The Five-8 Brew Tour

A couple of weekends ago, Hubby and I did the Austin Chronicle's Five-8 brew Tour. For $25 you got a 12 oz pour at 8 breweries in our neck of the woods - literally all within a mile or two of each other.  We have been to all of them before, but this was a fun thing, as you can walk to several of them that are very close and you get a bandana and its just FUN.  Beer tastes especially good in the summer!

 We started out at Oskar Blues on Friday afternoon.  There wasn't any music here, or at any of them, but we sat at the bar and enjoyed a Wunder Pig pulled pork sammie with our beer.  This is the place where we also picked up our "beer passport" and bandana.

 Hubby enjoys Oskar Blues for their Death by Coconut beer, but it is a seasonal, and not one of the current beers - however, I noticed on their website that it is coming soon so yea for that!  They also have a new lemon beer which I want to go back for.

 

Next stop was Fairweather, which is technically not beer, but still delightful on a hot day.  It was a short walk from the truck which we left parked at the first stop. {in fact, we walked to a few of the places the first night, because they are so close together}

Their place is really tiny, but I think they are working on expanding.  I hope they get a food truck or other snacks - that cider can pack a punch when you least expect it...

They would only let us have a pour of Common, which while not our favorite, was still nice.  {I love the Smell the Van or the Tejano Dreams, and I can get either of those at HEB}  Looking around, I thought there were other brew tour folks who were not happy with not being given their choice of ciders.  Most of us seemed to drink it up, leave, and go next door to...

... 4th Tap.  I had the Can You Dig It? and Hubby enjoyed a Supernaut.  No restrictions here - they let you enjoy your favorite.  This is a very laid back place and fairly popular - kid and dog-friendly, too.

It was packed inside their air-conditioned taproom and we were super tempted to order a thin crust pizza from the food truck - they have one topped with pear slices, Canadian bacon, and fresh basil  that is WONDERFUL. Maybe next visit.  Next stop: Celis.

 By far, Celis is my favorite brewery in North Austin.  The beer is wonderful and the taproom is large and cool.  Apparently a lot of other folks were loving it, too.  We saw quite a few bandana-d folks. (p.s. I love that second floor catwalk that wraps around the inside of the building)

 

 They have a new chili porter which I noticed is not on  their website, but it was AWESOME. 

 And they had a food truck serving chicken and waffles, so again, we were tempted.  But we made a mental note to return soon anyway, for the porter, so we will eat there next time.  On to the last stop for the day...we knew we would be going to Highlands on Saturday and still had a few more stops on the tour to make.

 Circle Brewing Co.  My phone doesn't take great night pics...but as you can see, this is maybe the least fancy stop of the evening.  It is literally the back of an industrial building.   I enjoyed the Tuxedo T-Shirt and I think Hubby had the Party Pig.  I always forget how much I like their beer - more so than a couple of the previous places.

It was getting dark, so after that last stop, we headed home.  We were up bright and early the next day to Highlands until Sunday around lunch time.  At which point we returned to Austin to our next stop (the 6th one on the tour):

 Austin Beerworks. They had a couple of new ones that I enjoyed: Loose Lips, and Sink Ships which are both dark English beers and quite tasty.  The one Hubby loves is a coffee beer that looks light in color, but isn't in taste - I can't remember the name of it.  We enjoyed them with lunch from the CAN-tina food truck on site.

Honestly, I think we were starving - we ate our lunch in 5 minutes flat.  So, no pics of it, but it was blackened chicken tacos with a chunky roasted tomatillo that was out of this world good!  The next stop was a new brewery that hasn't actually opened yet due to city water permit foot-dragging.

The owner/brewers at Hopsquad set up a tent outside with an industrial fan and had a few kegs for everyone to try - get your pour, then try another if you like.  They had an Asian food truck out there but we had just eaten and the temps were climbing...

One of the owners used to be an attorney - he was very friendly and came around to get our opinions on the beer and offer us more.  We met a friendly couple who we shared a table with and enjoyed a cucumber beer that was interesting and refreshing.

We will definitely visit them when they are open - the view of the taproom from the back looked very cool!  And we will have to try out that food truck.  This brewery is perhaps the closest to our house and I pass it all the time.  We wanted to cook dinner at home, so it was time to hit the last stop on the tour:

 Adelbert's.  They have a couple of very interesting beers - I think I had the Hibiscus one.  I can't remember what Hubby had.  At that point, we were ready to call the brew tour done, but we had a fun time visiting all of them.  Next year, maybe my sister and BIL can go with us - I think we will try to get a group of folks together.  The tour provided a van that would take you from place to place, but honestly, we knew where each spot was and what the parking situation would be so there was no need.

Five-8 Brew Tour of Summer 2019, in the books!

Gina