Texas Craft Brewers Festival, Wild West BrewFest Pflugerville, Lager Jam, Pinvitational, East West Beer Fest
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Music City Austin might be world famous for SXSW and ACL festivals but there are plenty of events to draw visitors and locals into the ATX beer scene too. As the number and diversity of breweries in the greater Austin area has grown, so has the scope and variety of beer festivals and events in and around the city, with breweries collaborating to showcase styles of beer or raise money for charity.
There’s nothing quite like the joy of discovering a really cool event taking place at your destination by surprise, but a bit of planning is definitely advised as these events are popular and often sell out in advance. All the events below are annual and take place at roughly the same time each year, although following two years of cancellations and disruption it’s worth double-checking exact dates with festival organisers on social media to make sure there are no sudden changes so you don’t miss out – beer festival disappointment is real!
Texas Craft Brewers Festival
The Texas Craft Brewers Guild hosts its largest annual shindig in the heart of downtown Austin at Fiesta Gardens on the edge of Zilker Park. This hugely popular event usually sells out in advance, and boasts over 85 breweries and over 200 beers, and over the years has included dedicated charity collaboration tents such as Pink Boots and Black Is Beautiful, showcasing their brews from around the state, as well as an exclusive Partners In Craft tent featuring collaborations between Texas breweries and other local businesses to spread the beery love. With timed special releases spawning snaking queues of beer lovers quick off the mark to bag limited edition brews, this event really is a proper beer nerd paradise. With that in mind, be sure to arrive early. Expect a minimum 30minute wait for general admission entry unless you’re very punctilious indeed, so look sharp to avoid missing out on crucial drinking time. With so much choice on offer picky drinkers may want to go in with a game plan, or just go with the flow and wing it – asking around is also a great way to discover hidden gems. A solid selection of live music and local food trucks ensure that less dedicated drinkers are also entertained, but the TCBF really is all about the beer. This is a fantastic opportunity to try a wide selection of some of the best beers and breweries in Texas, and be sure to chat to the many friendly brewery owners and staff who make the trip every year.
https://texascraftbrewersfestival.org/ GA admission $45, VIP $85, Designated driver $20
Wild West BrewFest Pflugerville
The Wild West BrewFest has been a staple of the Houston beer calendar for a decade, and is deservedly ranked as the top beer festival in the country by BeerYeti for three year’s in a row. With an unparalleled selection of local and national beers showcasing over 100 breweries most years, the supremely well-organised event makes for a delightful day of beery fun, featuring multiple music stages, extensive food options, a great atmosphere and more beer than you can shake a stick at. Best of all, it’s all for charity, organized by the Katy Rotary Club. This year will be WWBF’s second in Pflugerville, saving us dedicated fans a trip down the 290, and bring all the WWBF love straight into the arms of Austin’s beer community. Entrance is a snip at $50, including 12 2oz pours, and top-up cards can be purchased for $9 in advance or on the day, and designated Drivers pay half price. If you want to treat yourself to a VIP experience, which promises over 50 rare and limited edition beers in a luxury tent, you’ll be looking at $150, but honestly with over 500 beers to try at the main event that you can fill your boots without feeling you’re missing out. For super-keen-beans, there’s a launch party on the Friday night too.
https://wildwestbrewfestpflugerville.com/ 12-13th April 2024 – GA $50 plus fees, DD $25 plus fees, GA+launch $100
Lager Jam
Central Texas gets very hot. Central Texas is also known for making awesome lagers. While those two things are not necessarily related (I’ll save my TED Talk on the effects of German immigration to Texas and the influence of Mexican Lager and it’s contentious Austrian heritage for another time – or you can look out for my forthcoming article on this subject), they do come together in a way that makes the summer months here almost bearable – a fact the team behind the Austin Beer Guide felt was worth celebrating when they started Lager Jam ten years ago. 2021’s comeback fest sported over 30 local lagers, running the full style gamut from American Light Lager to Schwarzbier via multiple Pilsner incarnations and wild cards including Oolong Tea Lager from Meanwhile Brewing and Ride The Leichtbier, a collaboration version of this little-known German style by Oddwood and Live Oak. 2022’s event comprised 18 exciting lagers pushing style and flavour boundaries, including Hold Out Brewing’s Hollywood Handshake Mango Sticky Rice Lager and Roughhouse Brewing’s Pink Drink American Light Lager with hibiscus, cinnamon, mint and vanilla bean, as well as more traditional offerings. The 2023 lineup was no less exciting, bringing in out-of-towners including Equal Parts and Bad Astronaut (Houston), Celestial and Vector (Dallas). Highlights included Meanwhile’s Gooder Times Blackberry-Lemon Pilsner, Roughhouse and Vector’s collaboration Smoke Rings Smoked Dark Lager and Real Ale’s Corleone Sicilian Lemon Lager.
The festival is regularly hosted by Spokesman Coffee Roasters, and features DJs, screen printing, and a pre and after-party for true lager aficionados. Admission to the venue is free and you can pay as you go. Taking place in at the height of the heat in late August, get ready to get sweaty – that lager is gonna taste soooo good!
https://www.austinbeerguide.com/ Admission free
Pinvitational Cask Beer Festival
This exciting new venture from Acopon Brewing, Hold Out Brewing and Dutchess Ales brings together over thirty breweries for the first ever cask beer festival to be held in Texas. As well as big names including Stone and Sierra Nevada, it was a fantastic opportunity for local breweries to learn about cask conditioning and give it a try, and for drinkers to compare their favourite brews served on cask and learn what the British make all this fuss about. It’s also quite a coup to be bringing in breweries as exciting and diverse as DC’s BlueJacket and North Carolina’s Fonta Flora, as well as US cask-aficionados HogsHead, coming all the way from Denver. The turnout was spectacular, with all the great and good of the ATX beer scene on hand, despite the festival landing in the middle of SXSW. The range of beers on offer was also incredibly exciting – even for a seasoned cask drinker. A real highlight was Equal Parts’ Japanese Rice Lager with Yuzu served on cask, something we’d very rarely see even in the UK, not to mention Hold Out’s Brett ESB and Fonta Flora’s Roggenstein Beer. As a cask-loving Brit this event has already been a 2024 highlight and I’m hoping it will become a regular feature in the Austin beer calendar.
https://www.holdoutbrewing.com/pinvitational March 9th, GA $45
East West Beer Fest
Austin’s newest charity beer event, the East West Beer Fest was founded by the Craft Beer Austin team to raise money for We Are Blood. 2021’s inaugural event and the 2022 event were both hosted by Turnstile Coffee Beer and Spirits and included 10 Austin-area breweries showing off their West Coast and East Coast IPAs. A $30 general admission fee covered 12 tasting pours and two sample glasses – one for each style, and a $50 VIP pass came loaded with beery swag. Live music and pop-up vendors also featured on the day, with Turnstile’s kitchen open to sate hungry drinkers. The event received substantial advance publicity, with Black Sparrow Radio streaming their Drinking Texas show live from the event throughout the afternoon. With both hazy East Coast and traditional West Coast IPAs still hugely popular in Central Texas, the event offered an opportunity to pit some of our finest examples against one another for an excellent cause, and unsurprisingly sold out in advance. 2023’s event was equally successful, showcasing new breweries including Lass Haüs and Fast Friends and raising money for the Wounded Warrior Project.
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https://m.facebook.com/EastWestBeerFest/ GA $30, VIP $50
Other beer festivals in Austin to check out include:
And if that wasn’t enough… look out for brewery parties!
Whenever you choose to visit the city, or if you’re a local looking for a great way to get into new types of beer while meeting like-minded beerfolks, be sure to check the listings in the Austin Chronicle, Do512 and Craft Beer Austin for the latest brewery parties and beer launches – with over 50 breweries in the vicinity, there’s always something on!
Craft Beer Amethyst 