Barks for Beers Returns for 2024

Updated 4/23/24 – The first version of this article completely missed 2014!  This has been updated, 2014 is now recognized in the data below.

Popular fundraising event Barks for Beers, operated by local charity Divine Canines is returning to Central Texas for their 10th year.  Starting on May 1st, visit any of the 30 breweries listed below to pick up a pint glass and Pawsport for $30+tax.  Then, you can use that Pawsport at all 30 breweries throughout the month of May to receive one pour at each.

Here at Craft Beer Austin (or really just me specifically), we like to go into way too much detail about beer related things that are going on around Austin.  Barks for Beers actually provides a great data set, as we now have 10 years of brewery participation that we can analyze – and you better believe that we will be doing that below.  Don’t skim this article, it’s good.

But first, the charity: Divine Canines provides free therapy dog services to various populations including older adults, hospitalized patients, school reading programs and more. Their mission is: Partnering with our dogs to enhance the well-being of those in need. Barks for Beers helps us keep their training costs affordable and helps them keep their volunteers, human and canine, equipped to provide the best possible free services.

As always, don’t forget to tip the taproom staff!

Ten Years of Barks for Beers

We’ll specifically go through this year’s list below, but I wanted to start by sharing these cool charts I made.  The first one is brewery participation among all breweries that are currently open (and have participated at least once).  The second chart is all breweries, even closed ones – enjoy the nostalgia trip.  (Note: If you’re on a computer you can right click -> “Open image in new tab” for a larger image that can be zoomed in.  If you’re on a phone, just pinch to zoom as usual.)

Important note: The event did not occur in 2020 due to the pandemic, but the brewery list was already available – as such, the 2020 year is colored white in the below chart to recognize the breweries that signed on to participate.  With that in mind, it’s actually been 11 years since Barks for Beers began, but excluding 2020 means there’s been 10 years of operation.

Here are some interesting notes I’ve pulled from these charts:

• No breweries participated all 10 years (11 including 2020).  Circle would have been the only one – but sadly they closed last year.
• 2017-2018 was a pivotal year for Barks for Beers, as it marked the tipping point where it went from a small event to a popular one.  As a result, many of the larger breweries that were on board for years 1-4 (Jester King, ABW, ABGB, Lazarus, and Zilker), decided to bow out, and in exchange the smaller breweries that were still looking to get their name out signed on in their place.
  • Keep in mind that the event is always limited to 30 breweries – so, making room for the smaller and more out of the way locations that do not maintain quite as much traffic is a win/win for everyone.
    • (Unless you think Barks for Beers should uncap their 30 brewery limit, which I suppose is an argument one could make.)
• Now for our leaderboard:
  • Infamous has participated every year except 2014 and 2018, making them one of the leaders at 9 years (including 2020).  They are the king of the “small and out of the way” breweries.
  • Twisted X also bowed out for 2018, but otherwise has been on the list since even year one.  So what’s the second year they didn’t participate? That would be this year, 2024.
  • The two 8 year breweries:
    • Independence joined in 2015, then missed 2018 and 2019, but were back for 2020 and have been on since.
    • The other brewery at 8 total is Red Horn, and this is simply because they weren’t open yet – the brewery opened in late 2015 (after that year’s event), and were still getting things up and running by the event in 2016.  But starting in 2017, they’ve been on every time, no exceptions.
  • All five of the 7 year participant breweries have the same story: They joined in 2018, and have been on board ever since with no skips.
    • This includes Black Star, The Brewtorium, Live Oak, Southern Heights, and Suds Monkey.
• Other breweries that have joined continuously since they first opened their doors: Vista, Hopsquad, Nomadic, Frontyard, Ghost Note, Willard’s/Big Country, Vacancy, and The Stay Put.
• There are 7 breweries joining for the first time this year:
  • Four of them are new breweries that just opened in the last 12 months.
  • And three of them have been open for a while – but they’re outside of Austin proper, and have signed on this year to invite us to visit some of the hot spots that are further away.  More specifics on this in the next section of the article.
• A funny story: Rogness joined in 2014-2015, Flying Man in 2018-2020, Willard’s in 2022, and Big Country in 2023-2024.  So while it’s four different breweries, you could say that 2400 Patterson Industrial Dr has 8 years of participation.
• Finally, let’s give a salute to the breweries that signed on in 2020, but were then unable to stay open until the following year: Flying Man, Orf, Skull Mechanix, Compadre, and The Brewer’s Table.

2024 Brewery List

Onward and upward!  Next, we can go through this year’s Barks for Beers list, along with my snarky commentary.  Enjoy

For an interactive map and spreadsheet with detailed brewery information, please check out their website: https://divinecanines.org/barksforbeers/

Additionally, there will be special prizes and a bingo contest on their socials: https://www.facebook.com/divinecaninestexas and https://instagram.com/barksforbeers

And of course Divine Canines will be bringing their pups to the breweries, and giving pets is approved and encouraged!

Excited for Barks for Beers? Share your thoughts on Facebook, Instagram, or this app called Petzbe I just found which is social media for dogs… idk!