Craft Beer Austin Staff Picks | Best of 2025
Welcome to the end of 2025 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.
David
Acopon Brewing Company | Gaspipes | Ordinary Bitter
This was the benchmark beer of the year for me. A near-perfect English bitter that nails drinkability and style match. Soft malt, restrained bitterness, and balance make this the kind of beer you want permanently on tap.
Austin Beerworks | Over Gold | Belgian Strong Golden Ale
Belgian styles can be unforgiving, but Over Gold walks the line beautifully. Bright, dry, and expressive, with the right amount of yeast character. When Belgian styles are done correctly, they are my favorite styles, and Over Gold hit the mark.
Bird Creek Brewing | Writer’s Bock | Maibock
This one lands squarely in the “personal favorite” category. Pam and I brewed this beer with the Amazing Bird Creek team and I’m very proud of how it turned out. Dylan and Zack took our input and what we were looking for in a Maibock and helped guide this to perfection.
Some of my additional 2025 A+ offerings included:
Austin Beerworks El Sputniko; Frontyard Brewing’s Mexican Hot Chocolate Imperial Stout; Hold Out Brewing’s Pub Life; Lago Vista Brewing Company’s Trails End; Lazarus Brewing Company’s Katie’s Pride; Live Oak Brewing Company’s Death Putt Ale and Piwko Pils; Meanwhile Brewing Company’s Same Day Delivery; Oddwood Brewing’s Paragon Pils; Pinthouse Brewing’s Mystikal Pils; Real Ale Brewing Company’s Codex Triplex (Mysterium Verum) and Favorable Conditions; Southern Heights Brewing’s Hoodie Weather; St. Elmo Brewing Company’s Khaled’s Delight and Pamela; Vacancy Brewing’s Doppelgänger; Vista Brewing’s Middle Trinity; and Zilker Brewing Company’s Cut Loose.
Pam
Meanwhile Brewing Co. | Darlin’ | American Lager
We are always grateful when a brewery invites the CraftBeerAustin.com team out for a special event, and the one for the release of Meanwhile’s easy-drinking lager, Darlin’, was simply fantastic. But fun events aside, it turned out that Darlin’ would become one of my go-to beers for the rest of the year. Clean, crisp, and refreshing, it’s a crushable beer to be enjoyed in any season.
Ghost Note Brewing | Noble Wrangler | Rye Lager
For this pick, I had to go down memory lane with the help of Untappd, but once I did, I recalled how amazing this beer is. I’ll start by saying that I love rye beers, so I’m always going to rate these a bit higher. Made with rye malt and noble Hallertau hops, it is bright, slightly earthy, and very crushable at only 5.1% ABV.
Jester King Brewery | Deep Cut Cascade | Fresh Hop IPA
I love Cascade-forward beers, and getting one with fresh hops is even better. Jester King has been killing it with their clean beers, and I’ve especially enjoyed their pale ales and IPAs. This beer was a clear standout for me at Turnstile’s fresh hop beer event this past October. Loaded with Cascade, this beer has notes of grapefruit with plenty of pine resin and a clean, dry finish, ensuring you go in for another sip.
Aaron
Black Chapel Brewing Company | Neapolitan Complex | Milkshake IPA
One of the highlights of my year in beer was a mid-July day trip to the Hill Country with Craft Beer Austin’s own Caleb Hoffman. Caleb’s finger is always on the pulse of new openings, so he suggested that we swing by Charleston Taylor Winery outside of Johnson City and see if their sister brewery Black Chapel Brewing was getting ready to open. Charleston Taylor and Black Chapel owner Jared Broach was nice enough to give us a tour of the nearly-finished brewery and try a bunch of beers. Most new breweries need some time to fine-tune their recipes, but Black Chapel hit the ground running. All eight of the beers we sampled were excellent, but one of the highlights was Neapolitan Complex, a milkshake IPA with vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate. Compared to the rest of the lineup this felt like a gimmick, but it really worked. Strawberry and vanilla notes complemented the fruit characteristics of the hops while the chocolatey finish played well with the bitterness of the hops. I don’t get out to Johnson City often, but Black Chapel will be my first stop the next time I do.
Obsidian Brewery and Batch Craft Beer and Kolaches | Chābacca | Thai Tea Milk Stout
Leander’s Obsidian Brewery doesn’t get a lot of attention, but they are quietly putting out some of the best and most creative beer in the greater Austin area. One of the most unique beers at this year’s Texas Craft Brewers Festival was Chābacca, a Thai tea milk stout brewed in collaboration with Batch Craft Beer & Kolaches. A milk stout with a dessert adjunct is one of the most tired formulations in craft brewing, but this one really landed for me. The characteristic floral and bitter notes of Thai tea came through perfectly, and the stout base was just dry enough to make it taste like an adult beverage. Since then, Obsidian has also collaborated with Live Oak and Pinthouse, but if they keep producing beers like this, the other names on the collaborations won’t matter much at all.
Prost Alehouse | Germany is Calling | Kölsch
While my first two picks suggest that I’m a lactose-loving sugar fiend, I mainly drink clean beer in real life. One of the clean styles I found myself drinking more frequently this year was kölsch, the top-fermented, cold-conditioned official beer of Cologne. When done right, it’s clear, crisp, and extremely refreshing. The best kölsch I tried this year was Prost Alehouse’s Germany is Calling, which checked all the boxes while avoiding off-flavors or being overly sweet. Prost’s taproom in a historical building in downtown Pflugerville is one of the coolest brewery spaces in Central Texas and their flight carriers centered on a racecar gearshift are also unique. It’s great to have the beer catching up to the ambiance.
Dani
Austin Beerworks | Proprioception | Kveik Pale Ale
For years, I have been sitting at the bar of the Austin Beerworks Sprinkle Valley location. While I enjoy exploring their menu, two selections have stood out as my favorites. My top choice was the Proprioception. It was a Kveik-based American Pale Ale with a unique twist that set it apart from standard brews. Although I struggled with the pronunciation, I genuinely loved its refreshing profile. I was disappointed to see it go, though I may have been responsible for drinking most of the supply myself!
Once Proprioception was gone, the Lil’ Prodigy became my go-to. As a fan of ginger, I found this shandy incredibly light and refreshing. Ultimately, I have a deep appreciation for the ‘Rad-Lab’ small-batch releases; I love finding new, flavorful options that are low in ABV.
Beyond the beer, the atmosphere is always welcoming. I feel right at home at the bar, and I deeply value the friendships I’ve built with the staff and regulars over the years.
Caleb
Draught House Pub and Brewery | Snake Oil! | Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout
People call Austin a lager town, but when breweries go for stouts, they tend to nail it. Look how many great stouts were released this year! One of my favorites that didn’t make the list was Snake Oil! from Draught House, aged in Treaty Oak Barrels. Nothing particularly crazy in this one; just a perfectly balanced stout with a hint of roast, not too bitter, not too thick, and the right amount of barrel character. You may notice that all ten imperial stouts on the article above were adjuncted, so I’m giving bonus points to Snake Oil! for having no additional ingredients besides the barrel – which is to be expected from Draught House and their traditionally styled repertoire.
Southern Heights Brewing | Hot Tamales | Spicy Cinnamon Candy Sour Ale
I’m going to make it a yearly tradition of including my favorite Super Sour Sunday release. If you haven’t been, SSS is only held at Southern Heights twice a year, and each beer exists for about 3-4 hours before kicking and moving on to the next one. I was unfortunately out of town for the October SSS, but my favorites from the April edition were Blueberry Lemon Hibiscus, Chocolate Orange, and of course, Hot Tamales. As a fan of both spicy beers and sugar beers, this hit perfectly. Runners up were Pineapple Mango Habanero, Watermelon Lemonade, and Spicy Pickle.
Real Ale Brewing | Favorable Conditions (with Beet) | One-Off Cask
What I can say, the smaller the batch, the more tuning that can be done. At Real Ale’s anniversary party this year, they rolled out several pins, which were free, and so the lines apparated instantly. After 20 minutes I had my half cup of this west coast IPA flavored with beets. And it was incredible! I don’t even like beets, but this was hoppy and earthy and juicy. And then it was gone. Ya had to be there.
Central District Brewing | Stardust Salute | Double New England IPA
To show that I also like beers that aren’t adjuncted sugar bombs, my last pick is a non-adjuncted sugar bomb. Stardust Salute was released in January at our favorite brewery near the convention center ruins. I thought it was a juicy, fruity, full-bodied, well-crafted hazy IIPA. Not much more of a story here. Great beer!
