Tuesday, February 2, 2016

100 Best Beer Bars in Austin (2016) **UPDATED**


You've been asking for it. Patiently, you waited. Well, here it is—the OFFICIAL and ONLY 100 Best Beer Bars in Austin, updated and all new for 2016. In honor of Ted Cruz's big win in Iowa I was going to give this list a TEXAS sized bump up to 125, but that would be ridiculous. We must be discerning with our choices, especially when it comes to beer. Not everyone can get a trophy. This list is only the best—the best 100! Enjoy and leave a comment about how terrible my list is. But remember, this is official.

*UPDATE* Added Red Horn and Violet Crown Cinema. I was rightly called out on these two via Twitter—Red Horn especially.  And I should also mention, brewery taprooms were not included in this list. Maybe my next list will be 100 Best Brewery Taprooms in Austin. 

*UPDATE #2* Kraft Beer megachain World of Beer is closing up shop (saw it on Facebook, has to be real), after less than a year in biz. Go back to Florida! I'll replace it with a neighborhood fave. 

1 Draught House
2 Brew + Brew
3 Craft Pride
4 Billy's
5 ABGB
6 Pinthouse - Burnet
7 Crown & Anchor
8 Hopfields
9 The Wheel
10 Banger's
11 Black Star Co-op
12 Pinthouse Pizza - South Lamar
13 Jackalope
14 Dog and Duck Pub
15 Waller Creek Pub House
16 Dig Pub
17 Cuvée Coffee Bar
18 Workhorse
19 NXNW - North
20 Haymaker
21 Easy Tiger
22 Bender Bar
23 The Ginger Man
24 Black Sheep Lodge
25 Hi Hat
26 Whip In
27 NXNW - South
28 Stay Gold
29 Brass Tap
30 Flying Saucer - Triangle
31 World of Beer  Torchy's -Mueller
32 Red's Porch
33 Opal Divine's - Penn Field
34 Uncle Billy's
35 Sholz Garten
36 The Grackle
37 The Liberty
38 Nasty's
39 Gourmands Neighborhood Pub
40 Thunderbird - Koenig
41 Mean Eyed Cat
42 Whole Foods - Domain
43 HEB Mueller
44 Hopdoddy - Anderson
45 BB Rover's
46 Drink.Well.
47 Fado
48 Mister Tramps
49 Red Horn Coffee House & Brewing Co.
50 Little Woodrows - Burnet
51 Whole Foods - Downtown
52 Whole Foods - Arbor Trails
53 Contigo
54 Opal Divine's - Marina
55 Hopdoddy - S. Congress
56 Slab BBQ & Beer
57 The Silo on 7th
58 Eureka!
59 Zax Pints and Plates
60 Star Bar
61 Flix
62 Kung Fu Saloon
63 Little Woodrows - 6th Street
64 Radio Coffee + Beer
65 Gibson Bar
66 Frank
67 Draft Pick
68 School House Pub
69 Glass Half Full Taproom (Alamo Drafthouse - Lakeline)
70 Sherlock’s Baker Street Pub
71 Hole in the Wall
72 Buzz Mill
73 Via 313
74 Brew Exchange
75 Violet Crown Cinema
76 Porter Ale House
77 Swift's Attic
78 Quickie Pickie
79 Austin Ale House
80 Violet Crown Social Club
81 White Horse
82 Cherrywood Coffeehouse
83 Nomad Bar
84 Hideout Pub
85 Spider House
86 Thunderbird - Manor
87 Whole Foods - Bee Cave
88 Parlor
89 House Pizzeria
90 Javelina
91 MugShots
92 Handlebar
93 Westside Alehouse
94 Little Woodrows - Parmer Lane
95 WingzUp
96 The Goodnight
97 Punch Bowl Social
98 Taco Flats
99 Little Woodrows - Southpark
100 Cover 3

Thursday, November 19, 2015

Euro Beer #73: Wine/Beer at Dos Trece

Barcelona



Nightcap time. Always needed when tourin' around. We stopped in a joint by our apartment called Dos Trece. According to their website: "a neighborhood restaurant by day and hip cocktail bar by night." Ok. Also, apparently it is a Mexican restaurant. So authentic. Mexican restaurants are only second in number to Irish pubs on this Earth. Red wine for Sofia and a Moritz beer for me. Moritz is like the official Catalan beer. In 2007, when we were in Barcelona, they were still making their comeback after reopening their brewery in 2004.


Proof of life photo for Mom.



Bienvenidos, por favor noooooo perrrrritttos.


Carme 40

Thursday, November 12, 2015

Euro Beer #72: Wine and Shit Food (La Moños)

Barcelona



10/28/2007:Walking back to our place around lunch we were hungry, very hungry. When you are very hungry you are prone to making terrible dining choices. This was one of those times, but not really. La Moños is a crusty little place, packed with loco locals. Nothing fancy. For 6 euro you get full and a bottle of wine. We could not complain. The wine was not the highlight, but intoxicating.


We both got the paella to start. It was dry, but not altogether untasty.


My cod in orange sauce with potatoes and onions. Again, not bad. 


Sofia's merluza frita. Ok. She seemed to like it.


My ice cream. Whatever. I am so glad documented this. I bet you are drooling looking at this plastic cup of ice cream.


Sofia's arroz con leche. 

Actually we really did love this place. We were the only tourists, which is not always a good thing. I mean I never really looked at us as tourists. We were travelers. Yeah, travelers. At the end of our trip we flew out of Barcelona. We stopped in here again. But that comes later. We are just getting started in Spain (sorry Jason). And remember this was back in 2007. We've been all kinds of places since then, but whatever, I have photos of this trip. So we are gonna keep going until we are done. #throwbackthursday


Pre-iphone (me having an iphone) traveling.


So if you are ever in Barcelona and you want something local, cheap, crazy, sorta gross, but not really terrible:

La Moños
Carrer de l'Hospital, 93

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Euro Beer #71: Walk Around San Miguel Especiales

Barcelona


First full day in Barcelona. We walked/skated around mostly. And drank some brews as we went. Like Estrella Damm, San Miguel is ubiquitous in Barcelona (and throughout Spain).




Ramblas!





Austin Beer Guide Fall/Winter Issue Release Party



Beer List for Tomorrow's Austin Beer Guide Issue Release Party
Austin Beerworks
Wet Hop Heavy Machinery and Mondo Pale series (one malt bill, three yeast strains, three hop additions, three different beers)

Community Beer Company
Funnel Cake 
Mosiac IPA

Hops & Grain
WinoWeisse
Bourbon Barrel-Aged Porter Culture

Jester King Brewery
Estival Dichotomous

Oasis, Texas Brewing Company
Whiskey Shakes (a bourbon barrel-aged version of Early Morning Shakes - a coffee pale)

Pinthouse Pizza
Deep Water (ABG collaboration - an oily hop future IPA)
Deep Throat (cask conditioned and extra hopped of the later), and Wet Hop IPA (duh)

Zilker Brewing Company
Pale Brett Cask (brett, fresh herbs from the Zilker garden and primed with light Belgian candy syrup, aged for 3 months)

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Euro Beer #70: Estrella Damm

Barcelona


We arrived late to Barcelona. We dropped our bags at our apartment and went for beer and snack. Random stop in Plaça Reial (Plaza Real): Cerveceria Canarias. We slugged down some half litres of Estrella Damm.


Had some patatas alioli. Pretty tasty. 


The next morning I had a big ole gringo-ish breakfast at La Gloria Restaurant near cathedral on Via Laietana.


Thursday, October 1, 2015

Euro Beer #69: Jenlain Ambrée on the Train

I am gonna finish this shit if it kills me. So what if this trip happened 8 years ago. . . So what if we have been back to Europe since this trip. . . This is the project I started. And I am gonna finish. At least you don't have to stare at that Total Wine post anymore. I know you have been here since May, just waiting for me to blog. Well the summer is over. Here it is. #Waybackwednesday


Aix-en-Provence—>> Barcelona (again)



Just like Jester King. Not really. 


Then we had one of those amazing French meals you always read about. First course: grilled cheese from train cafe. 


And I guess this was the dessert course.

Are we in Spain yet?