Last year I started a new job, working remotely (aren’t we all) for an east coast company, doing web and software development with a tech team that also works remote—from Austin, Texas. While the job isn’t beer-related, everyone pretty well knows I’m “the beer guy,” so it’s no surprise that I’ve already sent some Oregon beers to my Texas team coworkers—and naturally, received some Austin brews in return.

Austin has developed quite a nice beer scene, something Jeff Alworth also noted recently:

I don’t feel too confident trying to characterize the South except to note that Austin and Atlanta both surprised me with how advanced their beer scenes are. I’m especially curious to see how these diverse cities will evolve as more underrepresented people start to make their voices heard there. I plan to keep my eye on both of them. They may point to a future we can’t yet envision. (I hope!)

Someday I’ll visit Austin for a more holistic sense of things, but in the meantime, the region has a strong showing based on these beers, so let’s get into them.

Pinthouse Pizza Electric Jellyfish Hazy IPA

The Pinthouse Pizza is a brewery chain similar, I imagine, to the Pizza Port chain of brewery pizzerias in Southern California, with four locations that have rotating taplists featuring many hop-forward beers. Electric Jellyfish is the flagship, with 6.5% ABV and 73 IBUs, of which the company says:

Our flagship IPA is brewed with some of the newest and most exciting hop varieties featuring Simcoe, Citra, Azacca, and Galaxy hops, Electric Jellyfish enjoys a bright tropical citrus character along with notes of orange, lemon, lychee, and a floral backbone. The Jellyfish is a new school IPA focusing on the juicy hop flavor and aroma while keeping the bitterness balanced and refreshing.

Appearance: Hazy, translucent golden orange, a bit fruit juice-like. Fine and thick white head with great lacing.

Smell: Stone fruit, melon, some grapefruit juice, a light touch of allium. Touch spicy, zesty, pretty mainline “hazy” aromas with a nice subtle juiciness.

Taste: There’s a mango/apricot juice character fronting a savory herbal flavor with grapefruit zest and a light spiciness. Moderate bitterness that’s lightly grassy but balanced well with a rye-like spicy wheatiness of the malts. Pleasant almost-hop-burn that creeps up way in the back but it’s tempered with some fruit peel and finishes clean.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied with a soft wheat breadiness and herbal aftertaste.

Overall: Pretty tasty and it’s a well dialed-in hazy.

Austin Beerworks Bloodwork Orange Blood Orange IPA

Austin Beerworks is probably the most well-known of the Austin breweries, offering up a range of styles among six core beers and at least 15 seasonals (based on what’s listed on the website). Bloodwork Orange is listed as a year-round “seasonal,” which the description explains:

As part of our ABW Pilot Program, every Beerworker gets the chance to pilot our private bi-plane. Whaaat? No. We have robots for that. Actually they get to make their own beer on our seven-barrel pilot system – It’s called RAD Labs for Research and Development. That’s how Bloodwork began – with Nick Pratt and a citrusy dream. It was only available in our taproom but was in such high demand it has become our first year-round seasonal. It’s the Sicilian blood oranges added during fermentation that make this a citrus symphony for the senses.

The beer is 7% alcohol by volume with 20 IBUs.

Appearance: Translucently unfiltered, orange in color, with a decent white head.

Smell: Gentle notes of blood orange, juice and slightly oily peel, and an undercurrent of passion fruit and nicely bready malts. Lightly bitter and powdery lupulin notes.

Taste: Fruity and bitter; light “tang” of orange juice, with clean hops bitterness and orange pith. Sweet marmalade, citrus oil, a touch of spicy-bitter tobacco, a hint of esters, bready and lightly sweet malt which is mellow but complements the hops and the orange quite well.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied, with a clean, bittersweet finish.

Overall: Enjoyable and tasty with a good balance of all the elements but particularly the orange.

Friends & Allies Brewing Hazy IPA (aka F’n A Hazy IPA)

Beyond being a brewery and taproom, I don’t really know much about Friends & Allies but this Hazy IPA is at least a semi-regular beer. It’s 7.24% ABV with no mention of IBUs.

Appearance: Hazy, dirty orange, translucent. Big ample white head, amped by a rough pour and laser-etched glass nucleation.

Smell: Pineapple, pineapple skin (the spiky parts), a very light note of allium (greens). Mango, a hint of lemon zest, Untappd mentions tangerine and yes, that’s there too.

Taste: Tangerine juice cut with wheatgrass juice. Bright and floral, a soft malt profile, super light bitterness that pushes some fruit skins, hop leaves, and black tea. Tasty and fruity and minimal allium; it’s balanced and nice all around.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied, almost medium-full with good soft fluffiness in the proteins that gives it a billowy feel.

Overall: Pretty nice, decent fruitiness and overall balance shows a deft handling of ingredients.

Saloon Door Brewing Basic Biculous

Saloon Door’s website might be even less informative than Friends and Allies, though I can at least tell you it was established in 2016. And it would be super helpful if breweries—all breweries—could put their beer information on their websites.

From what I can relay about Basic Biculous, it’s a Pumpkin Spice Latte Russian imperial stout that has 11.8% ABV. I don’t know that it actually has any pumpkin, but it does bring the spice.

Appearance: Dark brown to black, opaque, with a light brown creamy head.

Smell: Subtly spiced and rich; cinnamon, ginger, allspice with chocolatey, creamy note (lactose, presumably) which goes a bit more spiced chocolate syrup to my nose than PSL. Some deep roastiness, light booze but more of a liqueur character than spirit.

Taste: Big spice kick in flavor! Almost “hot” cinnamon, mace, ginger followed by a syrupy-sweet, deeply roasty stout—almost charred or ashy. Spices are a touch astringent—cinnamon stick-like, woody. Dark roast coffee, cocoa syrup, maybe cinnamon syrup? Big sweetness in the dark roast that’s a bit cloying and sticky.

Mouthfeel: Medium-full body with a long spice and cloying finish.

Overall: Too much spice, but this is definitely a dessert beer.

Independence Brewing Stash IPA

Independence was founded in 2004 and serves up what looks like a solid lineup  of beers (thank you for listing them!).

Looking back through these notes, I’d say Stash IPA was my favorite of this group, a super solid India pale ale brewed with Citra, Cascade, Centennial, Columbus, Amarillo, and Simcoe hops to 7.5% ABV and 94 IBUs. The website says:

The Chronic of IPAs, the enlightening hop trip you’ll wish would never end. Stash’s simple malt bill is the canvas upon which a kaleidoscopic array of six hop profiles groove: citrusy and floral, earthy and dank, piney and resinous. By their powers combined—this is Stash IPA! Keep your wits about you, you’ll want to remember where you hid your Stash.

Appearance: Orange, unfiltered light hazy, honey-ish look. Big off-white, almost bone, head, with good lacing and legs.

Smell: Sticky, resinous hops with orange zest and jamminess; some sweetish crystal malts under a piney dankness. Really nice.

Taste: Quite tasty with an herbal bitterness with notes of pine, forest floor, and good general spicy-resin flavors. The malt game is strong as well, with good bready-caramel flavors that boost the citrus (zest) qualities of the hops. Rich but hoppy and dry.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied with a good bite to it and a crisp dry finish.

Overall: Really quite a nice IPA, and I would like more.

Blue Owl Brewing Van Dayum! Sour Red Ale

I featured a Blue Owl beer on the latest Beer Advent Calendar, and of the brewery I wrote, “Established in 2015, Blue Owl focuses on sour ales with the goal of creating well-balanced sour beers across a variety of base styles. You’ll find sour versions of pale, wheat, red, IPA, lager styles and more, produced by sour mash techniques promoting lactic acid—if not kettle souring methods, then it sounds a bit like German sour mash procedures.”

Van Dayum! is a year-round sour red, with 5.7% ABV and 32 IBUs, described thusly:

Our dry-hopped red ale showcases how rich malt balances piney American hop flavors along with our unique souring process.

Appearance: Red-orange-copper, nice brightness to it. Off-white to pale tan colored head, nicely dense and lacy.

Smell: Rounded tart aroma with some lactic acid, a touch of acetic acid (vinegar), a bit of a lemony sour note. More complex than many kettle sours I’ve experienced, which can be one-dimensional with only lactic acid. Some grainy maltiness and a light hit of fruity-earthy hops.

Taste: Much more mild than I was expecting vis-à-vis sour levels; it gets more bracing at the sides and back of the tongue. A bit earthy with a bit of a harsh bite, possibly with hops clashing a bit with the sour, which reminds me slightly of dirt. Acidity is primarily lactic here with a note of citric acid supporting it. Earthy hops over a mildly malty red ale as the base. It softens as it warms.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied with some acidity and bitterness into the finish.

Overall: It’s okay, I’m glad it’s not heartburn in a glass but would like less earthy/harsh bitter notes to make it more drinkable to my palate.