10 Must-Visit Breweries In Austin

By Kelsey Kennedy | March 31, 2024

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You’re in Austin for the weekend, you know that we’re kind of famous for our craft breweries here, and you’re wondering what the top must-visit breweries in Austin are. Great! I’ll help! If this massive guide to ALL the award-winning breweries in the Austin area is a bit too overwhelming for you and you want something quick and concise, scroll down, use the map, and drink a beer.

About me: I’m a 2X Austin food book author, an Austin influencer, a blogger, a photographer, and (most importantly) a craft beer enthusiast. I’ve been to every brewery in Austin and the surrounding areas, and I even hosted my wedding rehearsal dinner at a local Austin craft brewery! And yup…I had a keg of my favorite Austin craft beer at my wedding.

>>Scroll down to the bottom of this guide for a map of the 10 must-visit breweries in Austin<<

Here’s why Austin craft breweries are the best

I absolutely love visiting local breweries here in Austin. I think that the beer culture is so much fun, because it’s very inclusive. What do I mean by that? Well, if you’re drinking cocktails or spirits or wine (or even mocktails), the idea is to sit somewhere and chat with an adult friend and then probably get a rideshare when it’s time to go home.

But with Austin breweries, they’re a whole family affair. You can easily stop by with a friend and enjoy a quiet, shady patio where you can enjoy a big 7.6% IPA or two before you catch a rideshare home. Or, you can show up with your dog and your kids, order a pizza from a food truck, and sip on a low ABV beverage - I love a 3% Short Stop at Austin Beerworks while I’m hanging out with my kids.

A guide to the Austin craft brewery scene

Austin breweries have won LOTS of awards at the Great American Beer Festival, World Beer Cup, and Texas Brewers Cup. Click here to see the breweries that have racked up the most awards over the years.

But we’re not going to talk about award-winning breweries here. We’re just going to talk about the 10 breweries that every visitor should try to check out.

I’ll include a little bit about the brewery, the two beers you should try, as well as any significant awards or recognitions they’ve received.

10 Must-Visit Craft Breweries In Austin

10. Pinthouse Brewing

Let’s start with one of the most common household brewery names in Austin: Pinthouse. Whether you stop at one of the three Pinthouse Pizza locations or the massive Pinthouse Brewing operation and restaurant in southwest Austin, you’ve got to try some of the hoppy beers at the source.

Pinthouse is kind of famous for its Electric Jellyfish IPA, which can be found on nearly every restaurant menu, tap wall, sporting event, and bottle shop in Austin. It is basically Austin’s beer.

But they make SO much more than just the Electric Jellyfish, so try to branch out if you haven’t tried many of their other brews. They’ve won World Beer Cup medals for their Bailing Room IPA, Lasso Pils, a GABF medals for their Timbo Pils, Training Bines IPA, Fresh Hop Green Battles, and Belgian Quad, among (many) others.

One of the best parts of visiting Pinthouse Pizza is, well, the pizza. It’s really good, and it pairs so nicely with their hoppy beers. Keep in mind that the three Pinthouse Pizza locations serve pizza, but the Pinthouse Brewing location has a completely different menu.

Top 2 beers to try at Pinthouse: Burro’s Breakfast Mexican lager and Training Bines hazy IPA

WEBSITE | 4729 Burnet Rd, Austin, TX 78756 (Burnet location)

2201 E Ben White Blvd, Austin, TX 78741 (Pinthouse Brewing location)

4236 S Lamar Blvd, Austin, TX 78704 (South Lamar location)

2800 Hoppe Trail, Round Rock, TX 78681 (Round Rock location)

9. Zilker Brewing

Zilker is an industrial brewery in east Austin with a small blueprint but a BIG impact! You’ll find this award-winning beer on tap walls and in grocery stores all over Austin.

The taproom features some indoor seating adjacent to their brewhouse. Since this space is so small, you get to really see all of the behind-the-scenes stuff. The small parking lot out front has been transformed into more seating with long picnic tables. Head out here to order from Spicy Boys food truck (yep, the same life-changing fried chicken food truck that you’ll find at St Elmo) and enjoy the great outdoors.

They’ve won multiple medals at the Texas Craft Brewers Cup throughout the years for their lagers and their hazy IPA.

Top 2 beers to try at Zilker Brewing: Icy Boys light lager and Heavenly Daze hazy IPA

WEBSITE | 1701 E 6th St, Austin, TX 78702

8. Hold Out Brewing

There aren’t many breweries in downtown Austin, and there aren’t many restaurants with parking lots in downtown Austin either. Luckily, Hold Out Brewing is the exception to both of these statements, AND it’s one of the best breweries in Austin.

From the same team that brought us Better Half Bar, Hold Out Brewing is literally in the same space and shares the same two amazing parking lots. (OK, should we talk about something other than the amaaazing parking lots in downtown Austin? Clearly, I’m an Austin resident and get excited about this stuff…)

Hold Out has a wide variety of beer and cider, but start with their hoppy stuff first. This is where they really shine. I recommend getting a flight of a bunch of stuff when you first go to Hold Out because the beer list is pretty robust.

The outdoor patio and courtyard are both great places to sit and enjoy the beer. Be sure to order some food! Their menu is incredible, with one of the best burgers in town, great curly fries and wings, and this really big, craveable salad. (A craveable salad, you say? Yes. Yes, it is.)

Top 2 beers to try at Hold Out Brewing: Nice ‘n Clean pre-prohibition lager and Liquid Television hazy IPA.

WEBSITE | 1208 W 4th St, Austin, TX 78703

7. St Elmo

The next two beers are very close in proximity. You could even walk from one to the next, so it’s worth doing a little “Austin brewery crawl” and checking out both of them.

St Elmo, located at The YARD in south Austin, is a small industrial space with a lot of heart. When they opened they had 3 beers on their menu, and two of them have remained crowd favorites and are still around.

The indoor taproom is small, but there’s a corner stage where they’ll have a comedian or a singer/songwriter on certain nights of the week. And the outdoor patio is awesome, with a lot of space, an incredible food truck with fried chicken, (lookin’ at you, Spicy Boys!), and plenty of picnic tables for big groups to gather.

Top 2 beers to try at St Elmo: Carl kolsch, and Smalls hazy pale ale

WEBSITE | 440 E St Elmo Rd G-2, Austin, TX 78745

6. Vacancy Brewing

Vacancy Brewing is still new-ish to the Austin craft brewing scene, but they quickly put their name on the map by winning a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival in 2023 for their Jet Lag Lager.

This tiny brewery is also probably the cutest brewery on the list. It’s a small taproom with just a few indoor and outdoor tables, but their color schemes, fonts, and murals on the wall are basically begging to be photographed and added to your social media pages.

Top 2 beers to try at Vacancy: Jet Lag Lager hoppy lager and June hill country pilsner

WEBSITE | 415 E St Elmo Rd 1 d2, Austin, TX 78745

5. Jester King Brewing

Behold, the KING! No, really. Jester King is internationally known for their farmhouse-style ales and spontaneous fermentation. This is the brewery where you can get reeeaally nerdy about beer, if you want to. And the cool thing about Jester King is that Jeff Stuffings, the guy who started this place, opened Jester King in 2010 as a destination brewery wayyy before farmhouse ales and sour beers and destination breweries were even a thing. And people just latched onto it!

Not into sour beers? No worries. Jester King actually offers a lot of mainstream beers now for the general public, as well as wine and cider.

The property itself is very cool. They have a huge property with a brewery and taproom, multiple beer gardens, a playground, an event space, a goat farm (yup!), and even a mini hotel where you can stay overnight.

The wood-fired pizza is so good, it actually makes going to Jester King worthwhile even if you’re not going to drink any beer at all. It’s flash-cooked in their wood-burning oven and comes out with a tasty, chewy crust. Psst: don’t skip desserts here!

Top 2 beers to try at Jester King Brewing: SPON spontaneously fermented beer and Jester King Pale Ale

WEBSITE | 13187 Fitzhugh Rd, Austin, TX 78736

4. Lazarus Brewing Co.

Lazarus is one of the first craft breweries in Austin to successfully open a second fully-functioning brewery within a few years of opening the first. The east Austin location is the OG, but the airport location is equally amazing (and even bigger.)

They’ve won a pretty impressive collection of awards at GABF, World Beer Cup, and Texas Craft Brewers Cup. Similarly to Austin Beerworks, they do a lot of beer styles well, but their IPAs and hop-forward beers are a good place to start here.

Lazarus is unique in east Austin because they have an absolutely enormous patio. If you want a fun spot to hang out with your dog, enjoy a few pints of award-winning beer, and eat some of the best tacos in Austin, be sure to check out Lazarus.

Top 2 beers to try at Lazarus Brewing: Prodigal Pils German-style pilsner and 40 Days and 40 Nights west coast IPA

WEBSITE | 1902 E 6th St, Austin, TX 78702

WEBSITE | 4803 Airport Blvd, Austin, TX 78751

3. Austin Beerworks

Austin Beerworks is one of the most recognizable names in the Austin brewing scene. You’ve likely seen this beer on tap at the Austin airport, you’ve seen their logo on cans at the grocery store, and if you’re able, you should stop by their brewery and taproom and try out their beer as fresh as it gets.

Yes, I’m going to make you drive up north a bit for this one, but the Austin Beerworks new location in Sprinkle Valley is amazing! It has a disc golf course, a taco truck, a HUGE tap room, and a beautiful outdoor area with a playground area for kids. (And don’t worry - the playground is pretty far removed from the rest of the property, so if you don’t want to be around noisy kids while you’re drinking your beer you don’t have to.

Austin Beerworks has won awards at the World Beer Cup, Great American Beerfest, and the Texas Craft Brewers Cup. They’re recognized as a rock-solid brewery with a phenomenal brewing program, and they have a robust rotation of beer styles that they excel in.

Top 2 beers to try at Austin Beerworks: Floaty Hazy Session IPA and Fire Eagle American IPA

WEBSITE | 3001 Industrial Terrace, Austin, TX 78758 (original location)

10300 Springdale Rd, Austin, TX 78754 (new location)

2. ABGB

Austin Beer Garden Brewing Company, or ABGB, is one of the OG craft breweries in Austin. It’s an absolute must-visit in the Austin brewing scene for a couple of reasons, but most importantly: their beer is just really damn good!

They’ve won multiple Great American Beer Festival gold medals for their lagers, as well as winning Best Large Brewpub in America three years in a row. So clearly you need to make sure to try a lager (get a few of their pilsners!) if it’s your first time visiting.

ABGB is also pretty special because they have an indoor stage for live bands to perform on the weekend. Every Saturday night this place is absolutely bumpin’. You can check out their event calendar on the website, but just know that if you’re visiting on a weekend evening, you’ll probably be dancing instead of talking!

The food at ABGB is just as great as the beer. Their pizza is among the best pizza in Austin, their starters and salads are delicious, and it’s a great spot to hang out with a group of friends.

Top 2 beers to try at ABGB: Industry pilsner and Hell Yes helles

WEBSITE | 1305 W Oltorf St, Austin, TX 78704

1. Meanwhile

It’s pretty hard to talk about Austin’s beer scene and not mention Meanwhile! This behemoth project in southeast Austin (near the airport) opened in the middle of the pandemic, but that clearly didn’t slow them down. They’ve quickly become the most popular brewery in Austin.

Not only is their brewing program exceptional (they’ve won a silver medal at the World Beer Cup for the Kolsch, as well as a Great American Beer Fest silver medal for the Secret Beach IPA), but they also have one of the coolest spaces around.

The modern new-build tap room features its signature dark green color with brass textiles and live plants. They have a coffee program, and it’s honestly an awesome place to stop by in the morning and get some work done.

The outdoor beer garden has a stage for live music, a bunch of shaded seating, and a central treehouse area for kids to play on. There are 5 food trucks on site, including a BBQ truck from a James Beard Award-nominated chef.

Top 2 beers to try at Meanwhile: Secret Beach IPA and Meanwhile pilsner

WEBSITE | 3901 Promontory Point Dr, Austin, TX 78744

Posted in food and tagged bars, breweries