Drink Local

Wow, it's actually been since May since I have posted on my Tipsy Texter blog. I am certainly going to try to get better about that, and in perfect fashion, my first blog back is all about getting tipsy.

Friday afternoon I went to Whip In for Edible Austin's 'Meet Your Local Brewer' Happy Hour (met Susanna there). There were representatives there from some local breweries, including Independence, Shiner, Real Ale, etc. I am always a big fan of drinking locally, as we have so many amazing breweries in the area (and wineries, too, believe it or not), so I was really excited about this. Unfortunately, I was just thinking about drinking and not about blogging, so my notes on this aren't as great as they could be, but I will try my best.

p.s. I am not a beer afficianado, so I do not use words like "hoppy" to describe beers. If I like 'em, I like 'em, damnit. (though I do aspire to be a beer monger someday. and a cheese monger. monger.)

Independence Ale had a great one-the Bootlegger Brown Ale. I always love a good brown ale. Kind of makes me want to take a nap in it. Located in South Austin, these guys give tours and tastings on the first Saturday of the month from 1-3pm.

Black Star Co-Op didn't have any beer there, not sure why, but these guys are doing a pretty awesome thing by creating the world's first co-operatively owned and worker self-managed brewpub. To buy a share/become a member is only $85, and they have monthly beer parties for members and to try to recruit new members. These guys seem awesome and JBee says that the parties are rad.

Saint Arnold, while typically tasty, their Christmas brew did nothing for me. They do brew tours, too, but are located in Houston, so you know, beer road trip.

Ah Real Ale, how much I love you. I've always really liked their Full Moon Pale Rye Ale. I had a little taste there and noticed that the label has changed from the white label to a new, sleek navy one-so be careful if you are looking for this one on store shelves. They also had a new Barleywine Ale called Sisyphus that they make for the winter. It didn't do too much for me, but since it is left in the barrels significantly longer than normal beer, the alcohol content is knocked up to 11%-and i can certainly tolerate that!

So, for my favorite, favorite beer of the bunch, we come to Shiner, one of my regular staples. Their Christmas beer, Shiner Cheer, is super fun. Sam, JBee and I were at Bender bar on Tuesday and I tried it for the first time and spent about 20 minutes trying to figure out what the hell it smelled like. We settled on pineapple, but when I saw the reps at the happy hour, I asked and turns out it was peaches. Mmmm peaches. And pecans. Weird, huh? It's totally yummy, and the bottles are made in Waco, so this is a true Texas beer. Get some before the holidays are over.

Others present were 512 Brew and Uncle Billy's, but I don't remember much about them.

Salud!