5 Craft Breweries You Can’t Afford to Miss

4. Austin Beerworks

Photo: Marcy Stellfox

Hidden in a corner warehouse, smack-dab in the middle of an industrial park, is Austin Beerworks.  Walk through the door and find yourself inside the guts of a brewery. So much so that even at 8:30 on a weeknight, machinery is churning and mashing raw ingredients preparing them for their eventual resting place inside a can. “Mini kegs” or cans, the only type of packaging ABW uses, protect the authenticity of the beer’s taste. Plus, ABW points out, “you can’t take bottles tubing.”

ABW offers their “Core Four” beers year round in a variety of styles, including Pearl Snap German style Pils or Fire Eagle, an American India Pale Ale. In addition to the Core Four, ABW brews seasonal beers and some exclusives as well. Try the Bloodwork Orange, an IPA brewed with blood oranges. Rotating food trucks will keep your tummy full, and a dog-friendly outdoor space will give you a great excuse to stop by while out walking Rover.

5. Jester King Brewery

Photo: www.jesterkingbrewery.com

Set inside Ceres Park Ranch in far south Austin near Dripping Springs, Jester King Brewery is a true beer-lover’s playground. Offering farmhouse ales made from onsite well water, locally grown grains and native wild yeast, these beers are definitely unique to the Hill Country. Jeffrey Stuffings, Founder, said, “A farmhouse ale is a beer that’s distinctly tied to a particular location and time, impossible of being precisely reproduced because it’s a product of nature. I’d generally describe our beer as minerally, tart, funky, and dry. Our beer is unique in that each batch is its own individual creation specific to the land and air around our brewery, the ingredients in season, and the time of year the beer is fermented.”

The menu of choices is astounding; 58 beers are listed on the website alone. Stuffings said, “Making the same four or five beers over and over again isn’t what gets us excited about beer making! Rather, it’s fun to allow our beer to change and evolve with the passing seasons.” He recommends the Atrial Rubicite – a barrel-aged beer, re-fermented with raspberries, and the most popular of the Jester King brews.

This place is definitely a family affair so bring the kids and your pup. Take a walk around the ranch, play some corn hole, and don’t miss the opportunity to grab a pizza from Stanley’s Farmhouse Pizza.  Made from scratch and baked in wood fired ovens in an open air pavilion, these pizzas are created with the same love of farmhouse fresh goodness as the beer at Jester King.

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