I love beer in the summer

Beer in the summer is about 1000 times friendlier than wine in the summer, particularly since I don't care for chilled wine or white wine, unless it's made into sangria.  And, I just have never gotten the hang of rose wine.  ugh. {I realized that this summer we have been to probably 10 new to us breweries!}

But craft beer is mostly wonderful and refreshing and we keep happening upon new places to try - we have found a couple we have gone back to, like the Growler Room which is unpretentious and has a quiet space for us to play cards or for Hubby to teach me dominoes.

No frills - just cold beer and down time.  And since they have a variety of different beers, we can try one out before we visit the individual brewery.  Plus, they will let you try anything before you commit to a full pour.

New to us: Lazarus Brewing Co. which had some delightful and low alcohol beers.  Though I have to say, this is more or less an East Austin hipster place where people take their kids.  {I don't get that.  Hubby and I never had any money for such a thing when ours were small and we would have had a hard time relaxing while making sure they were safe and not bored}  This one we will probably visit again, maybe just not on a Saturday!

Zilker Brewing was another one we tried recently.  But sitting outside enjoying a beer can only happen if you can handle the heat here and I am about over it.  I have had a hard time getting heat acclimated, beer or no beer.

A lot of breweries serve some sort of grub or have a food trailer with interesting things to snack on.   We enjoyed some tater tots with Thai BBQ sauce at Zilker, but again, they are kind of a hipster scene.  Their beer was good, but its a loud place with a younger crowd...

More our speed are these out of the way breweries like The Texas Beer Company in Taylor.  We met my sister and BIL on Sunday for a pizza and some beer in their large tap room on main street USA.  {please notice that there is a kid in the above photo!}

Not everything you find is beer - the pale one was blood orange cider.  Very refreshing and tasty on a hot day, even in the A/C.  We enjoy the vibe of breweries, too.  Everyone is fairly laid back and people play games on picnic tables.  Plus, beer is generally less expensive than wine.  Win, win.

And, you never know what you will see passing just outside...

Pretty soon it will be Fall and pick-up parties at wineries will be in full swing, but for now, a nice cold beer is just my speed.