Australians are guilty of many misconceptions when it comes to modern day America. No, the entire population of Texas are not gun-slinging cowboys; getting married by Elvis at a drive-thru chapel in Las Vegas is not the traditional setting for a wedding; and not every twenty something wearing jeans and a t-shirt holding a smartphone in San Francisco is a billionaire founder of a social media platform. Equally so, the country does not simply produce an array of barely drinkable amber fluid that they like to call beer.
Fact: America has some of the best microbreweries on the planet these days. So instead of sticking to the mass produced and mass marketed beer brands on tap at nearly every bar across the country, why not venture further afield and give your taste buds something memorable? To help get you started, we’ve put together our pick of the America’s best microbrewers and the best places to drink in. How many can you tick off your beer bucket list?
It’s hip to like beer in Austin
While donning lederhosen, being served by busty barmaids and dancing to questionable polka music on wooden tables with crowds of drunken revellers at Oktoberfest is often considered an experience not to be missed for any international beer lovers, Aussies looking to surround themselves with fellow beer lovers stateside should jump on a fixie bike and power their way to Texas’ hipster hangout of Austin.
A haven for skinny jean wearing, food truck loving, beard growing, and organic coffee bean addicted part-time musicians, Austin’s hipster credentials are supplemented only by the city’s love of craft beer. With more microbreweries than nearly anywhere else in America, Austin has some memorable local beers and some even better venues to drink them in.
Situated on Sixth Street the Easy Tiger bar is a hidden prohibition-style drinking den downstairs of what looks like a bread shop. With more than 30 beers on tap, and a regular rotation of the town’s best seasonal microbrews, Easy Tigeris the perfect place to sample as many locally made beers as possible. While the bar also features an array of salty bar snacks, Aussies shouldn’t pass up the opportunity to try the home made beer cheese as well to accompany their fluids.
—
Hornin’ in California
For travellers after beer with a side of American cultural curiosity, head north of San Francisco to the tiny isolated farming, ranching and logging town of Boonville. Think Beverley Hillbillies before they headed to the big smoke. Boonville is best known as the source of the Boontling folk language, which is unique to Boonville and based on English, with some Scottish and Irish Gaelic, Pomoan and Spanish mixed in. Boontling was invented in the late 19th century and there are varying versions as to the origin – some say it was started by the children of Boonville as a language game which allowed them to speak secretively around adults and that it spread throughout the town as the children got older. The language has over 1,000 words and phrases but is now only spoken by a small number of older residents. Some key words that may come in handy are ‘Brightlighter’ (an outsider not from Boonville), ‘Bucket of Blood’ (nickname of a Boonville bar known for fights), ‘Apple Head’ (girlfriend) and ‘Horn’ (to drink beer). Now that you know how to order a beer in Boontling, a visit to Anderson Valley Brewing Company in Boonville is mandatory. They brew a number of beers sporting Boontling on the label including ‘Boont Amber’, ‘Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout’ and ‘Spring Hornin’ Spring IPA’.
—
Brewed especially for the last frontier
As America’s last frontier, Alaska has a rich history of brewing that dates back to the explorers of the 1700s through to the Gold Rush. In 1986, 28-year-olds Marcy and Geoff Larson reignited that tradition when they opened the Alaskan Brewing Company, the 67th brewery in the country and the first brewery in Juneau since Prohibition. Alaskan beers reflect many of the same characteristics of beers that were brewed there during the gold rush era – from the historically based Alaskan Amber recipe to alder-smoked malts and Sitka spruce tips. Other beers that are built to help Alaskans cope with the extremes are the ‘Hopothermia’ (described as like a massive grizzly bear in winter) and ‘Alaskan Winter Ale’ (released early in October because winter comes early in Alaska).
—
The beer house without a nameTo many people spicy foods are about as well placed in a beer recipe as Russell Brand at a conservative political party’s mass chastity pledge. However, beer aficionados looking to take their taste buds on a drinking journey off the beaten path shouldn’t look past a microbrewery in the heart of Texas that is drawing crowds with its seasonal jalapeno inspired pale ale called ‘Don Jalapeno Ale’.Not for the faint hearted the ‘Don Jalapeno Ale’ packs 60 pounds of jalapenos into its beer recipe and is produced by No Label Brewing Company in the small town of Katy. Like all good business ventures, No Label Brewing, started over a sunny Saturday afternoon family catch up where one too many home brews were enjoyed on a sunny back porch and is now a thriving brew house and bar running regular specialty tasting events.Aussie travelers venturing to Texas to taste Katy’s famous local drop should also be sure to make a pit stop in Houston where a resident has taken an interesting approach to recycling his old beer cans. Since 1968, Houston local John Milkovisch, has used his leftover beer cans as fencing and cladding for his house. He did this through cutting off the ends and flattened the cylinders to form sheets which he then made into panels. The tops and bottoms he then joined into chains and hung from the eaves of his house. An odd way to carry out home improvements no doubt, but no one can question John’s obsession with the amber ale!–
Nocturnal beer goggles
It seems microbreweries have become mainstream these days. Every man and his dog does a brewery tour. But just when you thought microbreweries couldn’t get any more niche, along comes a brewhouse near Boston that is so artsy, so underground, so clandestine that it had to be smaller than micro.
Night Shift Brewing self-describe themselves as a ‘nocturnal nano-brewery and taproom.’ Beginning the business with a set up that would make Walter White proud: a five gallon pot, a Gatorade cooler and a homebrew kit the nano-brewery has become known for its ‘avant-garde’ brewing style. Beer lovers with a taste for adventure should check out Night Shift’s ‘Viva Habanera’ with habanero pepper and agave nectar or the ‘Trifecta’ with three types of yeast (because apparently one is never enough) and vanilla beans.
Thirsty travellers looking to get their cultural fix in Boston should head to the world’s weirdest museum – MoBA – the Museum of Bad Art which is dedicated to the collection, preservation, exhibition and celebration of bad art in all its forms. With a nice set of beer goggles from a day spent drinking, travellers can enjoy the finest bad art and enter their ‘interpretator’ competition for the best explanation of what the hell the artist was thinking.
—
Brooklyn beers and bars
If you’re in New York and looking to have a night off rooftop bar scenes and snobbish party-goers, head across to Brooklyn for some beer. Really, really good beer. Once the butt of many jokes from the Upper East Side, Brooklyn is enjoying a revitalisation and is now the home of hundreds of entrepreneurs, writers, musicians and just general chillers. Let’s put it in Gossip Girl terms, you’re more likely to meet Dan than Blair – relaxed, writer types who enjoy brews and ordering pizzas to go with it.
Brooklyn Brewery -a former matzo ball factory- is a stalwart in the microbrewery industry and creates its beers in the hip Williamsburg neighbourhood. It was the centre of Brooklyn’s cultural and gastronomical renaissance in the past 20 years and is known for its awesome beer. Simple as that. While you’re there, you may as well make a night of it, and crawl (hopefully not literally) to the crazy number of beer halls, cocktail hotspots and dive bars directly near the brewery. Brooklyn Ale House, One Stop Beer Shop,Mugs Ale House and Brooklyn Winery just to name a few. The trick will be remembering all the places you hit the night before when you’re trying to find your credit card / dignity.
STA Travel, the world’s largest student, youth and budget travel organisation, has your flights, accommodation and other travel needs covered for your American beer adventure.
Words by Laura Dow
