In traditional Beerventurers fashion we boarded the earliest flight we could grab out of EWR (6am) and made our way to a wonderfully planned but soon to be poorly executed vacation. Due to our early arrival, no breweries had opened in the great state of Texas yet but there was a Waffle House; another staple in the Beerventurers travel itinerary. We highly recommend a well portioned breakfast of Waffle House because they’re consistently amazing.
The Passport
There is an Austin Beer Passport. We completely forgot to get one until we were four stops in. It’s $5 bucks, but I think the catch is you can only redeem items 1x a year during some sort of party(?). I’d look into it or just leave your passport with friends if you have any down there.
Live Oak Brewing Company
After devouring an All Star Special breakfast, we were ready for a day full of beer starting with Live Oak Brewing Company. The self-described “old-world style” brewery offers a taste of traditional beers in a world of lactose and puree. Our sampling of the old-world beers included their HefeWeizen, Roggenbier, Grodziskie and a doppelbock by the name of Kletus.
The Kletus (7.8%) and Grodziskie (3%) aren’t for the faint of heart as these two smoky brews are something that you can’t just pick up at any local brewery. Kletus was a bit too smoked for us, but the Grodziskie hit just right. Our baselines for a smokey doppel and Grodziskie aren’t well developed but w*e can tell you for certain that the Hefeweizen and Roggenbief were certainly true to style and delicious to boot.
Live Oak also boasts a flight of 4, 8oz pours. So don’t think you can skirt away with those puny 4oz tasting glasses. I guess everything is bigger in Texas.
Hi Sign Brewing
Just a couple miles down the road from Live Oak Brewing is Hi Sign Brewing. We have no idea what the history behind the name is, and frankly we forgot to ask before settling down on a flight and some lawn sports. Our flight consisted of four delicious pours; the Elberto Con Fuego, Venus, Violet the Blueberry Blonde and Mr. Scorpio.
The best in flight were the Violet the Blueberry Blonde and the El Berto Con Fuego. The Blonde is a fruit beer with fragrant and not so subtle blueberry notes that hit all the right spots required to be a refreshing Wednesday morning beer. The El Berto Con Fuego on the other hand was a mildly spiced chili pepper lager that should be enjoyed with a Texas sized steak.
After our flight we said Good-Bye Sign and headed off to our next brewery.
Disc Golf
We’re two breweries into our Texas travels and we’ve noticed a theme; the people of Texas love Disc Golf. Both Live Oak and Hi SIgn had disc golf holes (cages?) and Live Oak even has their own disc league! At Hi Sign we tried to play with the loaner discs and quickly learned that disc golf is not for us. So we stuck to corn hole for the remainder of the trip.
Links to the rest of our Texas Beerventure
Waffle House, Live Oak + Hi Sign Brewing
Meanwhile + Pinehouse Brewing – Watch out for Electric Jellyfish!
Central District, Zilker + Lazarus Brewing – Plus a Zoo!
Hill Country – Just West of Austin!
Pour Your Own Beer in Austin! – Also, other places too.
Top 5 Breweries of San Antonio!
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