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The June 2007 issue of Beer Advocate Magazine lists Austin as one of "Nine Great Beer Towns You Didn't Know Were Great Beer Towns" (pp. 22-29).
The article lists Austin among other underappreciated beer towns such as Eugene, Oregon and Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic. We're personally honored and flattered to have been grouped in with these other great beer places, but we're not sure Austin is so deserving. Their list of establishments that justify their claim to include Austin in the list is as follows:
Iron Works BBQ
Stubbs BBQ
Lovejoy's Taproom and Brewery
The Ginger Man
Beerland
Billy's on Burnet
The Elephant Room
Opal Divine's Freehouse
Zax Pints and Plates
Draught House Pub and Brewery
North By Northwest Restaruant and Brewery
Independence Brewing
Live Oak Brewing
What do you think Austin? Do we deserve to be considered a Great Beer Town? Do you think the list they published really puts our best beer-foot forward?
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I'd say no. There are very few places with a large amount of microbrew/import beer on tap. There are also few places that make their own beer. It's a decent beer town, but definitely not great. Contrast Austin with Portland, a truly great beer town, where there are hundreds of microbreweries in their own state to fill any and all restaurants/bars, not to mention the PNW region. In Texas there are Real, Independence and Live Oak and that's about it.
Rush, have you even been to Draught Horse or Lovejoys or Ginger Man?
Portland!!!
"Cesky Krumlov", not "Deske"
I believe it's cesky krumlov....
(which is an awesome little place, btw...)
Beerland, Stubbs and Iron Works? Do those places even sell more than Lone Star and Dos XX?? The list also neglects such places as G&S Lounge, which has a great beer selection. I just question who/how they did their research and is it even credible?
Hitting the more obvious spots like Stubbs and Opals is definitely lame, but the fact that they went out of their way to visit the Draft House gives these "reviewers" at least some shred of credibility. But this is a pretty retarded list in the first place, so I'm not sure why I'm actually commenting on its validity....
Word...Rush, visit some places before you say stuff like that...and if Potrland is so great, why don't you go there and leave us with our petty breweries(Which I think are amazing). AND Jessica I concur, but let's keep that place a little more secret...actually F it, Jimmy will kick out the losers!!! Hahaha
G & S Rules!!!!
Retarded why? It's way more interesting than all the "best places" lists that Austin always lands on.
BB Rovers - duh. Not a whole lot on tap (but enough to be interesting) as well as a mindboggling bottled selection. Beats the pants off of G&S, though G&S has better video games...
dan
What about the Alamo drafthouse? We have almost 100 beers you can drink while watching a movie at the LC location. Jimmy and his beers and his bar kind of blow. Wasn't that place cool some 15 years ago?
The best microbrewer in Texas is actually out of Houston - St. Arnold.
I think that Austin is becoming a better beer town, it's not a great beer town. Oregon has the jump on us with them having changed the laws in their state many years before. Texas only changed the micro brew laws about 12 years ago I believe. And what about C&A?! We need a flying saucer in this town.
While I do think that the quality level of Austin microbrews is quite good of late (especially the Independence Jasperilla I cracked last night, along with their Bootlegger and Live Oak's Big Bark Amber), they're certainly not at the Harpoon/Rogue/Victory/Allegash-type level yet.
And our brewpub/beer bar scene is awfully limited. IMO, only Ginger Man, Lovejoy's, Opal's, Draught House, and G&S qualify as 'beer' bars, and NXNW and Billy's Brew and Que are the only two brewpub/restaurants in town. Haven't been to Zax, but they probably do deserve to make the list due to their pairing theme.
Putting Iron Works, Stubb's, and Beerland on there makes no sense at all.
I just want to take a moment to lament the passing of Waterloo and Coppertank......
Thanks, carry on.
The Crown and Anchor has a pretty decent selection as well...
Waterloo... i remember taking my dad there when i was in high school.
I bought him a homebrew kit for Father's Day that same year and he's been brewing ever since.
(it was the first place i'd ever seen cheese on apple pie. Cheese. Still weird.)
I agree with Rush, Austin should not be considered a great beer town. Austin can't even come close to comparing to Boulder, Ft. Collins, or Portland. For example, try to find a place in Austin that has a porter on tap; Gingerman may be the only one and even that is hit or miss. I think the general problem lies more with the fact that Austin is in TX more than anything else, considering many of the good microbrews from other states won't even ship to TX because of the screwed up laws and TABC.
i think what austin lacks in micro breweries it makes up for in home breweries. if you want to do something right, do it yourself.
Scholtz didn't make their list of great beer establishments? Weird. Dog & Duck also has an awesome selection.
I don't think the number of microbrews should be the sole criterion. We only have three (counting Real Ale), but they're all first-rate. Yes, Austin is a great beer town, esp. in the fall.
elephant room
Woah! A little defensive, perhaps? Of course I've been to all the places you listed, Pappy. So, you're basing a "great" beer town on 3 places? How quaint. I love Austin and "needing more beer" isn't high on my list of improvements needed, but classifying Austin as a "great beer town" seems a little farfetched. Have you ever been to the Oregon Brewer's Festival? It's beer lover's nirvana. Oh, there I go again mentioning Portland. I guess because I don't blindly say Austin is the best at everything, I should pack up my shit and get outta here. Thanks for the tip Colonel Sheep.
All I did was ask you a question. Talk about defensive, huh?
Colonel Sheep...c'mon Rush...I know you Yankees can do better than that...
Rush,
I didn't say that everything in Austin is the best, but Austin has the best overall living experience. So have fun!!! Bon Voyage
And Paul you obviously only went there when/cause it was cool...I go to hang with Jimmy and drink.
Poser.
ummm, could I call you W? You either say only positive things or move. You know, Belgium has nice beer too. Ditto Germany. I like France too. Bring on some more clichés about that. No, really, please do.
CESKY Krumlov!
Come on! That can't be too hard to change! Fix it!