Craft Beer Austin Staff Picks | Best of 2024
Welcome to the end of 2024 edition of Staff Picks! We asked the team what their favorite local beers were that they drank this year, and here are the results! Drop us a comment on Instagram, Facebook, or Reddit to let us know your top choice of the year.
Aaron
Acopon Brewing | Aunt Kan | Best Bitter
One of my biggest blind spots as a beer drinker has been English styles. I got into beer too late to fully embrace Newcastle Brown but just in time for “Extra Special Bitter” to feel like a misnomer in a world of Brut IPAs. Acopon Brewing changed all of that in 2024. For a variety of non-drinking reasons, I found myself spending a lot of time in and around downtown Dripping Springs this year. My reward was discovering the magic of a bitter served on cask at Acopon. I ended up trying seven different bitters at Acopon over the course of the year, but my first love was Aunt Kan, a sub-5% ABV, sub-30 IBU Best Bitter that manages to be rich, bready, and complex in spite of those numbers.
Jester King | 14th Anniversary New Zealand Hop Pilsner
Launching a full-fledged secondary program is a privilege available to only the most successful and acclaimed craft breweries. Jester King is the first Central Texas brewery to reach that mountaintop with their run of straightforwardly-named, can- and draft-only “clean” beers. Traditionalists might grumble about the new beers as a cop-out or cash grab, but it’s hard to argue against the results. In a region famous for craft lagers and home to one of the nation’s heaviest IPA hitters, Jester King’s coolship-free products hold their own. My personal favorite was the 14th Anniversary New Zealand Hop Pilsner. A super crisp, super flavorful hoppy pilsner without a whiff of airborne yeast, this beer confirmed for me that Jester King is in its imperial phase.
Hold Out Brewing | Smoking Jacket: Campfire Edition | Märzen
It’s hard to believe that Hold Out has already been on the Austin beer scene for almost five years. Overcoming an inauspicious opening date of May 2020 is impressive enough, but Hold Out isn’t just happy to be here. They routinely make some of the most innovative and tastiest beers in Central Texas. One of their standouts in 2024 was the annual release of Smoking Jacket, a Märzen with “a kiss of Peach Smoked malt.” The Campfire Edition adds roasted mesquite beans, cassia bark, cacao, and vanilla beans to the base smoked märzen. In a world teeming with smoked beers that taste meaty, Campfire lives up to its name: woodsmoke and a hint of s’mores.
Fitzhugh Brewing | Bourbon Barrel Aged Belgian Tripel
It’s easy to dismiss Fitzhugh Brewing on the surface. A farmhouse modern brewhouse with a playground and stage? A generic name that arguably trades on the reputation of breweries down the road? This could easily be the sort of Disneyfied business that the Austin subreddit rages about. Fortunately, Fitzhugh’s beer program is anything but an imitation of its neighbors. Head brewer Nathan Rice is fascinated by historical and international beer styles and executes them with aplomb, from nearly-extinct beers like the Austrian Horner to contemporary ones unknown in the U.S. like the Rwandan Urwagwa. Taking the arcane and obscure and making it approachable and desirable is a challenge for any creative. Having excellent fundamentals is a must. Rice and the Fitzhugh team have those in spades, with a well-made lineup of traditional core beers to counterbalance the crazy stuff. A standout beer somewhere between those two extremes was Bourbon Barrel-Aged Tripel, an unusual (and delicious) twist on a well-known style. Here’s hoping that Fitzhugh can keep threading the needle between beer nerds and normies for a long time.
Caleb
Frontyard Brewing | Foeder Sour #3 | Foeder Aged Cherry Sour
If you’re not aware, Frontyard Brewing’s beer program is now helmed by Jonathan Harris, formally of Hedgehog Brewing. With the move to Frontyard, Harris has demonstrated that he can make full use of a foeder (large oak barrel) to create impressive and complex farmhouse ales that were not possible in the smaller brewing facility of Hedgehog. I had the privilege of tasting the third fruited ale to age in Frontyard’s new foeders, a cherry sour known only as Foeder Sour #3, and it’s basically as perfect as a fruited sour beer can get – imagine a liquid cherry pie with just the right amount of tartness to keep it from overwhelming your senses. If you haven’t been to Frontyard Brewing in a while, it’s certainly time to return, as their beer is some of the best you can find in all of Texas.
Pinthouse Brewing (Collaboration with Green Cheek) | Dino Snacks | Triple Hazy IPA
I’m not gonna write a whole essay about this one because it’s not necessary, but this thing is pretty incredible. There’s a level of juiciness in here that goes beyond any other IPA I’ve had this year. This is the best that Pinthouse puts out, and it competes with anything from CA or NY in the haze wars. It feels gross that I just wrote “haze wars” in 2025 but what’s done is done.
Black Star Co-op (Collaboration with Beerburg Brewing) | Sahti
As soon as this year started, we were hit with the news that Beerburg Brewing was closing its doors (though they’ve kind of reopened). At the end of last year, they held the Beers Made by Walking Festival, in which local brewers were invited to take a hike around the Central Texas region, and then brew a beer inspired (and/or including) the plants and natural elements experienced. I did not attend that festival, and I seriously regret it. But, I did visit Beerburg in the week before they closed and they still had a few of the beers produced for that festival in the taproom, and one of those was the collaboration with Black Star Co-op, a Sahti. This is a Finnish beer style that uses Juniper plants in place of hops, and indeed, Ashe Juniper is a varietal native to the Texas Hill Country. I was very impressed by their ability to extract the juniper flavor into this beer, and almost a year later I still remember it as one of my biggest surprises from 2024.
Vista Brewing (Collaboration with True Anomaly Brewing) | Zenith | Oak Aged Saison
I had a number of lovely beers from Vista this year – I almost went with Killer Vs or Rose Gose – but ultimately my favorite was Zenith. I actually didn’t have it locally; I took a trip to the San Antonio Beer Festival this year, where Vista was in attendance, and easily one of the top breweries there. Unfortunately Vista announced that they will be closing the San Antonio taproom soon, but don’t worry because the local spot in Driftwood is as popular as ever. As for the beer, Zenith is a small saison (grisette style) produced by Vista using True Anomaly’s house culture, which was then aged in French oak barrels. The result is a lemony, oaky, lightly effervescent farmhouse ale that only barrel aging can produce. I’m discovering now that they’ve released a variant blended with white wine for their barrel club members… so I might have to join the club next year. Er, this year.
Southern Heights Brewing | Chili Cheese Hotdog | “Flavored” Sour
Okay that’s not true, the Chili Cheese Hotdog was not my favorite sour beer from Southern Heights this year (it’s actually the Wildberry Skittles sour, with Caramel Apple as a runner up). If you’re confused right now then you’ve never been to Super Sour Sunday, a bi-annual event hosted by Southern Heights where they release 12 to 15 sour beers in a single day, four at a time, with each one surviving for about two to three hours. These are real beers, and because they’re such small batches, the brewers are able to tune them to an extreme degree to produce fruit, candy, dessert, and hot dog flavors that you cannot find in any beer made in a larger batch. Some of my other favorites have been Lemon Merengue, Nerds Candy, Tajin Peach Rings, Mango & Roasted Serrano, Chocolate Covered Strawberry, …and Spaghetti & Meatballs. There’s always a savory one, and it’s always garnished. Keep an eye on their instagram for the next event, it should be coming up in March.
Dani
Vacancy Brewing (Collaboration with Cosmic Coffee) | Cosmic Sans | Italian Pilsner
Vacancy brewing has been putting out incredible beers since they opened a few years ago. I love their Hitchhiker hazy, which won first place for East Coast IPA at East West Beer Fest this year. But my favorite beer they’ve done is Cosmic Sans, the Italian Pils collaboration between Vacancy Brewing and Cosmic Coffee + Beer Garden, which has been my standout release of 2024. This crisp, refreshing beer has enticing flavors of melon and citrus. It makes a perfect companion for warm weather at a sessionable 5.6% ABV. I prefer drinking it anytime though.
I’m a huge fan of Vacancy Brewing’s offerings, and Cosmic Sans has become an instant favorite. Its permanent feature at both Vacancy Brewing and Cosmic Coffee + Beer Garden makes me excited. I couldn’t be happier to have it readily available. If you haven’t tried it yet, do yourself a favor and grab a pint!
David
Austin Beerworks | El Sputniko | Russian Imperial Coffee Oatmeal Stout with Molé and Ancho Chiles
El Sputniko is a perfect example of Austin Beerworks’ ability to take something great and make it even more interesting. This version of Sputnik, with the addition of mole and ancho chiles, brings a unique layer of flavor that sets it apart. You still get the rich coffee and chocolate notes that make Sputnik such a go-to stout, but now there’s a subtle heat and earthiness from the chiles that gives it an extra kick. It’s not overpowering, just a little spicy warmth that plays nicely with the dark malt base.
I’ve had a few different versions of El Sputniko over the years, and this year’s batch stands out. The mole and ancho really shine through, balancing the beer’s sweetness and bitterness in a way that makes it feel like the perfect winter stout. It’s bold, flavorful, and a great way to get into the holiday spirit, but it’s also a beer you can enjoy outside of the season. Cheers to ABW for keeping things fresh and exciting with this one.
Pam
Central District Brewing (Collaboration with Pink Boots) | Cosmic Whispers | Session IPA
The Austin beer scene never fails to impress, and I always keep staples like Live Oak’s Pre-War Pils and Zilker’s Parks and Rec in my fridge. During my brewery visits for Pink Boots Collaboration beers, I discovered a standout: Central District Brewing’s Cosmic Whispers Hazy Session IPA. This hazy bursts with tropical notes of pineapple, citrus zest, and mango from the Pink Boots Hop Blend of Ahtanum, El Dorado, HBC 638, and Idaho 7. Light, tropical, and endlessly drinkable, it’s perfect for sipping while supporting a great cause.
