These are Austin’s best breweries, POWER-RANKED!ĭropped from Rankings: Draught House (18), Red Horn (21), Circle (23), Blue Owl (24), Beerburg (25) This year we included our POWER RANKINGS score, which acknowledged breweries' attention to their mainstay lineups (40%), emphasis on their taproom/beer garden vibe (30%), creativity of their seasonal and limited beer lineups (15%), their 2022 collection of beer awards and accolades (10%), and an additional 5% to any intangible features, like a notable food truck, excellent branding, live music, live art, or heck, live animals. So, you ask, which ones are trending the hottest right now? Which frosty lager under a leafy tree is going to beat this heat on a Saturday afternoon? Here, loyal readers, is our annual BREWERY POWER RANKINGS to guide you square and true through those weekend brewery plans, a list many people are saying is more anticipated than season 2 of Severance.Īs in the past, we are generous with the boundaries we call “Austin-ish,” including all the breweries in neighboring counties that were wise enough not to be hostage to Travis County taxes. Buttressing the liquid merchandise, breweries have continued to expand and enhance the face-to-face experience of their taprooms and beer gardens in a way that can captivate an audience of beer fans. The evidence is tangible with the prestigious awards and accolades doled out to regional breweries from highly objective sources like the newly founded Texas Craft Brewers Cup, the World Beer Cup, and, of course, the Great American Beer Festival, among others. In turn, Austin-area breweries have recommitted to quality-driven mainstay beers supplemented by a reasonable lineup of provocative special release beers and a full calendar of wait-worthy seasonals. These days, anyone who is still passionate about craft beer is queuing up only in the 10 Items or Fewer line at H-E-B with a pack of cold, bottom fermented delights tucked beneath their arm in maximum anticipation of beating the heat with beer-flavored beer. But like the awkward middle school years, those rough moments are behind us now. Yes, the era of chasing ultra-rare, saccharine-sweet candy beer all over town, brewed one pint at a time by beerhouses that inspired their tremulous fanbase to chant EXCELSIOR into their craft beer megaphones from the parking lot at the mere suggestion of extremely limited $40 bombers of beer – that was somehow the salad days of the industry. Out are the big bourbon barrel-aged confectionary stouts, the biting quintuple IPAs, the gut-melting sours. Jester King Brewery (Photo by Jana Birchum)Ĭraft beer has begun its redemption arc.

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