Jester King Brewery (Photo by Jana Birchum)
Craft beer has begun its redemption arc. Out are the large bourbon barrel-aged confectionary stouts, the biting quintuple IPAs, the gut-melting sours. In: lagers. Clean, crisp, assured lagers.
Yes, the period of chasing ultra-rare, saccharine-sweet sweet beer throughout city, brewed one pint at a time by beerhouses that impressed their tremulous fanbase to chant EXCELSIOR into their craft beer megaphones from the parking zone on the mere suggestion of extraordinarily restricted $40 bombers of beer – that was in some way the salad days of the business. But just like the awkward center college years, these tough moments are behind us now.
These days, anybody who continues to be obsessed with craft beer is queuing up solely within the 10 Items or Fewer line at H-E-B with a pack of chilly, backside fermented delights tucked beneath their arm in most anticipation of beating the warmth with beer-flavored beer. It’s a very nice return to actuality. In flip, Austin-area breweries have recommitted to quality-driven mainstay beers supplemented by an affordable lineup of provocative particular launch beers and a full calendar of wait-worthy seasonals. The proof is tangible with the celebrated awards and accolades doled out to regional breweries from extremely goal sources just like the newly based Texas Craft Brewers Cup, the World Beer Cup, and, in fact, the Great American Beer Festival, amongst others. Buttressing the liquid merchandise, breweries have continued to broaden and improve the face-to-face expertise of their taprooms and beer gardens in a approach that may captivate an viewers of beer followers.
So, you ask, which of them are trending the most well liked proper now? Which frosty lager below a leafy tree goes to beat this warmth on a Saturday afternoon? Here, loyal readers, is our annual BREWERY POWER RANKINGS to information you sq. and true via these weekend brewery plans, a listing many individuals are saying is extra anticipated than season 2 of Severance.
As prior to now, we’re beneficiant with the boundaries we name “Austin-ish,” together with all of the breweries in neighboring counties that have been smart sufficient to not be hostage to Travis County taxes. This yr we included our POWER RANKINGS rating, which acknowledged breweries’ consideration to their mainstay lineups (40%), emphasis on their taproom/beer backyard vibe (30%), creativity of their seasonal and restricted beer lineups (15%), their 2022 assortment of beer awards and accolades (10%), and an extra 5% to any intangible options, like a notable meals truck, glorious branding, reside music, reside artwork, or heck, reside animals. There needs to be zero beer nerd debate. These are Austin’s finest breweries, POWER-RANKED!
Dropped from Rankings: Draught House (18), Red Horn (21), Circle (23), Blue Owl (24), Beerburg (25)
Others Receiving Votes: Draught House (69 pts.) Best of Austin: Restaurants winner for Best Beer Selection, Draught House, affectionately recognized to a fading few because the Draught Horse, stays the most effective city brewery and beer backyard in all of Austin for the reason that daybreak of time, when locals ordered from tablets – the chiseling sort… Red Horn Coffee House & Brewery (69 pts.) This northern suburbs powerhouse continues to glitter with a quarter-century of palate-friendly choices from watermelon gose to double milk stout … and just about any type you may think about in between. RH took house a silver medal from the 2022 Texas Craft Brewers Guild awards in February with Brushy Creek Brown Ale… Independence (68.25 pts.) An upgraded patio, a solidly early-Aughts retro taproom, and a lineup of traditional recipes like Native Texas Pilsner maintain Indy very related within the Austin beer scene… Koko’s Bavarian (68 pts.) The traditional Oktoberfest fare, the lager-heavy beer menu, and the genial environment hits the just-here-for-the-beer viewers higher than its former tenant, the spectacular however inflexible Brewer’s Table… Beerburg (67.5 pts.) This forager-forward, low-ABV Hill Country sizzling spot combines with a shady beer backyard and a stellar meals menu to make Beerburg a Sunday staple.
Trend Tracker: The “AC Power Rankings Trend” strikes from oldest to latest. GREEN signifies a brewery moved up within the rankings; RED signifies a brewery moved down; and BLUE signifies a brand new entry or no motion. Looking for earlier Power Rankings? See 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018 Part I and Part II, and 2017.
Courtesy of Black Star Co-op
25 | Black Star Co-op
2022 Score: 69.25
AC Power Rankings Trend! ▶ NEW ENTRY
Best Core Beer: Recalcitrant Dockhand, a sturdy porter with overt notes of chocolate, espresso, and gold medal triumph. The beer just lately hooked high prize within the Stouts & Porters class on the newly established 2022 Texas Craft Brewers Cup, contributing to its legacy because the 2015 Great American Beer Festival (GABF) nationwide champ for strong porters.
Favorite Seasonal or Limited Run: Waterloo Apricot Berliner Weisse, a supremely ignored legacy beer that broke into the native ingesting scene a FULL YEAR earlier than different ultralow-ABV tart ale did. Most folks don’t keep in mind it because the Grandfather of Austin Berliners.
Extraordinary Taproom/Beer Garden Feature: Black Star shines vibrant on the quickly enhancing MetroRail Red Line, a historic “Train to Nowhere” (… anybody would really need to go) however has since turn out to be one of the best ways to seize a basket of fish & chips and a light-weight Pilsner on the way in which to Q2 to observe a bunch of Argentinians put Austin FC excessive.
Significant 2022 Upgrade: Not solely did Black Star take house important {hardware} from the 2022 Texas Craft Brewers Cup with Dockhand in addition to second gold for Moebius Russian Imperial Stout within the Barrel & Wood Aged Beer class, however it remarkably plucked the Small Brewery of the Year (0-799 BBL group) honor away from an abundance of Texas beermaking powerhouses.
Contribution to Austin’s Beer Scene: Black Star was the primary member-owned, employee self-managed, fair-labor co-op brewery on EARTH! And if that mouthful ain’t Austin, then what’s?
Courtesy of (512) Brewing Co.
24 | (512)
2022 Score: 69.5
AC Power Rankings Trend ▶ 16
Best Core Beer: (512)’s Pecan Porter is a legendary Austin beer wall staple and foundational member of Austin’s Mount Rushmore of Beer (by no means thoughts solely bronzing on the 2022 Texas Craft Brewers Cup within the Stouts & Porters class). Here we have been gushing about lagers, lagers, lagers, and our first regional mainstay beers of notice are each porters. By the way in which, (512) – can the stuff!
Favorite Seasonal or Limited Run: Well, when you get pleasure from unleaded Pecan Porter, then its diesel model offers double the horsepower: Whiskey-barrel-aged Double Pecan Porter clocks in at a roasty, boozy 9.5% ABV.
Extraordinary Taproom/Beer Garden Feature: How does an iconic brewery like (512) dawdle across the rear of an influence rankings annually? By denying us that cozy, shady beer backyard through which to drink their high quality Kölsch and helles; a self-imposed punt on third down.
Significant 2022 Upgrade: However, (512) massively upgraded their canned lineup this yr: Oatmeal Coffee Stout, Local Crush Kölsch, the classically satisfying (512) IPA. Here’s to a nutty shock in 2023.
Contribution to Austin’s Beer Scene: The absolute consistency of the product. Each beer that leaves the brewhouse tastes just like the one prior and can style just like the one after that. (512) set an ordinary way back concerning the expectations for native craft beer high quality.
Courtesy of Vacancy Brewing
23 | Vacancy
2022 Score: 70
AC Power Rankings Trend ▶ NEW ENTRY
Best Core Beer: June, the aptly named 4.9% “Hill Country” Pilsner that begs to be consumed within the sweltering months, which, positive, usually are not solely in June however mainly each different month other than the one known as February, when the town turns into utterly devoured in ice.
Favorite Seasonal or Limited Run: Hoppy Hollow, a crisp, clear India pale lager that displays on the most effective a part of ingesting old-skool hop-forward beers: grapefruit up entrance, orange zest within the again finish, and Black Lips’ Let It Bloom offering the rating.
Extraordinary Taproom/Beer Garden Feature: Vacancy is an unflashy taproom. But among the BEST breweries on the planet are unassuming holes-in-the-wall rooted to random enclaves in Seattle and San Diego and Asheville. While South Austin’s the Yard is not any Ballard District, unwinding in Vacancy’s charmingly austere taproom has a contact of that hip, industrial, low-slung-hideaway vibe to it.
Significant 2022 Upgrade: Vacancy was regarded by Austin Monthly because the Best New Brewery of their Best of ATX Awards whereas we on the AC anointed this year-old sizzling spot Best Pandemic Project in our Best of Austin awards (if it couldn’t go to our Lord of the Rings fan fic podcast, then this was a fairly good selection, too).
Contribution to Austin’s Beer Scene: Vacancy continues to be in its infancy, however its little footprints are nonetheless palpable – specifically with occasions like Beyoncé’s Birthday Bash, a day dedicated to lengthy performs of Queen Bee’s discography every hour. But with beer.
Courtesy of Batch Craft Beer & Kolaches
22
| Batch Craft Beer & Kolaches
2022 Score: 70.5
AC Power Rankings Trend ▶ 14, 19
Best Core Beer: Sjöfn farmhouse strawberry and lavender saison, as hallmark as a beer can get on the oft-revolving tapwall, which boasts Batch Brewing’s excellent lineup of extremely experimental beer.
Favorite Seasonal or Limited Run: Little Table desk beer, a dry, frivolously hopped saison with a mildly tart end that packing containers out all these BIG desk beers with its full-bodied taste.
Extraordinary Taproom/Beer Garden Feature: The shockingly already-5-years-old (what?!) Batch continues to nuzzle into their East Austin digs by upgrading their yard with a brand new Mexican meals truck that bumps kolache dough tortas and picadillo burritos in addition to an up to date turfed space with which to sequester the littles whereas mother and pop get their completely happy hour on in peace.
Significant 2022 Upgrade: Batch is the bronze holder of the 2022 Texas Craft Brewers Cup for Strong Hoppy Beer with their Double Stardust double hazy IPA, a hefty springboard swan dive right into a pool of two of the tastiest flavoring hops round: Galaxy and Nelson.
Contribution to Austin’s Beer Scene: Kolaches and occasional each sound like placeholders for what folks actually need to expertise at Batch: farmhouse saisons and chewy hazy IPAs, however dammit if all three of these important commodities aren’t top-shelf in their very own proper. A bakery-first cafe that slays tough beer types in a comfy, city beer backyard? The choices are limitless!
Courtesy of Family Business
21 | Family Business
2022 Score: 71
AC Power Rankings Trend ▶ NR, NR, 16, 17, 22
Best Core Beer: 2019 GABF silver medalist, Golden Age German-style Pilsner; a real grill-time traditional that can suck all of the momentum out of you desirous to do anything however poke at a hearth whereas sitting on a $5 plastic chair.
Favorite Seasonal or Limited Run: Brieux Famille Wheat with contemporary lime zest and pink Himalayan sea salt, a gose-style flyweight puncher that’s optimum for Austin’s 425%-humidity days.
Extraordinary Taproom/Beer Garden Feature: Family Business Beer Co.’s on-line aesthetic is a bespoke Americana-style banjo man enjoying a flawless set of their elegant taproom. It’s a luxurious advert for individuals who subscribe to $35 magazines. And but, taproom visits specific a assured down-home informality; sure, a good looking taproom, however one which opens as much as a 15-acre beer drinkin’ ranch with picnic tables, horseshoes, and Hill Country of us ease.
Significant 2022 Upgrade: With effectively over 100 accounts, an FBBC fan can discover their beer in packages and on draft in lots of extra locations than even only one yr in the past (and as far north as Georgetown!). The brewery has additionally built-in extra selection into their canned choices past simply the flagships.
Contribution to Austin’s Beer Scene: Head brewer Nate Seale is an area beermaking legend and 99.9% of the rationale that driving to Dripping Springs for his ales and lagers is well worth the experience. Everyone, on three: Keep Nate Working!
Courtesy of Central District Brewing
20
| Central District Brewing
2022 Score: 71.5
AC Power Rankings Trend ▶ 19, NR, NR
Best Core Beer: Wit-tington Belgo ale, the 2019 GABF gold medalist for American-Belgo-style ale, making it the highest-decorated witbier in a metropolis whose craft beer origins famously started with a witbier.
Favorite Seasonal or Limited Run: CDB excels at kettle sours, so select properly when offered with seasonal choices. Our present favourite: Soul’s Companion, CDB’s apricot and lemon fruited bitter.
Extraordinary Taproom/Beer Garden Feature: One would assume that holding down the town’s solely Downtown taproom could be glory on a silver platter, what with all of the thirsty drunks on Dirty Sixth and the vacationers pouring in from the Marriott, however the quantity of guts it took to hem themselves right into a domestically inaccessible district is very large. It’s a stunning taproom with glorious road views and a SiriusXMU soundtrack that tracks with the Austin vibe.
Significant 2022 Upgrade: CDB had their walk-up music performed twice on the Texas Craft Brewers Cup competitors, as soon as for gold within the Kölsch class for Kayaker’s Kölsch and once more for bronze within the Belgian Abbey Ales class for the Saint of Lost Causes.
Contribution to Austin’s Beer Scene: It’s a Downtown brewery the place few others have dared: Waterloo, Lovejoy’s, Bitter End, Copper Tank, and, effectively, the place are they now? Thanks for holding down the fort, Central District.
Courtesy of Hopsquad
19
| Hopsquad
2022 Score: 72
AC Power Rankings Trend ▶ 19, 15
Best Core Beer: We may shotgun Hopsquad’s Italian Pilsner, Architetto Rufinni, out of a grimy Styrofoam cup and we’d nonetheless resolutely name it top-of-the-line beers in Austin.
Favorite Seasonal or Limited Run: Matador Watermelon Mint, Hopsquad’s summer-flavored fruit ale that clocks in at an outlandish 7.4%. How on the planet? Five stars, would chug once more.
Extraordinary Taproom/Beer Garden Feature: Anybody with a pulse is aware of that that is the de facto spot for the most effective pre-game vibes in all of Austin forward of a footy match. Plus, they present early morning/afternoon matches being performed in far-off lands which have dragons and different cool shit when nobody right here in Austin will. It’s a giant area of interest this brewery fills.
Significant 2022 Upgrade: They promote corn canine out of the meals truck now however you gotta know the key handshake. OK, there’s no secret handshake, simply don’t eat ’em all earlier than we smash a half-dozen down our personal gullets, ’kay?
Contribution to Austin’s Beer Scene: Without query, Hopsquad brings a aptitude to the Austin beer scene that the majority different breweries lack (and may suppose to emulate). Instead of babies throwing rocks within the parking zone, it is footballistas throwing chisme about FC Frisco.
Courtesy of Frontyard Brewing
18
| Frontyard
2022 Score: 74.25
AC Power Rankings Trend ▶ NEW ENTRY
Best Core Beer: We’ll go together with Frontyard’s Honey Blonde ale, which is available in at a really respectable 5.7% ABV and makes use of Round Rock honey to impart the sensation of magnificence. It’s why BIG FAST FOOD makes use of it in all their dipping sauces. And frankly, anybody making a honey blonde related within the yr 2022 is doing one thing proper.
Favorite Seasonal or Limited Run: Limited within the sense that it’s undeniably additional, and solely casually referenced by the brewery, Frontyard’s do-it-yourself root beer hits like whipped cream pie to the soul. An ice-cold, do-it-yourself root beer is an absolute luxurious that should at all times be taken benefit of and the rationale why people made it to the highest of the meals chain.
Extraordinary Taproom/Beer Garden Feature: Frontyard is unapologetically family-friendly and but, I really feel like I gotta drop ’em a 50 spot only for letting my youngsters fiddle on their good turf and entertaining them for the day. But who would even need to watch their little punks when there’s a billion-dollar view to gawk at over a pint of finely tuned beer that Frontyard has engineered to pair with their outside atmosphere?
Significant 2022 Upgrade: Frontyard was voted by the readers of Austin Monthly as Best Brewery in Austin over beer titans St. Elmo and Meanwhile Brewing. Could or not it’s the basis beer? Definitely.
Contribution to Austin’s Beer Scene: Frontyard is toilet-training the subsequent technology of beer snobs, making the Austin beer scene sustainable for at the least the subsequent 80 years, or till Elon burns us all up with SpaceX afterburner launching from a ship on Lake Travis.
Courtesy of the Brewtorium
17
| The Brewtorium
2022 Score: 74.5
AC Power Rankings Trend ▶ NR, 15, 16, 14
Best Core Beer: Electric Lederhosen Vienna lager; a clean-finishing, biscuity highlight on this brewery’s magnificent lager program.
Favorite Seasonal or Limited Run: There’re all types of brews that make rare cameos all year long, just like the brewery’s spectacular rotation of hazy IPAs. But so far as a real limited-run seasonal beer, Makin’ Love at Midnight Piña Colada IPA is the Brewtorium’s reply to DOES PINEAPPLE BELONG IN BEER? Taste the proof!
Extraordinary Taproom/Beer Garden Feature: We can’t get sufficient of the Brewtorium’s day by day pageant vibe: from its wide-open Munich-style bierhalle with a just lately put in projection display to showcase native footy, to its breezy biergarten with an intermittent commuter prepare wheezing by. So Euro!
Significant 2022 Upgrade: Year by yr, the Brewtorium’s beer program – and particularly, its beer high quality – continues to enhance and evolve like a university radio band that ultimately finds itself atop the Billboard charts. The Brewtorium is the R.E.M. of Austin beer.
Contribution to Austin’s Beer Scene: There are every kind of meals variations at Austin-area breweries, however few seize the spirit of their beer packages in addition to the menu on the Brewtorium. More breweries ought to emphasize their meals choices as considerably as this one, a typical follow in different main beer cities that has in some way eluded Austin’s small beer tradition.
Courtesy of Lazarus Brewing Co.
16
| Lazarus
2022 Score: 75.75
AC Power Rankings Trend ▶ 20
Best Core Beer: In a blistering-hot Pilsner market like Austin, Lazarus’ crisp and refreshing German-style Prodigal Pils stands out as one of many best variations in a Pilsner-mad city.
Favorite Seasonal or Limited Run: One of Lazarus’ low-key triumphs is their foeder beers. One particularly – Great Northern Flanders-style brown ale – radiates brighter than the remainder; a slowly matured Brett beer with notes of cedar and cherry and hints of cocoa.
Extraordinary Taproom/Beer Garden Feature: Lazarus’ elite-tier taproom beer backyard is one which engages the road lifetime of considered one of Austin’s most iconic bar districts, whereas additionally serving because the mid-neighborhood respite from the surplus of East Sixth’s indie-sleaze mischief. Additionally, the kitchen continues to be sending out marvelous tacos that pair finely with Lazarus’ dozen beer choices.
Significant 2022 Upgrade: Lazarus is winner of a 2022 World Beer Cup gold medal and a 2022 GABF gold medal for his or her Black Pearl rice lager within the class of Herb and Spice Beer in addition to bronze medalists within the Chocolate & Coffee Beer class on the 2022 Texas Craft Brewers Cup with Jolted Phoenix. Lazarus continues making a gentle behavior of profitable aggressive awards for his or her brews.
Contribution to Austin’s Beer Scene: It might be stated that Lazarus’ geographical stationing has led to a brand new technology of curious craft beer lovers, given the demographics of its neighborhood. And whereas we’re not gonna legislate an excessive amount of about what sort of individual is sweet for craft beer, I believe many would agree that at current, younger’uns are deigning to drink different alcoholic bevs like laborious seltzers and ranch waters. Hooking them to city brewery tradition is a intelligent ploy by Lazarus and fairly vital to the sustainability of craft beer in Austin. And actually, one thing should be going proper for Lazarus, because the very turquoise Lazarus 2 is rising shortly on Airport Boulevard within the North Loop space.
Courtesy of Roughhouse Brewing
15
| Roughhouse Brewing
2022 Score: 76
AC Power Rankings Trend ▶ NEW ENTRY
Best Core Beer: Rare Merit is Roughhouse’s delicate, 3.3%, mixed-culture desk beer that’s smooth and lemony in taste, vibrant in coloration, and sophisticated in character, like if Sigur Rós’ ( ) album was an obscenely drinkable saison.
Favorite Seasonal or Limited Run: When we’re driving with Roughhouse, we’re probably gonna keep on with their playful, yeast-driven farmhouse ales, and River Guardian witbier with strawberries and lemon zest is a sprightly little summertime bop.
Extraordinary Taproom/Beer Garden Feature: This 3-year-old POWER RANKINGS debutante is an underappreciated Hill Country firecracker that was elected Best New Brewery by the readers of Austin Monthly approach again within the Golden Age of 2020 when folks have been nonetheless considering proper. Their beer backyard is rustic and charming and gives – dare I say? – the BEST brewery pretzel within the area. That sort of declaration comes with the phobia of complete college buses of grain-fiending youngsters popping out to the taproom subsequent weekend.
Significant 2022 Upgrade: It’s straightforward to note that Roughhouse’s presence has been amplified on the beer cabinets round Austin. One can frequently discover packaged cans of Roughhouse Pilsner or Hill Country Light or Pasternak Pils out within the wild, which wasn’t straightforward in 2021. We like comfort as a lot as we like good beer. Roughhouse is Texas Craft Brewers Cup 2022 gold medalist within the Belgian & Farmhouse Ales class for Treeform farmhouse IPA, whereas additionally bringing house silver to San Marcos within the Brett & Mixed Culture class with Berried, a spontaneously fermented ale with raspberries.
Contribution to Austin’s Beer Scene: If Jesterworld feels a bit daunting for a Sunday Funday four-hour tour with the kiddos, then the 50-acre Roughhouse Brewery is your two-hour diet-Jester various. Many of the ideas are the identical: high-quality, aquifer-fed, proprietary mixed-culture beers fermented in oak foeders, a terrific meals menu, and loads of wide-open area for the runts to mobilize.
Courtesy of Southern Heights Brewing Co.
14
| Southern Heights
2022 Score: 76.5
AC Power Rankings Trend ▶ 9, 9, 7,
9, 11
Best Core Beer: Southern Heights is a rotational brewery. This signifies that they don’t essentially have a “core 4” perennial mainstay lineup as many different breweries are likely to have. But this additionally means they’ve a bullpen constructed just like the goddamned Astros. Coming off the bench for a giant ole loopin’ face sploosher is the semiregular hazy IPA Tahitian Dreamin’ to place in a shift of Citra, Centennial, and Simcoe fastballs.
Favorite Seasonal or Limited Run: Curiously, it’s NOT a hazy IPA, which is wild coming from one of many best possible within the biz at doing them. Nope. It’s their stout, Hoodie Weather, a giant ol’ Russian imperial bastard brewed with vanilla beans from Revolution Spirits, darkish cocoa powder from TCHO Chocolate, and occasional from Ruta Maya. It’s the primary actual signal of winter’s smooth launch in Austin.
Extraordinary Taproom/Beer Garden Feature: A workhorse brewhouse calls for a workhorselike taproom, and that is what the heart of Southern Heights ship. Drinkers are set amongst the brewery’s personal self-portrait of tanks and kettles and hoses and pipes. Combined with all of the pleasant New England-style IPAs on faucet, one would really feel proper at house with all that Boston smugness, boring folks round you by speaking about Bill Belichick.
Significant 2022 Upgrade: What’s new on the most minimalist brewery with the tiniest social media footprint on the town? [*Boston accent*] Ah don’ FACKIN know. Pretzels? It’s the consistency that performs right here.
Contribution to Austin’s Beer Scene: Southern Heights is your favourite brewer’s favourite brewery the way in which a Mountain Goats LP finds its approach into your favourite artist’s tour bus. An inspiration. Southern Heights may drop a complete new lineup in a single weekend. They may do a beer collab with a cartoon ghost. They may go all the way down to Houston to select up some Aerosmith tickets. You simply by no means know.
Courtesy of Hi Sign Brewing
13
| Hi Sign
2022 Score: 77
AC Power Rankings Trend ▶ NR, 15, 13, 15, 17
Best Core Beer: Hi Sign’s Hi-C double dry hopped hazy IPA with its juicy, tropical taste profile is an Austin beer heartthrob. But it’s Travis to Electric Jellyfish’s Coldplay, and Hi-C simply sort of bought buried below EJ’s momentum. One may marvel: If Hi Sign had include higher monetary backing and a number of storefronts, would followers be paying $18 per pint of Hi-C simply to splash one another with it at Austin FC matches? Maybe.
Favorite Seasonal or Limited Run: Super Astronaut double IPA is a 9.5%, dank, however astonishingly drinkable traditional West-Coaster that was twice named runner-up within the Alpha King Challenge, the zenith competitors to crown the most effective IPA in America.
Extraordinary Taproom/Beer Garden Feature: It’s been a heck of a victory lap for Hi Sign, who was as soon as presumed lifeless and buried below infinite Bastrop Highway building. Not solely did Hi Sign come up from the clay with a splendid, shiny new brewery on the cool a part of the Eastside, however it introduced with a brand-new cultural id as effectively. Hi Sign rebranded as considered one of Austin’s solely neighborhood-embedded breweries, straight partaking road life with approachable beer types in an enthralling taproom.
Significant 2022 Upgrade: Hi Sign rechristened with a fantastic brand and up to date can artwork that corresponds faithfully to a extra dapper picture from the beer firm as soon as they left the rusted-out stockroom beneath ABIA’s flight path. The taproom inside and finish-outs are spectacular, together with a spectacular wallpaper alternative that gives 90 seconds of senseless leisure when it’s wanted most.
Contribution to Austin’s Beer Scene: Hi Sign proved that unyielding dedication can save a brewery regardless of overwhelming odds. But additionally, transferring into a really attractive constructing and neighborhood is at all times the proper transfer within the first place.
Courtesy of the ABGB
12
| The ABGB
2022 Score: 79
AC Power Rankings Trend ▶ 8, 1, 1, 5,
6, 7
Best Core Beer: Hell Yes Helles, ABGB’s double GABF-medaling (gold 2018, bronze 2016) Bavarian-style lager that’s delicate but elegant.
Favorite Seasonal or Limited Run: Velvet Revolution Pils, ABGB’s 2017 GABF gold medal-winning Bohemian Pilsner that’s strikingly blond, vibrant, and spicy with an assertive upfront, hoppy bitterness.
Extraordinary Taproom/Beer Garden Feature: For the outdated taproom purists who get pleasure from shuttle-launch-decibels of ambient beer man dialog bouncing off the cinder block partitions whereas squeezing your spherical of pints onto decaying wine barrels, ABGB modified the taproom recreation. ABGB’s beer corridor is not any much less a spot to booze than it’s a place to RAWK, paying nearly day by day homage to Austin’s infatuation with the auditory arts by internet hosting (principally) native acts. They additionally make a damned good white clam pie.
Significant 2022 Upgrade: It’s been 9 years since ABGB set roots in South Austin with intentions to blow everybody’s hair again with pitch-perfect lagers. They’ve completed precisely this for almost a decade with out indicators of letting up. In 2022, Craft Beer & Brewing journal named the Industry Pils, the 2022 and 2016 GABF gold medal winner for German Pilsner (are you sensing a development right here?), as one of many 20 finest beers in all the nation.
Contribution to Austin’s Beer Scene: ABGB raised the requirements for what Austin breweries may obtain, not solely as some of the embellished breweries within the Austin space, however in the way it approaches consistency and high quality in its beer. The ABGB is full-sprint, chin-to-chest working the Pilsner recreation in Texas.
Courtesy of Holdout Brewing
11 | Hold Out
2022 Score: 83.5
AC Power Rankings Trend ▶ 10, 9
Best Core Beer: All that stated, Ol’ Gil Euro Pils is the most effective present Pilsner within the Austin space. No notes.
Favorite Seasonal or Limited Run: Anyone who calls themselves knowledgeable beer researcher, as we do on the AC, is aware of that discovering a low-ABV pearl in a veritable ocean of high-ABV beers is taken into account a profitable hunt. Hold Out’s darkish delicate ale Mildly Impressed (a misnomer, to make certain), is a uniquely British type that’s made with sure-handed confidence and levies a mere 3.8% tax in your sobriety.
Extraordinary Taproom/Beer Garden Feature: The novelty of city beer gardens won’t ever put on off, particularly one as festive as Hold Out’s, with its exposed-beam exterior patio adjoining its Quonset hut inside taproom that bustles alongside its equally fervent sister cafe, Better Half. The backdrop of Austin’s western fringe of Downtown looms curiously with an air-punch of heavy rail that screams previous beer-lovin’ diners at the least as soon as per service, giving all the scene a way of energetic attraction.
Significant 2022 Upgrade: A yr after taking house the AC’s Best New Brewery award, Hold Out continues to dazzle by being named considered one of Hop Culture journal’s Best 12 Breweries of 2021. That appears fairly good. The brewery additionally nicked a gold for his or her hazy IPA Leaf Peeper at this yr’s Texas Craft Brewers Cup.
Contribution to Austin’s Beer Scene: We’ve stated it many instances earlier than, however Hold Out’s complete front- and back-of-house crew is topflight: from the brewers to the service staff to the social media specialists to the homeowners. Who else however Hold Out may execute a takeaway beer flight consisting of 8-ounce cans of hazy IPA, double IPA, desk beer, and pastry porter? No one else, we are saying!
Courtesy of Vista Brewing
10
| Vista
2022 Score: 84
AC Power Rankings Trend ▶ 11, 12, 12, 13
Best Core Beer: Dark Skies black Pilsner, Vista’s roasty, complicated, but light-bodied and low-ABV dusky lager that options traits of espresso and toasted marshmallow. It’s tenting in a can.
Favorite Seasonal or Limited Run: Vista’s extraordinary barrel program is a fearless outfit constructed on freshly emptied wine barrels sourced from neighboring wineries within the Hill Country. The standout? Laissez Faire, Vista’s barely acidic, pinkish ale aged 12 months with Brettanomyces yeast that erupts with huge notes of pink grape, berries, and apple.
Extraordinary Taproom/Beer Garden Feature: Aside from the architectural glass-and-concrete marvel that’s the Vista taproom, the brewery includes a sprawling, 21-acre rustic beer backyard that makes its company seem like lovely props in a Howler Brothers advert.
Significant 2022 Upgrade: Vista continues to wash up the Good Food Foundation Awards within the Beer class, taking house a pair in 2022 for Stonewall lambic-style ale with Texas peaches and the above-mentioned Dark Skies.
Contribution to Austin’s Beer Scene: As a principally outside brewery, Vista sells the high-fiving glee that comes with day ingesting outdoors within the woodsy sunshine. Vista’s Outside the City Limits is a fall pageant that focuses on native music between two levels, hyperlocal meals choices, and contemporary Vista beer.
Courtesy of Austin Beerworks
9 | Austin Beerworks
2022 Score: 86
AC Power Rankings Trend ▶ 3,
5,
4,
1,
3,
4
Best Core Beer: Life in accordance with Austin Beerworks is a Pearl Snap German-style Pils in each glass and a taco in each pocket. That’s why ages in the past (2015), a panel of beer knowers convened by the Chronicle emphatically dubbed Pearl Snap as “The Official Beer of Austin.” And it nonetheless applies.
Favorite Seasonal or Limited Run: Given the truth that ABW runs the city’s finest seasonals program with slappers just like the Super Awesome helles, Einhorn tart wheat beers, and the revered Sputnik Russian imperial espresso oatmeal stout, choosing only one was nearly unfeasible. Until we remembered that they relegated 2013 GABF gold medalist and liquid junk meals medley Black Thunder schwarzbier to an October-only launch.
Extraordinary Taproom/Beer Garden Feature: ABW is solely a dependable go-to taproom. It’s simply accessible; parking is ample; Can-tina, ABW’s in-house meals truck, gives elevated road meat; there’s a playspace to disregard your personal youngsters; and there’s at all times someplace to sit down.
Significant 2022 Upgrade: An Austin Chronicle Best of Austin: Restaurants Best Brewery nominee, ABW upped its recreation by placing Fire Eagle IPA and the beloved Pearl Snap into 16-ounce tallboys. They additionally snagged a bronze on the 2022 Texas Craft Brewers Cup competitors within the Specialty Hoppy beer class for Bloodwork Orange IPA, in addition to saved Hops & Grain’s Zoe from the cutting-room flooring.
Contribution to Austin’s Beer Scene: The premiums paid into Austin’s brewing endowments by ABW are numerous, from being the primary can-friendly brewery within the area, to popularizing that packaging medium to the purpose of standardization, to partaking the group as its main high quality management specialists.
Courtesy of Oddwood Brewing
8
| Oddwood
2022 Score: 87
AC Power Rankings Trend ▶ 10, 10,
8, 8
Best Core Beer: Oddwood doesn’t abide by the traditional guidelines, man. This bustling 10-barrel brewhouse retains its beer board contemporary with frequent rotational beers and defies frequent techniques like mainstays. They by no means miss on their hazy IPAs like Ethics & Standards and Cold Night for Alligators.
Favorite Seasonal or Limited Run: Swinging towards the opposite aspect of the pendulum, Oddwood is severely underrated as a beer depot. Pro Tip American Pilsner and Pool Dad Pils are among the many finest on the town.
Extraordinary Taproom/Beer Garden Feature: In this period of Nineteen Eighties nostalgia, Oddwood passes the time warp vibe examine with retro gaming consoles hooked into cathode-ray tube TVs, tacky pepperoni pies, and ice-cold draft beer.
Significant 2022 Upgrade: This yr Oddwood snagged the silver for Her Black Wings schwarzbier within the Session and Standard German & Czech Lagers class on the Texas Craft Brewers Cup. A morsel of a sentence for a beer with a terrific chunk.
Contribution to Austin’s Beer Scene: Oddwood is the progeny of Adelbert’s Brewery, proving that the scholar can turn out to be the grasp and that goals of opening a small city brewery feeder program in an deserted disco in the course of a nightlife desert usually are not unfounded.
Photo by Zeke Barbaro
7 | St. Elmo
2022 Score: 90
AC Power Rankings Trend ▶ 7,
7, 5, 4,
4, 3
Best Core Beer: We’re nonetheless workshopping our molten-lava take about Carl Kölsch being Austin’s finest beer, however we expect we’ll must attempt a dozen extra sixers of it on the footgolf course to be prepared to present that assertion to our legal professionals.
Favorite Seasonal or Limited Run: Sabro hops are having their second within the solar proper now, so we propose searching for out whichever beers you may which are constructed from this complicated little inexperienced sprout. St. Elmo’s juicy, tropical Canopy double dry hopped IPA is Austin’s finest instance of its utilization.
Extraordinary Taproom/Beer Garden Feature: Everything about St. Elmo’s area is relentlessly beguiling, quirky, and balanced, from individualized beer marquees on the tapwall to the brewery’s colourful label artwork.
Significant 2022 Upgrade: Penelope ardour fruit bitter is the bronze medalist of 2022’s North American Brewers Association (NABA) International Beer Awards and co-headlines what has turn out to be considered one of Austin’s most inconspicuous tart beer packages together with Roxanne pink guava bitter and Rosa raspberry bitter. Great approach to batten down the chile-seasoned rooster from the Spicy Boys Fried Chicken truck out again.
Contribution to Austin’s Beer Scene: This closely embellished South Austin brewery continues to impress beer drinkers with its work fee, delivering a number of types to its tapwall at any given time, then replenishing these with solely totally different batches of ice-cold baddies.
Photo by Jana Birchum
6 | Meanwhile
2022 Score: 91.75
AC Power Rankings Trend ▶ 13, 12
Best Core Beer: 2022 GABF silver medalist Secret Beach, Meanwhile’s San Diego-style IPA, dispenses wealthy knowledge on the drastically underrepresented West Coast IPA scene. We respect Meanwhile for calibrating Austin’s New England juice nukes with some conventional California dank.
Favorite Seasonal or Limited Run: For an IPA-leaning brewery, Meanwhile places out some savage lagers. One that caught our consideration this yr was its Czech Pilsner It’s Not Even That Far, which tastes like sliding down an ice shelf and right into a scrumptious glacier. This beer slid right into a bronze on the 2022 NABA International Beer Awards for Bohemian-Style Pilsner.
Extraordinary Taproom/Beer Garden Feature: Somehow, Meanwhile made ingesting in an industrial park really feel like tenting at a Kampground of America. We get pleasure from all 4 acres of its leafy yard, cedar playscapes, local-act-sized stage, espresso bar, stylish meals vans (together with Texas Monthly Top 50 BBQ spot Distant Relatives), and turfed soccer pitch.
Significant 2022 Upgrade: The accolades have been frequent for Meanwhile this yr, most significantly, Best Brewery co-champs within the AC’s Best of Austin: Restaurants ballot. The brewery additionally snagged gold for its namesake lager within the 2022 World Beer Cup and a second gold for Secret Beach on the Texas Craft Brewers Cup. The brewery additionally launched its three flagship brews to retail: Tender Robot, Secret Beach, and Meanwhile Pilsner, every in 16-ounce cans.
Contribution to Austin’s Beer Scene: Meanwhile’s lager recreation is robust and assured whereas additionally reintroducing well-calibrated West Coast IPAs again into our diets. The brewery’s consideration to the beer backyard expertise is second to none, particularly for households searching for an inclusive outlet.
Courtesy of Zilker Brewing Co.
5 | Zilker
2022 Score: 93
AC Power Rankings Trend ▶ NR, NR,
7, 6,
5, 5
Best Core Beer: Zilker’s wealthy and strong, Spokesman-infused Coffee Milk Stout is one which we drink by the quartful, and there doesn’t even need to be a February blizzard outdoors to match the comfy feeling it offers.
Favorite Seasonal or Limited Run: Wunderbier, Zilker’s toasty, biscuity tackle the official brew of Munich’s Oktoberfest has been scientifically confirmed to enhance our dance strikes, comedic timing, and cartoonish German accent by as much as 73%. Veddy goot bee-ah.
Extraordinary Taproom/Beer Garden Feature: Zilker bravely kicked off the city taproom motion in pre-bougie East Austin by dutifully integrating Sixth’s grimy-but-touristy road life with Zilker’s progressive patio IPAs, music, artwork, and spicy rooster utopia.
Significant 2022 Upgrade: Zilker scored 4 NABA International Beer Awards medals in June; one gold apiece for Camp Beer hazy pale ale and Icy Boys gentle lager, a silver for Heavenly Daze hazy IPA, and a bronze for Mad Citra hazy IPA.
Contribution to Austin’s Beer Scene: Zilker has set the native customary for retail workmanship in small breweries, canning one extremely artistic freshie per week, slapping an alluring label on the skin, and alighting a burning want to snag some weekend porch beers.
Courtesy of Real Ale
4 | Real Ale
2022 Score: 93.25
AC Power Rankings Trend ▶ 2, 6, 6, 9, 11, 10
Best Core Beer: Crispy Business will get the nod right here since Small Victory low-cal IPA went away this yr as a result of life is unfair. This crisp, clear helles admirably fills the discontinued beer hole as considered one of Real Ale’s patented, exactly on-style midweek brews nonetheless.
Favorite Seasonal or Limited Run: Coffee Porter is an unmissable autumn custom in Austin, like our 87-degree Halloweens and the Longhorns conceding their sixth lack of the season. The wealthy, strong, Katz coffee-infused darkish ale drinks like a chilly brew that may be loved any time of day, particularly throughout these 11am heartbreakers.
Extraordinary Taproom/Beer Garden Feature: Real Ale’s taproom captures the Hill Country spirit with grand overlooks of Blanco’s arboraceous terrain. There’s additionally a shady beer backyard with an abundance of picnic tables and the O.G. Threadgill’s stage.
Significant 2022 Upgrade: In February, Real Ale was named the 2022 Texas Craft Brewers Cup Large Brewery of the Year (800+ BBL group), whereas additionally bringing house three shiny medals: gold within the Strong German & Czech Lagers class with River Baptism; silver in Golden, Blonde, & Light Ales with Firemans #4; and silver within the Pilsner class with Hans’ Pils. The brewery additionally snagged a bronze for Real Heavy scotch ale on the World Beer Cup and a gold for Firemans #4 at GABF.
Contribution to Austin’s Beer Scene: Over 26 years, Real Ale has retired extra smash-hit beers (Phoenixx double ESB, Full Moon pale rye, Small Victory, and extra!) than some breweries have Untappd critiques. Still, the listing of its exemplar beers grows by the yr: Swifty pale ale, Firemans Light, Blakkr imperial black ale (and extra!) at the same time as different beers quietly stop.
Courtesy of Live Oak Brewing Co.
3
| Live Oak
2022 Score: 95
AC Power Rankings Trend ▶ 1, 3,
8, 8,
7,
6
Best Core Beer: Live Oak Hefeweizen is an all-timer; a top-tier portrait of a German weissbier that ought to grasp within the Gemäldegalerie. This domestically beloved hefe, broadly considered top-of-the-line hefeweizens on planet Earth, was ranked first in Paste journal’s listing of finest wheat/hefeweizen beers, rated the second-best hefeweizen worldwide by BeerAdvocate, and took (gasp!) bronze on the 2019 GABF. It is Austin’s most iconic beer.
Favorite Seasonal or Limited Run: We can’t financial institution on everybody having the identical Pilsner palate as we do, and everybody’s mileage will range on which of the 700 Pilsners Live Oak produces per yr is their favourite, however we’re going with Live Oak Gold, the brewery’s ever-crisp, vibrant, north German-style Pilsner that glitters like vibrant sunshine off a farm pond.
Extraordinary Taproom/Beer Garden Feature: Live Oak’s leafy beer backyard is the right setting for taking massive swallows of their globally well-known smoke beers, like Bamberger beechwood-smoked lager, Schwarzer Rauch, or the brewery-resurrected Lichtenhainer smoked bitter weissbier.
Significant 2022 Upgrade: Pilsners are so extremely regarded in Texas that Category 1 of the 2022 Texas Craft Brewers Cup competitors was devoted to the beer type. Coincidentally, the gold for that class went to Live Oak’s, uh, Gold. Pre-War Pils took a gold for itself on the Aro Rojo worldwide beer competitors in Mexico within the Pre-Prohibition Lager class, whereas the brewery’s flagship Czech-style Pilsner, Pilz, took silver within the 2022 New York International Beer Competition. That identical competitors declared Live Oak the Texas Pilsner Brewery of the Year.
Contribution to Austin’s Beer Scene: Live Oak is the relentless foremost character of Austin’s brewing lore. The 25-year-old brewery is considered the granddaddy of Austin lagermakers. Live Oak additionally preserves recipes misplaced to time and traits, like Grodziskie Polish wheat smoked beer.
Courtesy of Pinthouse Brewing
2
| Pinthouse Brewing
2022 Score: 96
AC Power Rankings Trend ▶ 5, 4, 3, 3, 2,
1
Best Core Beer: No Austinite alive has escaped the ever present hazy thunderbolt of Electric Jellyfish IPA, even at $18 per can at sure leisure venues. In 2021, Austinites ordered greater than 2 million pints of Jellyfish on draft and drank greater than half 1,000,000 cans.
Favorite Seasonal or Limited Run: While we’re principally IPA traditionalists who dabble in haziness solely again and again, we’d be promoting ourselves brief to not benefit from the full spectrum of PHP’s New England IPA platform. Our favourite this yr, Tiki Time IPA: a hazy, liquified pineapple upside-down cake in a pub glass.
Extraordinary Taproom/Beer Garden Feature: Last yr’s No. 1 AC power-ranked brewery due to the beer firm’s dedication to opening new storefronts and swiftly populating them with pinnacle-grade beer. While every PHP actually has its personal distinguishable tradition of IPA perverts alongside totally different outposts round city, we’re at present digging the Ben White retailer for its Miami Beach industrial softcore vibe.
Significant 2022 Upgrade: This yr, publications and beer guilds have been lining as much as hand PHP a wide range of medals, trophies, and large engraved platters to hold on the wall like an Upper Peninsula grandma. The most up-to-date is a silver medal on the 2022 Texas Craft Brewers Cup competitors for Strong German & Czech Lagers with Straight to Crackle and a GABF bronze for Training Bines. The brewery’s artistic/design staff additionally gained 4 awards within the Craft Beer Marketing Awards and Muse Creative Awards.
Contribution to Austin’s Beer Scene: PHP has Austinites wholeass sprinting to order full-bodied IPAs within the lifeless of summer season, so their imprint on the native beer scene has been considered one of reckless abandon. Delicious, hazy abandon.
Photo by Jana Birchum
1
| Jester King
2022 Score: 97
AC Power Rankings Trend ▶ 4, 2,
2, 2, 1, 2
Best Core Beer: Le Petit Prince, Jester King’s low-ABV flagship farmhouse desk beer that just lately discovered its approach into 16-ounce cans, however in our opinion ought to have gone straight to IV baggage since we are able to’t get it into our bloodstreams quick sufficient.
Favorite Seasonal or Limited Run: Sure, we may posit that it’s the restricted launch that put Jester King on each beergoof’s bucket listing – Atrial Rubicite raspberry bitter – with its excellent 100 score on BeerAdvocate and loopy messiahlike adoration. But it’s really Montmorency vs. Balaton, Jester King’s barrel-aged wild ale re-fermented with Michigan cherries, you line-standing suckas.
Extraordinary Taproom/Beer Garden Feature: Jesterworld’s 165-acre ranch is now not only a brewery [cue Jurassic Park theme music]: IT IS AN EXPERIENCE. This internationally esteemed monolith has made it a precedence to accommodate an extreme quantity of earthly cravings. World-class beer? Check. Gourmet kitchen and bakery? Check. Cedar log playground fort? Check. On-premise harvested cider and wine? Check, examine. Jester King is admittedly why all scholar debt needs to be forgiven.
Significant 2022 Upgrade: This yr, the brewery continued to brighten its area with a gold from the World Beer Cup and GABF bronze for Atrial Rubicite within the Belgian Fruit Beer class together with a bronze medal on the 2022 Texas Craft Brewers Cup competitors for its 2021 SPON Three Year Blend within the Brett & Mixed Culture class. Locally, readers of the AC voted JK because the co-Best Austin Brewery (together with Meanwhile), and who’re we to disagree with our sensible readers?
Contribution to Austin’s Beer Scene: JK’s influence on the Austin beer scene is completely unequalled. JK is a dominant analysis lab for combined tradition and spontaneous fermentation within the Texas Hill Country, culminating in an unmatched yield of the brewery’s semi-frequent SPON sequence, JK’s ode to genuine Belgian lambic and gueuze. They are additionally curators of top-of-the-line on-site beer festivals within the nation with meals/wine celebration Funk n’ Sour. Jester King, you’re our top-rated brewery!
