If you search for breweries in Austin on Google Maps, a sea of red dots pop up. In the home of SXSW, you know you’ll find good food, good music, and high modern culture.
It shouldn’t be a surprise to learn that the beer scene is just as nice. With so many options in one city, you’d think there’d be sure winners. It was hard to cut down the list, but we’ve managed to settle on what we think are the 9 best breweries in Austin.
St Elmo Brewery
St. Elmo’s is dedicated to exceptional beers. They brew all styles, turning their nose up at nothing. From IPAs to Kolsch, sours, winter ales, and lagers, they’re on the menu.
They even make hop water. Despite their great variety, they don’t let anything slip. That’s proven by their gold medal from the Great American Beer Festival, silver in the U.S. Beer Open, and bronzes in the International Beer Awards. St. Elmo’s was also one of the first to start making their own hard seltzer.
Their taproom is a rustically designed place with a hint of nautical flair on its white painted plank bar. St. Elmo’s brew deck peeps out from one end of the bar.
They also have an expansive beer garden covered in shade. Their taproom is supported by Spicy Boys Fried Chicken, offering mouth-watering fried chicken pieces, sandwiches, and vegan options.
Beer to try:
Roxanne – 6.3% ABV Pink Guava Sour
Oskar Blues Brewery
One of the most recognizable brands across the country, Oskar Blues is a staple on many people’s weekly shopping list. Originally from Colorado, the brewery opened its doors in 2002 and branches out to Austin in 2016.
It all started with Dale’s Pale Ale in a can during a time of bottle-frenzy and they’ve only gotten bigger and better since, “disrupting the status quo.”
Their Texan taproom is on a 50,000 sq ft site on which they brew and serve their beers. The space is so big, they have a great space for regular live music.
Tables sparsely populate the room, leaving plenty of space for pushing close to the performance or having room to dance. Order from one of their 18 taps, all of which are available as to-go crowlers. Can’t just pick one? Get a flight.
Beer to try:
Old Chub – 8% ABV Scotch Ale
Adelbert’s
Founded in 2011, Adelbert’s is a microbrewery still serving up small batches of beer, despite having won several awards. They carry out a hands-on brewing process with high quality ingredients and ferment each batch with their own yeast, propagated in-house.
Their core range has a European influence, with a witbier, saison, tripel, and red ale regularly on the list.
While many breweries taprooms brag about having a nice shady outdoor space, Adelbert’s are happy to emphasize that their taproom is temperature-controlled (although they do have outdoor drinking space, too).
There’s loads to do there, too, besides chow down on food from the Hot Box Diner food truck. They have TVs, arcade games, board games, video games, darts, ping pong, foosball, and cornhole. No reason not to hang around, drinking a couple ones all afternoon.
Beer to try:
Naked Nun – 5.8% ABV Wit
Celis Brewery
One of the largest breweries on our list and longest-running, Celis Brewery stands out from the crowd. It’s a brewery that specializes is Belgian ales. Rather than dabbling in strong ales every now and again, they fully commit.
Every one of their beers are genuinely Belgian in the truest sense: back in the ‘90s, founding father Pierre smuggled a strain of his original brewing yeast from Belgian into Texas. They’ve been brewing their traditional recipes ever since.
In the taproom at Celis, focus is immediately drawn onto the round, 360º island bar covered by an iconic copper brew lid.
The taproom is open every day and on Fridays they hold tours of their brewery at 4pm. You can pair your beers with one of their two regular guest food trucks.
Backdraft Pizzeria makes delicious 12 inch pies and Con Todo serves tacos inspired by their north Mexican roots.
Beer to try:
Celis Grand Cru – 8.6% ABV Tripel
Zilker Brewing Co.
Zilker Brewing Co. wants people to come together for conversation at their urban family-sized tables over their brews. They hold themselves to a high standard for all of their beers they make with new techniques.
Alongside their main stays, they regularly offer a fresh seasonal selection of beers. They tend towards pales, but also offer a main stay stout and currently have a sour on seasonal.
While Zilker, like many others, houses its taproom in its brewery, the space stands out from others. There’s exposed brick walls, garage doors, concrete floors, and family style picnic bench seating.
But something about Zilker’s contemporary taproom feels so much more warm and welcoming than other stark spaces. Like St. Elmo’s, they also offer Spicy Boy’s fried chicken.
Beer to try:
Coffee Milk Stout – 5.8% ABV Stout
Austin Beerworks
Austin Beerworks pride themselves on simplicity, brewing beers with a clarity of flavor using new techniques and ingredients. They embrace all styles of beer, even those stereotypically shunned by craft breweries.
While remaining independent, Austin Beerworks promises brews “from tank to tap,” distributing all their beers themselves and direct from the source, into their taproom.
Austin Beerworks’ taproom lets you indulge on site, mere feet away from the source. Here, they always have all of their core beers on tap along with seasonal brews, their Killer Strains series, and RAD Lab beers.
They have their very own food truck, the ABW Can-tina, serving soups, salads, and burritos. Eat and drink in their shady beer garden.
Beer to try:
Peacemaker – 5% ABV Anytime Ale
Live Oak Brewing Company
Live Oak dates back to the ‘90s. For the past couple decades they’ve been producing old-world style European ales and lagers, preferring patience over pizzazz. they’ve been named one of the best breweries in America thanks to their commitment to tradition.
They’re especially known for their Rauchbier, smoked ales with a unique flavor reminiscent of strong whiskies.
Live Oak’s taproom is nestled along the Colorado River, right across the street from Austin -Bergstrom International.
Their site covers a whopping 22 acres. Aside from its shady Biergarten, there’s also a 12 hole disc golf course. On Friday through Sunday, the Black Forest food truck serves German comfort food.
Pair a pilsner with some bratwurst and relax in the shade. Pets are welcome outside, too!
Beer to try:
Tüschlicher Pils – 3.9% ABV Pilsner
Vacancy Brewing
Vacancy Brewing gives the people what they want, maintaining a core line-up of three reliable beers: a sparkling golden ale, a dry-hopped amber ale, and a pilsner.
From there, they make seasonal specials of every color and IBU. Their adhesion to simplicity carries through from their brew process to their taproom, where a sparse warehouse space lets the beer speak for itself.
Their taproom is part of their warehouse where they brew on an industrial park called The Foundry (right across from the Tesla dealership, in case you don’t see the sign).
There are communal-style beerhall tables both inside and out for no-nonsense indulging from one of their 16 taps. They currently have a weekly pop-up from food vendor Pranom, serving Thai street food until they sell out.
Beer to try:
Lucille – 7% ABV Sparkling Golden Ale
Meanwhile Beer
Meanwhile goes for the experience as much as the product. Considered a microbrewery, their 15bbl kit is housed alongside a soccer field and outdoor music stage.
Meanwhile Beer is for experimenting and their beer menu is split between “current beers” (about nine) and “past beers” (over 70). Name a flavor and they’re bound to have tried it, including gin barrel-aged strong ale and a young brett rye.
Technically speaking, the brewery is inside with the taproom built alongside it, while the stage, food trucks, and soccer field are right outside.
There’s even a playground for the little ones. In the taproom there are 20 beers served on draft. Don’t fancy a beer? They have wines, ciders, and low-proof cocktails. Even coffee.
Meanwhile is home to five food trucks serving Mexican, barbecue, Vietnamese, pizza, and ice cream.
Mariska is a recovering attorney who gave up her professional job to discover new perspectives of life while traveling in a 2009 Ford Transit.
She has been living the van life for 3 years and has not looked back since.
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