What breweries to visit in Austin, TX?

I'm going to Austin, TX for a wedding this weekend and was hoping for some guidance on which breweries to visit. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

You going to be in north or south Austin?

North by Northwest has a brown ale on their rotating tap that I liked quite a bit.

Not sure exactly, but the hotel is very close to the Domain Shopping Center. I'm looking for a place (or places) with good beer and a cool tasting room where I can have some pints. Hopefully that is legal in TX (I live in Denver, so I'm no stranger to brewery tasting rooms).

Domain Shopping Center is Northwest Austin.

Not super north, not super west, but the area is more akin to west than any other part of town, ascetically and financially.

So apparently breweries can not sell direct to customers on-site, which makes Texas lame.

How about good craft beer bars in Austin, preferably close-ish to Domain Shopping Center?

Brewpub North by Northwest is not too far away (just a little south). A craft beer bar I like a lot is Opal Divine's, Marina Location (not too far north of where you).

Jester King!

Breweries: 512, Live Oak, Jester King, Independence, Thirsty Planet, Circle Brewing

Now the problem is you can tour the breweries but they don't sell......

So to try their beers you have to find a pub:

Opal Divine's (all locations)
Draught House (better take a cab, and they have house brews -- I can't go here without getting hammered. No 'real' food though)
NxNW (They are alright -- I go for the food, not the beer)
Flying Saucer (Great beer selection, good pizza, it is a chain though)
The Gingerman
Sherlock's(Also a chain, definitely not on my top pub list)

Unique Place:
Black Start Co-op Unique brewpub where the employees own the place. Great beer, good food, great prices. It just can get crowded.

I absolutely love the Draught House but I prefer Opal Divine's on Wednesday -- All Texas beers are 50% off so $2.50 pints are real nice

JustinB said:

So apparently breweries can not sell direct to customers on-site, which makes Texas lame.

How about good craft beer bars in Austin, preferably close-ish to Domain Shopping Center?

Click to expand...

Srry just saw your second response...

NxNW is the closest to the Domain (a few miles)
Opal Divine's Marina is north on Mopac (3.5 miles)
Black Star Co-op off 183 (6.5 miles)
Draught House take Burnet all the way down (6.5 miles)

In my opinion, if you don't get to Austin very often, go to Black Star Co-Op is you want good food with your beer. If you just want beer, I'd make the drive to the Draught House. Decor is crap, no good food, but just good ol' fashioned good beer

If you have never had it before you definitely need to try Live Oak's hefeweizen. 512's pecan porter is also very tasty (if you can find the barrel aged one, even better).

Every time I go to Austin I intend to check out a brewery or two but I end up getting wasted instead. Eventually I'll check some out. I wouldn't waste time on Independence. I have yet to have a beer from them that wasn't bland or nasty. The saison a year or two was goaty. =/

If you decide you really need some good Texas BBQ hit up Saltlick. It's a little out of town but the food is stellar.

Flix brew house and movie house in Round Rock has some great ale on tap that they Brew in house plus many local Texas brews on tap. Try the Satellite ale, my favorite right now. They have $3.00 house brew pints till 7pm.

Just because they can't sell to you onsite, don't mean you won't get to drink plenty of beer while on the tour.