Breaking the Monotony – Breweries and Stetsons in Austin, TX

OMG. The monotony of the past 13-14 months finally started to really hit me in January. I feel like I’ve been languishing ever since. The need to mix things up crosses my mind EVERY day (obsessively so) – living in the moment has been a real struggle. Summer is coming which should help.

On a whim, we decided to spend 24 hours in Austin, Texas. We took the flight at the crack of dawn and landed in the gem of Texas by 10:30. Our goal was to hit as many breweries as we could in a 24 hour period. We managed to enjoy 5 – not too bad for 2 middle-aged people who are asleep by 8:30 most nights.

How did we pick from what feels like thousands of breweries in the city? I found a blogger called Big World Small Girl. She has all of them summarized by area of the city. We focused on some of her favorites and loved all of them!

Day 1: We dropped our bags off at the hotel and started walking….for about 11 miles. Mostly because Uber rides for a 2 mile journey cost $25. Um no. It was a beautiful day and we’re young (sort of) and we have our health (mostly)! lol. Here are the highlights:

• The ABGB – Austin Beer Garden Brewery – On a warm summer night, I can see this place being a super fun place to hang out. They have an unassuming beer garden with lots of picnic tables, live music and some damn good pizza. They have won all sorts of awards for being the brewpub of the year, etc.

• St Elmo – This was probably one of the quaintest beer gardens of the bunch. It reminded us of some places in Bend, Oregon that we love with small, intimate courtyards. Beer was great too.

• Nomadic Beerworks – We walked across a freeway overpass to get to this place! Pretty sure that was not our finest decision of the day – damn Uber. It was tucked WAY back on a random street off the feeder road and was a no-frills kind of place. Would we do it again? YES!

Day 2: The e-bikes at the hotel were available first thing in the am, so we took full advantage. I dragged Sean all over downtown Austin and through the University of Texas campus. By 10:00, we had access to our first brewery.

• Lazarus – Because they open before noon on Sunday, you have to buy food to go along with your brews. The breakfast tacos here are some of the best I have ever had. Truly crave-able. This might have been our favorite beer also – super crisp. As you can see below, lots of people showed up at 10:00 am on a Sunday!

• Last but not least – Zilker – One block from Lazarus, so it was a no brainer to pay them a visit. Great beer and an awesome food truck with some delicious spicy chicken sandwiches. This location on 6th street in Austin is a great area. Last time I was there with my sis-in law, we found some good shops, restaurants and a great arts and crafts market.

By the time we finished at Zilker, it was time for a nap for Sean. We had ridden close to 20 miles on the bikes, eaten a ridiculous amount of food and had a few strong beers. I dug deep and did some shopping and ended up with a Stetson cowboy hat that is GORGEOUS. When will I wear it? Who knows, maybe only once in my life. For me, it serves as a symbol of the end of monotony from the lovely pandemic.

PS. We are both vaccinated and on a path to some sort of normalcy in 2021.

I sure hope everyone is doing alright and that 2021 is looking up for everyone!

…i choose this…

Pam