Location Spotlight: Blanco + Johnson City
Originally published 10/2/25. Please fill out our survey!
Welcome to a brand new edition of Location Spotlight, where we fill you in on the top beer destinations in Central Texas, outside of the Austin city limits. While an article on Dripping Springs might seem like an easy pick, we’re assuming that Craft Beer Austin readers are probably already familiar with the area; rather, we’d like to invite you to travel further west and discover an alarmingly large number of breweries along the poorly named Texas Wine Trail. I’ve never seen any wine there, personally.
There’s so many breweries, in fact, that we’ll need two articles to cover it all. This one will cover Blanco, Johnson City, and Hye, while the next will feature Stonewall and Fredericksburg.
Real Ale Brewing Co.
If you’ve only been to one place on this list, it’s probably the one that’s been around since 1996. Real Ale Brewing started in a basement in Blanco and has grown into an enormous facility that recently added a distilling program. I won’t go into their full history as their website does a much better job than I would; but in the present day, Real Ale continues to be one of the top destinations of the Hill Country for visitors of all kinds. I definitely recommend visiting during one of their events or parties, as they’re generous with the one-off releases and casks. Still fun, still delicious, and still independent after all these years.
View our brewery profile here.
Texas Cannon Brewing Company
The other brewery in Blanco, Texas Cannon Brewing Co., is tiny by comparison. The modest brewpub in downtown is named after the famous Come and Take It cannon currently housed in Gonzales, an icon of women fighting for Texas independence. The beers are all on theme with Texas historical names like The Earl of Blanco 49 English-Style Bitter Ale and the Immortal 32 Bock. And I mentioned it’s a brewpub – they’ve got giant Texas-sized pretzels, pizza, burgers, fried fish baskets, and other bar foods to pair with a sunny outdoor patio on the streets of Blanco.
Pecan Street Brewing
Where Texas Cannon is decidedly a brewpub, I would say Pecan Street Brewing in Johnson City leans more towards restaurant (I had pasta last time I was there). But don’t let the large menu mislead you – the beer here is top tier as well. From the classics like their Screw Loose Blonde and 13 Degrees Czech Pilsner, to the more unusual Mystical Moonbeams Lemongrass & Szechuan Saison and Brind Da Rauchus Rauchbier, their brewing program is exciting and on point. Pecan Street also recently expanded to a full liquor license, so this is a perfect spot to stop for lunch on the way towards Fredericksburg before diving in to all of the drinking establishments. Johnson City is also known for their lights displays during the holidays, another great time for a visit.
Nice N Easy
There’s one more spot in downtown Johnson City to discuss, and it’s kind of a brewery? Nice N Easy is the unofficial home of Yokefellow Beer, the project from Garrett Crowell, former head brewer at Jester King. He, along with additional Jester King staff (and friends) Adrienne Ballou, Margo Piper, and Matt Piper, spent two years restoring the historic building back to its earlier 1900s styling. The taproom opened in 2022, and the food and alcohol selection are as fitting as you would expect from a team with this much industry knowledge, combined with their own brewery and winery programs (it’s also the home of Lightsome Wines, which is owned by Ballou). If you’re looking for a blend of historic and modern, this is the place to be.
Old 290 Brewery
This article is now leaving the walkable downtowns of Blanco and Johnson City, and heading west along the highway into the jam-packed (pun intended) Wine Road 290. If you don’t overshoot at least one driveway, did you really have an authentic experience?
Our first stop is the deliberately named Old 290 Brewery, located at Carter Creek Winery, Villas, Spa, and Wedding Venue. A theme of this article so far is the very high beer quality at all of these places, which may have been against your expectations if you haven’t had a chance to visit – and I’m here to tell you that Old 290, with a brewing program led by Justin Zimmerman, may have the best beer yet. Their most popular mainstay beer is… a bourbon barrel-aged brown ale named The Hell Raiser? Hell yeah. You can add that to a flight along with the sotol barrel-aged peach sour ale, a number of more traditional styles, and pair it with a nice food menu of sandwiches and pizzas. The setting is lovely as well; you can choose the German-style taproom, attached patio, or the large lawn shared with the winery tasting room (and wedding venue!) If you haven’t been yet, you must have missed our brewery profile back in 2020 that was shared as “The Hill Country Brewery You Need to Visit Right Now.”
The Brewery Profile You Need to Read Right Now.
Black Chapel Brewing Co.
The final (large) brewery of this article actually just opened a few months ago… and if you’ve been, you know they’re worthy of a full highlight. Jared and Whitney Broach simultaneously built a winery and a brewery, in two separate buildings, and were able to open both within just a few weeks of each other. Black Chapel Brewing Co, located next to Charleston Taylor Winery, is a massive brewpub with a robust tank to tap system led by co-owner Kevin Dyer. I’ve already discussed the beer in detail during our staff picks article this summer, so this time I’ll point out their eclectic pizza menu including the Wild Bill, which is a bacon, basil, and cranberry pizza. I don’t want to write “don’t miss this one” over and over in this article, because you don’t want to miss any places I’ve written about here, so be sure to book a villa at Old 290 above and take an extra few days to check all of them out safely.
And more!
There’s still more?? Keep going west, and there’s four more (smaller) spots to mention before leaving Hye:
- Open since 2011, longtime winery Westcave Cellars has a brewery system and offers flights. It’s a small setup, but worth checking out for the winery + brewery experience. If you’re traveling with weirdos who are looking for a fancy wine taproom and tasting, but you want beer, this would be a good spot to steer them towards.
- On the same note, but much more recent – West Wing Brewery is the beer brand for White House Winery, which opened less than a year ago at a farmhouse along I-290. The farmhouse is white, hence the literal name, and for fun owner Brandon Owens leaned into the president theme by naming the beers after Lincoln, JFK, Reagan, and recently an Oktoberfest named Oktober Surprise. Reservations are required to visit.
- Don’t like beer? (Then why are you reading this?) Good news, there’s also a cidery and a meadery right between Black Chapel and Westcave.
- Hye Cider Company has moved a few times recently – they had a dugout taproom south of the highway, and when that lease was up they temporarily shared a space with Texas Wine Collective, before coming right back across the street from their original spot to share a different space with Silver Dollar Winery. They’re planning to make this their permanent home, and it works great for them with a dedicated counter and tastings available, along with plenty of brewing space to produce their large format bottles of high ABV cyser.
- Texas Mead Works is right next door at Blue Lotus Winery, in the conspicuous half-barrel shaped taproom. They actually produce their products in their original location north of Seguin, but this satellite taproom is likely going to be the more convenient option for mead-lovers looking for a full day of activities (though I’ve been to both lol). In addition to the high quality mead and tastings offered, they have a second brand for session meads named Saint Michael’s Mead. It’s rare, but I’ve actually seen this on draft in Austin before, though it was a few years ago. Your best bet is going to be a visit to the literal barrelhouse.
- (Yes, I see the irony in me trash-talking wine up above, and then excitedly pitching the cidery and meadery. Don’t @ me.)
That was a lot, right? Well if you go just a few more miles west, there’s at least six more breweries. Fredericksburg article coming next.
