Hopefully dear readers, you too had a good Thanksgiving and survived Repeal Day. For the unaware, Repeal Day marks the anniversary of December 5, 1933, when prohibition was repealed by the 21st amendment. DC has a bunch of events to celebrate it and we attended the Repeal Ball. Fantastic black tie event hosted by the DC Craft Bartender's Guild. Highly recommended event, just drink responsibly and eat a lot.

This year for Thanksgiving we headed down to Austin Texas to visit my brother. My family usually fries a turkey every year but until this year Lisa had never had a fried turkey. Though it involved making a tent out of bamboo and a shower curtain to protect it from the rain, Thanksgiving was a success and I think everyone had a good time. Of course we also made it to a few breweries.

Jester King Brewing

They were at the top of my list to visit with all the buzz I've heard about them. They are located on a working ranch slightly outside of the city. We were so lucky to have the cold rainy weather follow us to Texas, and I managed to forget my coat on this day. Jester King doesn't have a lot of enclosed space.

Far be it from me to let a little inclement weather stop a perfectly good adventure outing.

We all grabbed a few drinks before the tour. The first surprising thing about Jester King was that their beers are not the vinegar acidic sour kind of beer. There is a bit of range in the level of acidity but honestly I'd describe their beers as more rustic. You get a good taste of the farm the beers are made on.

The tour is fairly short, but the barrel room is very nice. It was also much warmer than outside. Unfortunately most of my pictures from Jester King are all blurry from me shivering. They are building a permanent coolship in the barrel room soon and I certainly look forward to what they pump out next.

Jester King is a bit of a hike out of town but definitely worth the trip.

Adelbert's Brewery

The next day Lisa and I ran up to Adelbert's Brewery. They have a great system for samplers and it basically lets you try everything they have on tap. In addition they were also showing the Penn State game on tv, which was a terrible game but gave the brewery some extra points in my book.

The belgians weren't bad but seemed to be lacking a little something. The IPAs were pretty solid. But their barrel aged beers really shined. We even managed to hop on a tour before going to dinner.

The employees working here are all characters. They have a system hooked up to play music when you enter the brewery. It is a pretty standard brewery tour but our guide Mackey was great.

Overall a very laid back brewery, great place to hang out and just pass the time.

North By Northwest

For dinner we met up with my brother at North by Northwest.

They have two locations and brew different beers at each but you can get just about all of their offerings at either location. Most of these beers are pretty middle of the road but they are easy drinking and will cover just about every kind of beer drinker.

Zilker Brewing Company

While wandering down 6th street we happened upon Zilker Brewing company. It was nice to see them in the middle of brewing while we were there. We got a sampler of a few beers and their coffee stouts really stood out. Their "Hold the milk stout" was made with coffee from a local roaster and was probably my favorite beer I had there.

Hops and Grain Brewing

Further down 6th street is fairly large building and hidden inside is Hops and Grain taproom.

I had a few of their beers around town so it was nice to go to the source. They are doing a lot of dryhopping which is nice to have fresh off the tap. Hops and Grain was also one of the few places actually selling hoodies on a cold week.

Lisa wanted me to make sure to share the label from their Volumes of Oak. It is a very well done and thick label. Unfortunately this beer came out a week after we left. You might be able to find it now.

Austin is a fun beer city with a lot of good beer bars and local breweries. We highly recommend Easy Tiger on 6th if you are looking for a neat bakery/bar.