Austin Brewery Tour
Benjamin Franklin once mused, “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy”, or at least countless wooden plaques in bars across this nation claim he said it. Whether the attribution is honest or not, Franklin succinctly expressed a sentiment that in Austin has been muttered in simpler terms more often these days as, “I love beer”. And this is not unrequited because in turn, beer loves Austin.
In the past decade Austin has begun to attract a new type of citizen: the craft brewer. In a city of people ready to embrace and obsess over the specialized, eclectic and “weird”, the attraction makes sense.
This is a city ripe to step up as the craft brewing Mecca of the South. With the perfect combination of foodies, several universities and colleges, a geek tech culture, loyal local support, a strong homebrewing community, smart beer bars and almost as many taps as there are glasses, it is little wonder why several brewers have chosen Austin to practice their craft.
Austin hosts a collective of three microbreweries and four brewpubs. By definition, a microbrewery is one that produces and distributes 15,000 barrels or less per year while brewpubs are restaurants that brew and serve house beers onsite. Traditionally, both microbreweries and brewpubs brew heavier, more flavorful ales than commercial breweries. They take pride in being small and having niche appeal. As a result their survival is directly dependant on their local market and for the seven in Austin, they have found the market to be very responsive.
The newest microbrewery on the Austin beer scene is (512) Brewing Co. They built the brewery in Spring of 2008 and began brewing and selling beer that next summer.“We just set up shop in Austin cause I love this city,” said Kevin Brand, owner and brewer at (512). “I love the fact that Austin’s really open to supporting local businesses and local products.”
Brand is just as open to supporting local products. He has modeled (512) in the style of traditional local breweries in the past that brewed with local ingredients and focused mainly on providing beer for the local community.
“I’m really into buying and using as many local ingredients as I can I know that’s well supported in Austin,” Brand said. “I thought it was a good idea to turn my passion into something I can share with the rest of the community.”
As the British rock band Radiohead blared throughout the brewery, Brand said, “One of the reasons I think Austin’s such a cool beer town is the music scene. It brings a lot of people out to the bars. It’s just an amazing city for beer… And the culture around here is really cool.” Currently, (512) brews four beers; an IPA, a Belgium Wit, a Pale Ale and their most recent, a Pecan Porter. Brand’s beers have been received well and have won coveted tap space at many Austin bars. Brand speculated that the brewery might produce near 750 barrels this first year and hopefully begin brewing seasonal offerings. (512) can only be found on draft right now.
Rob and Amy Cartwright’s Independence Brewing Company has been an established local brewery since 2004. Currently, Independence is the only Austin microbrewery to bottle their beer and has found great success and popularity with University of Texas fans from their “Oklahoma Suks” labeled beer. The Cartwrights are UT alumni and debuted the spirited beer in 2007 and quickly sold out of the limited supply. 2008 saw “Oklahoma Suks” cases in nearly every grocery store.
As for their other brews, Cartwright said, “We’re basically American takes on English style ales.” In addition to the Oklahoma Suks beer, Independence produces the Austin Amber (originally created for the theatre chain the Alamo Draft House), the Bootlegger Brown, the Pale Ale, the Freestyle wheat ale and the Jasperilla Old Ale, aptly named after their brewery dog Jasper.
At approximately 2,000 barrels a year and five year-round styles, Independence has found an audience for their brews. Much of this audience is due in part to their monthly tasting and tour events. These events involve live music, the greater part of their warehouse parking lot, hundreds of guests and between ten and twelve kegs. Cartwright noted that the last tasting event hosted several out of town guests in addition to the Austin beer fan community.
“Overtime, it’s a really big community thing,” she said. “I just think Austin has just really taken off as far as having really great beers in Texas.”
If the Austin brewery scene were a family, Chip McElroy and Brian Peters would be the grandparents. McElroy and Peters founded Live Oak Brewing Company in 1997 and with brewers from the late Copper Tank and Waterloo breweries, they lead the Austin breweries in barrels per year at approximately 3,000. Since its inception, Peters has moved on to brew for one of Austin’s newest brewpubs, Uncle Billy’s Brew & Que.
“We specialize in making lagers,” said Steve Anderson head brewer at Live Oak. “Which is quite different from most other breweries our size- most small breweries are going to make ales because you can move an ale in and out of a brewery real fast.”
Their flagship brew is the Live Oak Pilz, a pilsner crafted after the classic Bohemian style, but, as Anderson pointed out, what is remarkable about Live Oak is their Amber Lager, Big Bark. The brewers at Live Oak also partake in a classical style of brewing called decoction, which, to simplify it, involves separating the brewing beer and allowing it to brew at different temperatures and then recombining it.
Their ambitious techniques result in ambitious beers. To date, Live Oak produces six year round brews with various seasonal offerings to compliment their lineup. Along with the Pilz and the Big Bark, they offer the Pale Ale, the Hefe Weizen, the IPA, and the seasonal Oaktobrfest and Tree Hugger Barely Wine.
These ambitious beers are not thrown before swine. Live Oak has great appeal in Austin. “The beer culture in Austin is really quite strong,” said Anderson. “I assume the demographic of the university and the high tech industry being here, people seem to favor higher, louder beers and so we have a lot of high end bars that have more taps for great American and imported craft beers.”
(512), Independence and Live Oak do not only find favor from the beer enthusiasts in Austin, they are also very popular among their own crowd. “Austin’s a really good beer town and a great community. It’s really tight knit,” Anderson said. “We get together once a month and have beer. We trade hops and malts and yeast and whatnot and we help each other out. It’s a lot of fun.”
