Keep Austin Beered

What’s the Lager Capital of the U.S. and why am I drinking a Mild there?

A crispy boi at Meanwhile Brewing in Austin, Texas

I went to Austin, Texas over the holidays for the first time in seven years, and a familiar refrain was repeated throughout my visit: “oh, wow, this city has changed a lot since you were last here.” What’s funny is the same line was repeated over and over when I visited in 2017, when it was also my first visit in seven years. Indeed, Austin has changed dramatically across my three visits, in terms of the vibe, the people, the density, and, obviously, the beer. Heck, on my first visit in 2010, brewery taprooms were still illegal in Texas and my one brewery stop in town on that trip was to a now-defunct brewpub.

But times change. And in the ensuing 14 years, the beer scene in Austin has changed drastically and grown from a tiny handful of brewpubs to a legitimate beer destination. One thing became clear on this trip as I visited new breweries and visited old favorites from my last trip to town: Austin, Texas is the Lager Capital of the United States.

Hear me out. The sheer number of lagers I saw on tap at breweries here was overwhelming. The types of breweries that in other parts of the country might have one or two lagers to accompany a long lineup of hop-forward ales have five or six lagers here. The craft lager lineup at beer bars here isn’t a throwaway. There are three reasons that I think this has happened:

1. This part of Texas has a lot of German and Czech heritage. The Texas Hill Country is the birthplace of a Texas-specific dialect of German. Kolaches, a widely-consumed speciality in this part of Texas, has its roots in Czech food culture. The largest brewery in the region, Spoetzl Brewery in Shiner, was founded by German and Czech immigrants in 1909, and is best known for its Bock. Lager is practically in the water here.

2. It gets hot in this part of Texas. Even when I was there on December 30th, the high temperature in Austin was 85°F/29°C. During the summer, the oppressive heat is practically begging you to drink lager in Austin

3. The recent culture of beer in Austin has been largely European-focused. Celis Brewery operated here in the early 1990s, founded by Belgian Pierre Celis, creator of Hoegaarden. Live Oak Brewing Company opened in 1997 here, brewing a wide variety of German-style beers. That spawned Austin Beer Garden Brewery in the 2010s, another American lager pioneer that was named GABF Brewpub of the Year over three consecutive years last decade. The modern tradition of beer in Austin has been tied to Europe, so it’s no wonder that Lager is Life here.

So, what say you? Any other U.S. cities you’d nominate for this title? Comment and make the case for another Lager Capital of the U.S. if you’ve got one!

My 2024 Brewery Visits, Wrapped

I’ve finished another year of beer travel with my annual infographic reviewing my year in beer. It looks a tad different from last year, with a lot more domestic travel this time around. The California count was weighed heavily by three trips to the West Coast during the year: one to San Diego County, where you can spit and hit a brewery (note that Vista, a North County suburb, ranked 4th among cities and towns); one to the San Gabriel Valley and Inland Empire, where I managed to visit fifteen breweries in a weekend; and one road trip to the Central Valley and Central Coast, where I hit my 3,500th brewery. New Jersey rose through the ranks this year on account of a long-awaited trip down to Cape May, an area rife with breweries. And in one fell swoop, I visited every brewery in Memphis, Tennessee last April.

My total count of new breweries for the year was the lowest it’s been in a non-Covid year since 2017, when I visited 336. Yes, I’m slowing down a bit, for the sake of both moderation and a desire to experience more non-beer activities in my travels. Will this slowdown continue? I guess we’ll have to see, but it will be entirely of my choosing, not the beer industry’s. Even with the downturn in the brewery economy and the slew of closures over the past couple years, I still haven’t visited even a quarter of the currently-operating breweries in the U.S.

Anyway, if you’re inspired to take a beer trip of your own in the coming year, I share some good tips along with fellow beer traveler Franz Hofer in this week’s episode of the All About Beer Podcast. I hope you enjoy listening!

Beer Events of Note This Week

• Queens: Beer and Cheese Pairing with Stay Green at the Bier & Cheese Collective, Friday 1/10 at 6pm

• Manhattan: Pink Boots Society Career Panel at New York Beer Dispensary, Thursday 1/16 from 5:30pm to 9pm, free for members, non-member tickets $20

Brewery Tracker

Total brewery count: 3,626
Total breweries visited in 2024: 342
Total breweries visited in Texas: 103

Brewery Visit of the Week

Brewery #3621, Acopon Brewing, Dripping Springs, Texas (Visited 29-Dec-2024)

For all the talk about how lagers dominate the Austin beer scene, here I am, featuring a brewery that’s not known for making them. Someone has to zig when everyone else zags, so just outside of Austin as you enter the Texas Hill Country, you’ll find this spot on the historic main drag of Dripping Springs that’s specializing in English-style beers. The four cask engines outmatch just about any other brewery in the U.S., and the beer lineup covers just about every classic style from across the pond: Bitter, ESB, Mild, Porter, Scotch Ale… a cavalcade of beers that aren’t easy to find at most American brewers.

The pub-like atmosphere in the taproom complements the beers, complete with a wide variety of crisp packets from Walker’s. Of course, the weather outside on a day in late December was a far cry from what you’d find in Newcastle or Sheffield or Bristol, so we opted to sit on their sunny patio that faces out onto the street, which is part of an entertainment district in Dripping Springs where open containers are permitted. A pint of Mild to go, anyone? Coincidentally, there’s an English specialty food shop across the street where you can grab meat pies and head on over to drink a cask Mild. Is that out of place in the Hill Country of Texas? Not anymore than this New Yorker on a visit, I suppose.

The Doom and Gloom Tracker

At least 5 breweries I’ve visited closed or announced their closure this week:

• Brewery #754, Resident Brewing Company, San Diego, California (Visited 3-Feb-2017)

• Brewery #1712, Broken Strings Brewery, Orlando, Florida (Visited 29-Sep-2019)

• Brewery #2310, Brew Detroit, Detroit, Michigan (Visited 5-Aug-2021)

• Brewery #2799, Copper Leaf Brewing Company, Pittsford, New York (Visited 16-Sep-2022)

• Brewery #3617, Black Star Co-Op Pub & Brewery, Austin, Texas (Visited 28-Dec-2024)

The Weekly Reader

• Dave Infante once again nails the state of the beer industry [VinePair]

• New Jersey brewers hopeful for 2025 [Matt Cortina, NorthJersey.com]

• A profile of the NY Times’ resident beer expert [Terence McGinley, NYT]

• Jimmy Carter’s homebrewing legacy is a bit more complicated [Kendall Jones, Washington Beer Blog]

One Last Thing

An interesting trend I’ve noticed at breweries around the country: giving up on January. In Maryland, BabyCat Brewery announced a winter break from December 30th through January 14th. Naked River in Chattanooga, Tennessee announced they’d take the first two weeks of the month off. In Rhode Island, Tilted Barn took a winter break for most of the month, with plans to reopen on January 29th. Across the country in San Diego County, California, Oceanside Ale Works has decided to shut down for the famously dry month. It’s a sign of the times — not just that fewer people are drinking in January, but also that breweries are struggling financially and looking for any opportunity to cut their losses. There are other breweries closing beyond this month for “renovations,” and the skeptic in me might say that some of those may never reopen.

Meanwhile, there’s plenty of effort being made to get people to support breweries and bars during January. The Brewers Association kicked off their Pour Love into Local campaign to support local breweries this month. Fellow beer scribe Jeff Alworth suggested “Pub January” to encourage people to support local watering holes. And Suarez Family Brewery suggested a more modest one beer a day in the form of a “Palatine Cleanser.” However you choose to spend January, know that you have options that won’t leave the beer industry out in the cold.

Cheers,
Chris