the brewery team heading to Europe, as well as crisscrossing the United States to work with breweries like Sante Adairius, and Florida’s Green Bench and St. Somewhere breweries. The beer is great, the labels are superb, the setting is incredibly unique, and the staff is a garrulous, dedicated bunch. Do I seem biased? I am. The current brewing team visited me in the early months of 2016 to brew a collaboration of our own.
In early 2016, Jester King announced it had acquired a major parcel of land adjacent to the brewery, which will be farmed for fruits and herbs used in the brewing process and save the land from development.
PHILOSOPHY
Belgium comes to Hill Country. By Texas standards these are wild, experimental beers, but the Belgian and French traditions at work here are time-tested. The founders also espouse deep philosophical underpinnings of conservation, pledging to use organic and local raw materials at every turn, even rainwater in the brewing kettles.
KEY BEER
Boxer’s Revenge Farmhouse Provision Ale (9% ABV) is a dry, Champagne-like farmhouse ale dry-hopped with spicy Hallertau and floral Cascade and Centennial hops. The beer is refermented in French oak wine barrels with wild yeast for up to a year. And if you can find a bottle of Atrial Rubicite, a raspberry-infused wild ale aged in oak, grab it before one of the rabid beer collectors can.
THE GINGER MAN
301 Lavaca St. • Austin, TX 78701 (512) 473-8801 • aus.gingermanpub.com • Established: 1994
SCENE & STORY
This large, dimly lit bar consists of a long stone bar, couches, dark wood paneling and tables, a tasteful collection of beer trays on the walls, and a busy outdoor seating and stage area, well retaining the charm that made the original (close by and now called the Ghost Bar) one of Austin’s most beloved spots. There are eighty taps and more than 100 bottles to choose from, with a strong selection of American craft beers and choice international marks.
PHILOSOPHY
Founder Bob Precious took his inspiration for the Ginger Man family of bars from J. P. Donleavy’s novel of the same name, in which the character of Sebastian Dangerfield is a young American abroad at Trinity College. But thankfully, the maudlin shtick doesn’t get the better of this loose-knit family of bars. Of the original Ginger Man, in Houston, Michael Jackson memorably wrote, “it is a true pub, where it is possible to indulge in conversation without having dubious entertainments or food pressed upon one. Despite its name, it has no oppressive theme, either as a literary bar or as an Irish tavern.”
KEY BEER
Look for local taps from surging Texas breweries like Dallas’s Community, Lakewood, St. Arnold, Karbach, and Real Ale.
DRAUGHT HOUSE PUB & BREWERY
4112 Medical Pkwy., No. 100 Austin, TX 78756 • (512) 452-6258 • draughthouse.com • Established: 1968
SCENE & STORY
Austin’s most famous beer destination, the Draught House is an old Anglo-German-style bar with a Tudor half-timber exterior. Inside is a softly-lit, exposed-beamed space furnished with rough-hewn wood tables and straight-backed wood chairs, and a bar with seventy taps, eighteen bottles, and a few casks on at a time, along with pub grub like made-to-order pizza, nachos, and calzones. Outside, there’s a massive beer garden that often fills with a chilled-out crowd.
PHILOSOPHY
Funky Old World meets Craft Beer Nation, U.S.A. Instead of lining up along the bar, locals know to form a single-file line, as if purchasing train tickets, but they’re quite happy in the process. You will be, too.
KEY BEER
There are always several inventive house beers on like a recent stout, Funkhouser, aged with the famed Drie Fonteinen brett strain for eight months.
BEST of the REST: TEXAS
REAL ALE BREWING COMPANY
231 San Saba Ct. • Blanco, TX 78606 • (830) 833-2534 • realalebrewing.com
Founded in 1996 out in quiet, quaint Blanco in the Texas Hill Country an hour or so from Austin, Real Ale is one of the state’s biggest craft beer success stories despite humble beginnings. Working on a ramshackle setup in the basement of an antique store (with offices in an airstream and storage in shipping containers), Real Ale came up with great brews like Brewhouse Brown, and shunned filtration and pasteurization all the way to a vast (and still growing) market.
KAMALA BREWING AND THE WHIP IN
1950 S. Interstate 35 • Austin, TX 78704 • (512) 442-5337 • whipin.com
“Hindu Hillbilly” themed honky-tonk and gourmet beer garden, anyone? The Whip In exemplifies Austin’s freewheeling spirit by combining an authentic, family-owned Indian dhaba (roadside café)–style restaurant (founded in 1986) with a cigar counter, bottle shop, seventy-two-tap beer garden, and two-stage music venue. There’s also a small, ambitious brewery on site, Kamala, which, operating formerly as Namaste Brewing, nabbed a gold in Herb & Spiced beers at the 2013 GABF.
AUSTIN BEERWORKS
3009 Industrial Terrace • Austin, TX 78758 • 512-821-2494 • austinbeerworks.com
Opened in 2011, Austin Beerworks has the quintessential modern brewery taproom feel, with warm lighting, retro art like a big carnival-style lights sign reading “WARES,” stainless-steel tanks everywhere inside and great food trucks outside (and a black velvet painting of Sloth from The Goonies). The brewery only packages beer in cans. Try the killer Fire Eagle IPA, a 6.8% ABV American style IPA with German Magnum, Columbus, Centennial, and Citra hops, a GABF silver medalist in 2014. Their most eye-catching stunt? An actual ninety-nine-pack of beer released locally, for ninety-nine dollars, naturally.
HOPS & GRAIN BREWING
507 Calles St., Ste. 101 • Austin, TX 78702 • (512) 914-2476 • hopsandgrain.com
For a recent experimental series of brews, the fun-loving Hops & Grai
n crew (founded in 2011) featured a different dry hop every month, released only in 300-case batches locally (yup: time to book a trip, pardner). But which hops? After the resinous, Mosaic-rich release #1, the cans remained mysterious, encouraging drinkers to guess (or scan the can’s QR-code to learn more). This brewery, built in a big warehouse and doubling as a coffeehouse, is packed with big time Texas and U.S. pride.
LIVE OAK BREWING CO.
3301-B E. 5th St. • Austin, TX 78702 • (512) 385-2299 • liveoakbrewing.com
Founded in a bare-bones two-room warehouse of a brewery in southeast Austin in 1997, Live Oak has gained a reputation for making some of Austin’s—and the entire Southwest’s—best beer, thanks to their luscious Live Oak HefeWeizen (4.1% ABV). The secret to their success? Ultratraditional old-world methods including open fermenters made from repurposed dairy tanks, secondary lagering (cold aging), and decoction mashing, a technique described in detail on a super popular, reservations-required ninety-minute tour. In late 2015 they were preparing a massive new facility on twenty acres near the airport.
(512) BREWING CO.
407 Radam Ln. • Austin, TX 78745 • (512) 922-8093 • 512brewing.com
This seven-year-old (as of 2015) upstart named for the local area code is making some of Austin’s best beer. Reserve a spot on a weekend tour and drink some of their 6.8% ABV Pecan Porter at the source. Otherwise, look for it and the other (512) beers in Austin bars.
COMMUNITY BEER COMPANY
1530 Inspiration Dr., No. 200 • Dallas, TX 75207 • (214) 751-7921 • communitybeer.com
Located near downtown Dallas on Stemmons Freeway, across from the American Airlines Center and on the edge of the Design District, Community sprang to life in 2013, with the tasting room opening in 2014. It’s a 21,000-square-foot facility with cornhole and pool table, giant Jenga game, art exhibits, live music, food trucks, and other diversions. Try the Mosaic IPA.
LAKEWOOD BREWING COMPANY
2302 Executive Dr. • Garland, TX 75041 • (972) 864-2337 • lakewoodbrewing.com
Belgium-born founder Wim Bens was raised in Texas and his brewery and 4,000-square-foot beer garden opened in 2011, with a music stage and vast amounts of seating. If you want to take a tour, go early on a Saturday or Sunday. Styles aren’t strictly “Belgian” per se. Start with the sessionable Hopochondria IPA (3.5% ABV) and work your way up to the flagship, a rich, 9.1% ABV milk stout called the Temptress.
FREETAIL BREWING COMPANY
4035 North Loop 1604, No. 105 • San Antonio, TX 78257 • (210) 395-4974 • freetailbrewing.com
Named for a species of large bat and launched as a brewpub on the outskirts of town in 2008 by economics professor turned brewer Scott Metzger, Freetail filled a gaping void in San Antonio. The spacious hillside taproom and tailgater-like patio was so popular, Freetail opened a 30,000-square-foot production facility and thirteen-tap tasting room twenty-four miles away in 2014, with attached barrel-aging and sour-beer program. Try the latest American wild ales and hoppy pale ales and IPAs.
RAHR & SONS BREWING CO.
701 Galveston Ave. • Fort Worth, TX 76104 • (817) 810-9266 • rahrbrewing.com
Located on the south side of downtown Fort Worth since 2004, this brewery has an eventful history, to say the least. Current owner Frederick William “Fritz” Rahr Jr.’s great-great-grandfather William opened the first lager brewery in Wisconsin in 1847, but was killed due to burns suffered in a tragic brewing kettle fall. Fritz resurrected the family beer company name in 2004 to make German-influenced beers with Texas twang and a sense of off-beat humor, as evidence by beers named Ugly Pugg and Buffalo Butt. Look for the Iron Thistle, an 8.5% ABV Scotch Ale with hints of fig, raisin, chocolate, and smoke.
UTAH
LITTLE-KNOWN FACT: AS OF JULY 1, 2009, THE NOTORIOUSLY CONSERVATIVE STATE OF UTAH’S beer laws took a great leap forward. For the state’s twenty-plus breweries and brewpubs, beers over the notorious limit of 3.2 percent alcohol by weight (4.0% ABV) were made legal, though they must be bottled and sold in a place with the right license (which could be a brewpub, bar, or restaurant). The irksome “private club” law was dropped (it required drinkers to pay a membership fee for bars and sign a registry), but a few bars and other establishments still hew to the practice. “Taverns” must still sell only 4.0% ABV or weaker beer, and no wine or hard liquor. Keg sales are verboten, as is sampling at a brewery-only location, but home brewing up to 200 gallons per year per household is A-OK. It all makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? So it goes. Time for a beer—might as well make it a strong one.
Salt Lake City
SQUATTERS PUB BREWERY
147 W. Broadway (300 South) Salt Lake City, UT 84101 • (801) 363-2739 • squatters.com • Established: 1989
SCENE & STORY
Utah’s most famous beer spot owes part of its fame to its central location in downtown Salt Lake City. There are nine taps and six bottled beers available, with occasional casks, and a huge menu of good pub grub. It’s big inside with exposed timber, corrugated metal details, tastefully modern lighting, and wide, polished blonde wood bars. Growler refills are a mere $7.99 (bring your own empty), which makes them a good idea for après ski libations up in the whisper-quiet Little Cottonwood Canyon. Squatters added a Park City location, as well as a pub at the airport in Salt Lake City.
PHILOSOPHY
Under the draconian limitations of the “3.2 laws,” Squatters had to do a lot with a little for a very long time. Former brew master Jenny Talley, in the role from 1994 to 2011, rose to the occasion, racking up a war chest full of medals for lower strength beers like her crisp 4% ABV Provo Girl Pilsner. She also ventured into wilder terrain, with meatier Old World styles and New World variations thereof, like her 529, a Flanders oud bruin-style beer (or “old brown”) aged for 529 days in oak barrels with wild yeasts (7.15% ABV).
The first brewer in Utah to venture into such tricky stylistic terrain, Talley was recognized in 2011 as the first female recipient of the Russell Schehrer Award for Innovation in Brewing, a prestigious honor from the Boulder, Colorado-based Brewers Association, which oversees the craft brewing industry nationwide. She left Squatters for Red Hook in 2011.
KEY BEER
Start with a Provo Girl, then look for reserves and one-offs like Hell’s Keep, a Belgian Strong Specialty Ale, which took a gold in the 2014 GABF.
UINTA BREWING COMPANY
1722 Fremont Dr. • Salt Lake City, UT 84104 • (801) 467-0909 • uintabrewing.com • Established: 1993
SCENE & STORY
From its catchphrase alone (“save water—drink beer”), it’s clear this Salt Lake City microbrewery and brewpub a short drive southwest of downtown makes good beer without wrecking the neighborhood. Named for the soaring, east-west situated Uinta peaks in the north of the state, UBC is 100 percent wind powered and repays customers that reuse six-pack carriers with swag from the gift shop, the Little Big Beer Store, which has seven varieties of beer to go. All the spent grain goes to ranchers rather than landfills.
PHILOSOPHY
Recently the brewery has also moved the beers in a more progressive direction. The minimalist labels of the Four+ series belie more complex beers within, such as the Wyld, a dry, citrusy, and faintly honeyish 4% ABV American pale ale. With somewhat mixed results, the 750-milliliter Crooked Series line wanders farther away from the old standards of pale, wheat, and stout, with an imperial pilsner, double IPA, and 13.2% ABV black ale called Labyrinth, all labeled by hip local artists.
KEY BEER
Sum’r, from the Four+ series, is a 4% ABV blonde ale with a distinct lemony zing, excellent for a hot day.
BEST of the REST: UTAH
EPIC BREWING COMPANY
825 S. State St. • Salt Lake City, UT 84111-4207 • (801) 906-0123 • epicbrewing.com
The first high-strength brewery in Utah since Prohibition, Epic was established in 2010 to brew exclusively bigger beers like the Brainless Belgian series (around 9% ABV) which are stro
ng golden ales, sometimes later aged with cherries, peaches, and other fruit in wine barrels for added complexity. The beers come in three categories, Classic, Elevated, and Exponential, and are sold directly from the brewery in twenty-two-ounce bombers, but no sampling is allowed on the premises. No matter. Demand soared from Day One and Epic’s distribution quickly spread throughout Utah, and into Idaho and Colorado as well. Now Denver’s taproom in the RiNo district is open, as well. Look for Brainless on Peaches, which is a big beer aged in white wine oak barrels with peaches and Champagne yeasts (7.3% ABV).
THE BAYOU
645 S. State St. • Salt Lake City, UT 84111 • (801) 961-8400 • utahbayou.com
A busy taproom near downtown in a funky, old brick building with thirty drafts and some 300 bottles to choose from (including some two dozen brews from Epic and another fifty-odd Utah-brewed beers), the massive selection is the real draw here, but a huge, Cajun-themed food menu, live jazz and blues performances, and free week-night pool also draw hordes of locals.
The MIDWEST
THE AMERICAN HEARTLAND HAS LONG BEEN THE NATION’S BEER CELLAR AS WELL AS ITS BREAD-BASKET. (And of course, the cheese counter, too.) But until very recently, nearly all the beer coming out of the lake-dotted countryside and prairies of Middle America was bland, industrial lager made with cheap adjuncts like corn, rice, and other profit-driven shortcuts, spending millions on ads instead of quality beer, even employing chemical foam enhancers. The craft beer revolution came on slowly here, but now more than ever, the area we sometimes call the Corn Belt, and especially the Great Lakes region, has discovered the true joy of drinking all-natural craft beer. And if you haven’t had the pleasure of drinking beer with native Midwesterners, you’re in for a treat.
The Great American Ale Trail (Revised Edition) Page 25