props to the austin, tx craft beer scene

I had the chance to go to Austin back in 2010 when an old friend was temporarily living there, so I knew it was a fabulous, funky little city, but I also spent the whole weekend I was there drinking Shiner because there just weren’t that many other options in 2010.  Not so anymore, friends.

Disclaimer: I went to Texas as a +1 for a wedding that I knew no one involved in, partly because why not, and partly because my lizard blood need to soak in some sunshine.  I swear I’m actually some forever cold evolved amphibious life form.  In the process I found a way to eat copious amounts of Tex-Mex, regular Mex, donuts & BBQ, and drink a whole lot more quality beer than I expected to find, walk in what was actually (no seriously, you can’t prove me wrong) the jungle, wear sundresses constantly, and actually enjoy humidity (what??).

Highlights of the trip of course….:

Airport carrot cake!  I was lucky enough to work my flights in a way that meant I could meet up with Nate in the Denver airport, at which point I got to share the INCREDIBLY delicious carrot cake (fact: I made the carrot cake from The Paleo Patisserie (care of The Urban Poser), but I subbed out the frosting for my grandma’s cream cheese frosting) that I’d been keeping secret for like two days (which felt like at least a quarter of a lifetime).  And, bonus, I could finally post the beautiful pictures of it on every form of social media I have!

Seriously, if I could eat this all day...

EVERYTHING WAS GREEN.  I don’t remember Austin being so super lush last time I was there (although it was in October) – there were flowers and greenery and cacti and weird overgrown succulents everywhere.  Even inside dinosaurs (of course I bought it).

Charlie just chilling on my desk...

Food!  We went to many places on many peoples’ recommendations – started with some Mexican at Polvo’s after a long day of travel, where I had a large chunk of pork smothered in pineapples that was basically everything I’ve ever dreamed of.  Other highlights include a cheese & charcuterie platter at Easy Tiger, this hot maple banana graham cracker donut from the Gordough’s food truck, some great BBQ at the wedding & breakfast tacos the morning after, and most importantly, this Mexican breakfast monstrosity from Magnolia Cafe that was basically every taco filling + a half an avocado on top of a gigantic jalapeno/cornmeal pancake.  Oh, okay.

Polvo's!

Midnight pool parties in the actual coldest pool I’ve ever been in (apparently when you live in Texas you don’t have pool heating systems because duh, Texas, so when night happens the water becomes ACTUALLY FREEZING).  Actually a lot about the wedding was fabulous – the venue was just gorgeous, the wedding itself was really simple & lovely, and everyone I met (including a husband/wife couple who brew their own beer & brought a keg of a really fabulous saison to the wedding) was great as well.  They also had a “candy bar” full of old school type candies (think cinnamon hearts and buckeyes and Zagnut bars) which I thought was super cute, and most importantly I knew ZERO people, so I had even less dance like an asshole inhibitions than normal.

With my wonderful date in ALL THAT SUN.

Of course…….the beer.  Friday we checked out a couple really neat beer bars, starting with a place called Craft Pride, which served nothing but Texas-brewed beers, and where I had a maple porter barrel aged over blueberries, and a super dry hopped tripel, and then moved on to Banger’s, where I discovered that I want to drink beers made by Real Ale for the rest of my life.  That rye, though…  We also took a quick jaunt over to Hops & Grain to have some samplers & get some really cute taster glasses.  And then, the culmination of our beer adventure:  on Sunday we took our rental car (my first ever!) out to the middle of nowhere to visit Jester King, where we got lucky enough to not only sample the weirdest, wildest beers I’ve ever heard of (beer brewed with HAY?? A smoked sour with juniper??), but to go on a super neat brewery tour (on which I learned that you can in fact age hops – in horse barns or otherwise – PAST the point of stale and into the realm of funky) to learn about what was basically (to me) a whole different style of brewing & barreling & this whole cool ship business (SO cool, though!).  I had strong desires to just stay out on their weird sort-of plantation drinking beer in the breeze wearing sundresses for the rest of my life.

All Real Ale All The Time.

Me & you & a glass of Gotlandsdricka.

In conclusion, good job, Texas, you’re all right.  Who wants to send me Real Ale on demand?