Must go places in San Antonio?

[zazbnf]

I will be in San Antonio all of next week. Any must go places for good beer(Draft or packaged)?

 

[bford]

Freetail Brewing

It is a brewpub and certainly worth your time!


Any large HEB grocery stores will have an ok selection of Texas craft beer.

I believe there are some Specs liquor stores, which is a large Texas based chain. There is also a Total Wine.

There are also a couple of Whole Foods locations which have a nice craft beer selection.... and if they are like the WHole Foods in Houston.. will now have a bar where you can drink craft on tap.

Again... Freetail is the PLACE to get great beer.

 

[bford]

San Antonio is pretty large, so hopefully you have access to a car.


Downtown/RiverWalk area will be mostly full of restaurants and bars selling BMC beer.

Here's a link to some of the beer places in San Antonio.

The Friendly Spot is not supposed to be very friendly to your wallet. The Flying Saucer always has a great tap list.

 

[Rockn_M]

San Antonio is pretty large, so hopefully you have access to a car.


Downtown/RiverWalk area will be mostly full of restaurants and bars selling BMC beer.

Ya, the Riverwalk will be touristy and not have a lot of Texas craft beer. If you can move beyond that you'll find a lot of good places.

 

[zazbnf]

Thanks for the info, I am going down for a conference, and will be staying at the Marriott River center. I am still debating the car rental since with rental taxes and parking it will run about $250-$300 for the 5.5 days I will be there plus fuel and if I am driving I will need to seriously limit my alcohol intake when I go out.

I really only have 2 evenings that I will actually be free, and it would seem I should be able to go about anywhere round trip in a taxi for less than $125 per evening for those 2 evenings. So leaning towards just using taxi's.

 

[rodwha]

The Granary and Boiler House are just barely north of downtown. If you go to The Granary during lunch you'll see a nice BBQ style, but in the evening they try for a more "upscale" style that costs more than what it might be worth, though not extremely expensive, but it does put some off to a BBQ restaurant.

The Boiler House is a bit expensive, but they have a fair craft beer choice though they cater more towards wines.

The Tuk Tuk Tap Room has Asian food with a small craft beer selection, but is nice despite the hole in the wall look.

There's a food truck park on Alamo Street that has several crags beers plus the choice of foods offered, which are typically nicer than you'd think Ifood from a truck?!?! I was there…).

There's an outdoor bar area called The Friendly Spot just south of downtown that has way too many choices. I've not been there though, but have meant to.

One the Southeast side of DT there is Blue Star which also brews their own and has a very nice barley wine.

And there are plenty more if you'd like more choices.

 

[rodwha]

But another thumb up for Freetail! They got me looking into a partial mash to brew with rye!

 

[bford]

It's about twenty miles from RiverCenter to Freetail... so I think roundtrip you should be well under the 125..ha.


THey also actually rent cars through Hertz at the Marriott RiverCenter, so you might be able to get a car for just a couple of days or as needed.

 

[zazbnf]

It's about twenty miles from RiverCenter to Freetail... so I think roundtrip you should be well under the 125..ha.


THey also actually rent cars through Hertz at the Marriott RiverCenter, so you might be able to get a car for just a couple of days or as needed.

This is good to know. When I was searching online I was looking for Monday which happens to be memorial day. The only car rental places listed as being open were at the airport. Didn't think to search for non holidays. Wouldn't mind renting a car for a day to hit a few beer stores as well.

 

[rodwha]

If you want/need more ideas just say so. SWMBO knows far too much about places to go. It's how she gets me out to eat "finer" foods as she knows I can't turn down good beer!

 

[Jupapabear]

I travel by cab every time I go to SA, and I usually have my car parked at the hotel. Cabs run cheap in the city.

 

[thatjonguy]

I always hit the Gabriel's liquor store) by the Vineyard (up north). Whole Foods is in the same shopping area. .5 miles away, that one has a beer bar inside and a decent selection of off-sale. Growler fills as well.

The tour of Ranger Creek Brewery and Distillery was cool. Small little operation making some good beers and Texas Bourbon. (NE SA)

 

[rodwha]

Ranger Creek is very nice. I certainly recommend their oatmeal pale ale ale and rye whiskey!

 

[rodwha]

From downtown that is a bit further than half a mile.

 

[TallDan]

I was just in SA this past weekend visiting friends and family, hit up granary (for lunch, as mentioned), Friendly spot, the luxury, and some other places farther out in the suburbs. Good to know my friends got me to the good spots according to HBT'ers.

Ate food truck food a bit and it was great stuff, mostly. May be biased though, one of my friends recently bought and started running a food truck there.

 

[rodwha]

San Antonio was rated as #1 in the nation for food trucks somehow. It's good, though I wonder how it is we were first. I must admit I was quite hesitant to good food coming off of a truck, but we stalk a few people these days. Pakistani tacos with plenty of Tai chilis are my ultimate favorite!

 

[zazbnf]

Thanks to everyone that replied in this thread. It has given me a much better idea what to do with my couple of free evenings while in San Antonio.

 

[3683Brewing]

I saw this post and had to do a double take. I am currently in San Antonio for work for the next few days. Last night I visited The Friendly Spot which had a great selection of craft beer and pretty decent food. I also visited a liquor store on the outskirts of town. It was called Gabriel's Superstore and its on 1604 North Loop. I spent an hour talking to the beer buyer about beer and homebrewing. Very knowledgeable guy and gave me tons of tips on great Texas beer to try. It was a great store and I would highly recommend it. I am now checking a bag for my flight so I can bring a bunch of beer back home with me.

 

[thatjonguy]

I saw this post and had to do a double take. I am currently in San Antonio for work for the next few days. Last night I visited The Friendly Spot which had a great selection of craft beer and pretty decent food. I also visited a liquor store on the outskirts of town. It was called Gabriel's Superstore and its on 1604 North Loop. I spent an hour talking to the beer buyer about beer and homebrewing. Very knowledgeable guy and gave me tons of tips on great Texas beer to try. It was a great store and I would highly recommend it. I am now checking a bag for my flight so I can bring a bunch of beer back home with me.

This is the place I am talking about.

 

[zazbnf]

I reviewed my conference schedule and have reserved a car for Wednesday morning through 2pm to visit Gabriel's Superstore on 1604 North Loop and a few others. All the morning sessions looked like snooze fests anyway and I would rather be beer shopping. May have to throw my old army duffel bag in my bag on the way down for my clothes on the trip home so I can dedicate my suitcases to beer

 

[rodwha]

I'm curious where you've been and what you thought.

 

[zazbnf]

Well, my flight got in early Monday and due to a schedule change had the rest of the day free. So, I rented a car and drove to the Jester King Brewery which I must say was awful. While it appears to have the potential to be a nice place, my timing really sucked. It was pouring rain, their septic system was being pumped out because it was overflowing so the whole place smelled like wood fired raw sewage(if you haven't been, there is a place that sells wood fired pizza just across from the brewery). I stayed long enough to buy a few beers, but couldn't handle the smell.

While I was in Austin, I decided to stop by the sunrise mini mart since it had such good reviews. This place was really good, the people really friendly and I grabbed some stuff not available in my part of Illinois. (Illinois and Texas have a lot of distribution beers in common.)

Then I drove back to San Antonio and hit up Gabriel's Superstore on 1604 North Loop, and Central Market, found a few more nuggets.

I will say I think my highlight to San Antonio was actually food. Of course I had Mexican and Tex-mex on multiple occasions, and I had some really good blackened prime rib at Beudros, and awesome steak at Ruth's Chris steak house. But one of my favorite places I ate for both the food and the atmosphere was Chris Madrid's.

Due to flight delays and broken planes on the return trip back through O hare in Chicago, I got home about 2:30am this morning. The good news is the airlines didn't lose or break any of the beers I checked through.

 

[bford]

Bummer about the problems at Jester King... they are actually very well known for how awesome the area/atmosphere is....


Wish you could have made it to Freetail... but if you are ever back in SA, it gives you something else to look forward to..!

 

[rodwha]

Had I have known Austin was in the mix as well I would have mentioned Banger's.

I was also considering places nearby downtown so as not to need to rent a car.

 

[rodwha]

Freetail is quite nice!

 

[zazbnf]

Well if my wife's vacation time is approved, we will be back next April for my cousins wedding/ a little vacation. I plan to drive down, so it should provide a lot more opportunities. Most importantly I won't have worry how much beer I can fit into airline baggage, I can fill up the car

The trip to Austin was a last minute decision after I discovered they were going to be open on Memorial day.