Texas Beer Nerd

Also, I’d like to take this opportunity to say that this blog will be going on hiatus after this entry. It will return at some indefinite time in the future but for now I’m going to be focusing on other things. Cheers! Slainte! Prosit! I’ll catch you on the flipside. 

One of my jobs ended recently (the business is moving out of Austin) so some co-workers and I had a least hurrah at St. Elmo Brewery. This is one of those Northeast-style IPAs. It’s so opaque it looks like orange juice. It’s very citrusy, has a mid-level hop bitterness. These type of beers are definitely having a moment these days. I like them well enough but I can’t say they beat a good West Coast-style IPA for me. 

I had never tried Magners before. I’ve been to plenty an Irish pub before but didn’t even really like cider until the last few years. I had this at B.D. Riley’s here in Austin. I’d say this is half sweet, half dry so that makes it semi dry I guess? It’s very apple-y and has an almost hoppy-like bite in the finish. Magners is better than I was expecting it to be. 

Tejano Dreams, from Austin’s Fairweather Cider Co., is a dry cider with green chili added. The pepper aroma is very forward but it’s actually subtler in the flavor and mixes with the apple flavor quite well. This cider has equal amounts of fruity and vegetal flavors with the slow burn kick of the green chili mostly in the finish. 

Aside from it being a fun wedding celebrating the union of two great people I liked the brewery itself a lot. Nothing I tried was bad. They know what they’re doing. The only problem is getting there from Austin is a bit too toll-roady.  

I did not expect to like this beer as much as I did. Grodziskie is a Polish-style smoked beer from Live Oak, Austin’s oldest continually run craft brewery. Live Oak does European-style beer with slight American tweaks very well. First of all, this beer is only 3 percent ABV but you really don’t miss the percentage points because everything else is so on point that it doesn’t really taste super light. There’s a big smoky flavor, almost like a Scotch Whisky from Islay or perhaps a good mezcal. The body is smooth and easy drinking of the lager variety with a kiss of hops in the finish that both contrasts and compliments the smokiness. I find myself being drawn to lighter beer lately, probably because the quality is vastly improving.   

It actually seems fairly rare that American breweries and European breweries team up to make a beer. I can certainly understand how the logistics of that might be complicated. Sierra Nevada, certainly a pioneer in the rise of American craft beer, and Weihenstephaner, a German brewer that claims to be the oldest continually run brewery, have collaborated on Braupakt, a hefeweissbier. The beer poured a huge foamy head (and perhaps choosing this pilsner glass wasn’t correct but whatever). This is a very balanced beer with notes of banana and black pepper as well as citrus and a hint of hoppy bitterness. This is the perfect combination between a traditional German beer and a more hop-forward American beer. 

Celis has brought back one of their original beers for a limited time only. I can’t say I’m a huge fan of this. I’d prefer it to be a lambic but this is more like a wheat beer with raspberry juice added. There’s a bit of a bready aftertaste but the raspberry does dominate. There’s a mineral water like quality too. It actually tastes good just not much like a beer. 

Punk In Drublic is a series of punk rock and craft beer festivals happening around the country. Unfortunately, the Austin stop on the tour got cancelled for reasons unknown to me. This beer though was created by Stone and the band NOFX in conjunction with the festival tour. This is actually exactly the kind of beer I like to drink at concerts. It’s light enough to not fill you up or get you drunk too quickly but also has some flavor and substance to it. Punk In Drublic definitely has a German characteristic in its malt profile (bready and yeasty with a hint of sweetness). The finish has a hoppy bitterness that lingers. I do wish that the balance was a little better though. 

Greek beer is hard to find in the United States, or at least my part of it. The only two I’ve had have been Mythos (pretty bland and kind of skunky) and Crazy Donkey IPA (a real craft beer from Santorini Brewing Company). So I was happy that I saw that my local Greek coffee shop Opa started carrying this. Fix Hellas claims to be the oldest beer brand in Greece, founded by Ioannis Fix in 1850 (shortly after Greece’s liberation from Turkish rule). Fix had been living in Bavaria before this time so his desire to make beer came from his experience living there. Fix Hellas is very much a Euro-lager but also very much a better one than Mythos. It has a semi-sweet, German-like malt backbone but a hint of hop bitterness to balance everything out. I also get a lot of minerals in the flavor. This latter characteristic is something I’ve noticed in all Greek alcoholic beverages I’ve had actually. Must be something in the water they use. Fix Hellas, for a light lager, is a pretty decent beer that I would have again in the right setting (like with some spanakopita).     

If you find yourself in Central Texas in March or April I do recommend heading out to McDade and checking out Sherwood Forest Faire. It’s one of the three main renaissance faires in Texas and my personal favorite (I’ve also worked there for several years). Last year I was all set to do a series of reviews of beer I had out there but I got too busy and now I’m not sure I have the pictures and the notes anymore. My drinking vessel of choice for this beer is this lovely mug made by Ravensmiths. You choose one of several unique natural wood pieces and then choose a handle and they put it together for you on the spot. Altstadt is a new brewery in Frederickburg, Texas that really embraces the German heritage of that town. They’re as old school and old world as you can get. This altbier is quite malty with a semi-sweet doughy quality. Hops and yeast show up in the finish. It’s a well-balanced beer. It’s not super exciting but is authentic and traditional. Just a good, solid European-style beer.  

Draught House is located in a Tudor-style building and might just be Austin’s oldest brewpub (it started sometime in the ‘70s). They’ve been off and on with brewing their own beer over the years but a recent expansion made sure that they will always have their own creations available as well as nearly a hundred other offerings. Blackpool is an English Summer Ale and actually does remind me of some beers I had in the UK, though with an American twist. This beer is bright and hoppy with an overall citrus hop flavor. The malt backbone is biscuity and bready, fitting the style well. 

Let me preface this by saying that I love ABGB. The place has a great atmosphere, they have great people working there and the food is good too. But for somebody who loves IPAs I’m just not into their mainstay one Superliner. They have a hoppy red ale though called Big Mama Red that’s fantastic. Whenever they come out with another IPA I do try it and so far none have really impressed me that much...until Tetherball Season. They call this a session beer but it’s ABV is still 6 percent. This is quite a citrusy India Pale Ale. It has a pilsner-like body with a smooth malt backbone and a well-balanced mid-level hop bitterness. This is a good hoppy beer for the rapidly approaching Texas summer. 

Recently my wife and I went on a short anniversary trip to Wimberley, Texas, a nice little Hill Country town. There’s a good restaurant there called the Leaning Pear that had a couple local beers on tap, one being Black Lab Porter from Middleton Brewery (which is located halfway between Wimberley and San Marcos). It’s on the lighter side as far as porters go. There’s a bit of roast and a bit of chocolate as well as a doughy malt character that reminds me more of a bock. It’s a decent beer but nothing all that spectacular. 

Fairweather Cider is also a fairly new Austin-based cidery. The can art here reminds me of Prairie Artisan Ales a lot. Common is a dry cider that has a hint of tartness but is indeed not very sweet. There’s an odd tinge of banana candy that’s kind of off-putting. The body is cloudy with visible sediment and is very fizzy. I think there needs to be a bit more apple flavor in this. Once again, I perhaps unfairly judge this next to Austin Eastciders as the pinnacle of what a Texas-made cider can be and Fairweather does have potential but there’s things they could tweak for sure. 

I’m not a huge cider guy but I have had good ones and there’s a handful of locally made ones now so I thought I’d try some new offerings. Moontower is named after the iconic Austin structures from the 1890s that were used to light the city. Anyway, this is fairly high in alcohol for a cider at 6.5 ABV. It’s called Semi-Dry and I’d say that’s an apt description. It’s sweet-tart with a crisp finish. It’s also yeasty and is a bit cloudy. There’s a bit of a lemon thing going on too. This is okay but I tend to judge all local ciders against Austin Eastciders, an original in the local fermented apples game. Maybe that’s not fair but it is what it is and Moontower isn’t quite as good.  

Roggenbier is a style of German rye beer. I’ve had one other before, at Red Horn up in Cedar Park (a suburb of Austin). This one is from Live Oak, Austin’s oldest brewery. They specialize in German-style beer and I have to say, do it better than many out there. This beer does have that distinctive doughy German malt. It is also yeasty and does have a nice rye spiciness to it. It’s even a little woody though I don’t think it’s barrel-aged. It could use a bit more hops to balance everything out though I think.