In tumultuous times for Austin beer, these undersung gems are worth seeking out
I have lived in a lot of hot places: El Paso; Phoenix; the damp, camel’s buttcrack that is Austin By God Texas. It helps to have good beer and a recreational water source around, and only one of those places has both. For what it’s worth, beer fans and sweat-abolitionists have witnessed true greatness over the course of the last two decades in Austin when it comes to our cooling-down efforts.
This is not to say that Slackers is outdated. Not at all. There’s a reason nostalgia pings the emotional beef in your brain and the mention of “vintage” is cool while “antique” drools. That craving for the old days never wanes and only gets worse as you age. Slackers serves a core memory of some of the first taprooms we ever visited: uncomplicated, warm, approachable but explorative, exciting.
Apart from the bittered beers, Bear King features a broad and alluring list of on-style options. The second beer is where I like to take my exercise around the tap wall. In Central Texas, a brewery is judged by the quality of its house pilsner, as is the margherita pizza for any Neapolitan pizza joint. This one meets and exceeds expectations: Pistol Grip Pils is a nice, sensible lager with a pilsner’s trademark bite.
Like many breweries, the beer brings you in and the food seduces you to stay. Obsidian is mainly a pizza joint, but like their beer program, is as experimental as a sriracha Pop Tart. Again, one could opt for the Margarita pie, but the true joy is in the Bianco Basalt with garlic oil, burrata cheese, prosciutto, arugula, and hot honey; or La Birria, which is basically a taco on pizza dough – a pretty can’t-miss combination, if you ask me.
The entire operation takes on this humble ethos: “Easy drinking beers of companionship,” Crowell says. “Simple expressions,” he continues. Crowell is part Jim Nantz and part Old Time Hawkey coming to you from the Cedar Swamp.
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