Fifth Stop – Live Oak Brewing Company

Live Oak Brewing in Austin isn’t in the best neighborhood, they don’t use fancy marketing, and their facility isn’t the most picturesque. None of that matters. When you produce consistently excellent beer that you’re knowledgeable and passionate about you get a free pass on those periphery things.

I made it to Live Oak in Austin and met with owner/brewer Chip McElroy. I was also lucky enough to speak briefly with brewmaster Steve Anderson. The most significant thing I will say about my talk with Chip is that I learned more from him than I have from any single beer conversation I’ve ever had.

I know what wort is. I understand how yeast works. I get what hops add to the flavor of beer. Basically, I know the basics.

Chip however, is a fountain of knowledge. More than that, he’s completely happy and willing to share that knowledge. In fact, it seems like a mission of his to spread the word about good beer to the masses.

One of the many things we talked about was the Live Oak Hefeweizen. Currently, the hefe is ranked on Beer Advocate as the number 67 beer in the world. It also comes in as number two in the hefeweizen category. Not too bad for a little brewery in Austin that doesn’t bottle or can their beer. In fact, it’s downright tough to get their beer.

This is a list of cities where they have at least one tap:

Addison, Alpine, Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Kerrville, Marathon, New Braunfels, Plano, Rockdale, San Antonio, San Marcos, Temple, and Waco.

That’s right, 15 cities. All in Texas.

I looked through Beer Advocate and it seems like most of the ratings of Live Oak beers don’t actually come from cities where they distribute; they come from people who got it in trades. That means someone filled a growler from a bar’s tap and drove it to places like Michigan, Pennsylvania, Florida, or Canada. I can’t imagine they’re getting anything close to the fullest flavor once the beer is driven twenty-four hours in a growler. And yet, it still ranks extremely well.

The Live Oak Hefe is one of their year-round beers brewed in a traditional Bavarian style. The head on it is thick enough that it could probably support your weight if you were inclined to try standing on your beer. The aroma gives off a clear scent of bananas and maybe a little bit of cloves and vanilla.

In the book I’ll write more about the Live Oak hefe, the new brewing facility they have planned, and all kinds of history and general brewing knowledge that Chip shared with me.

Since going to Live Oak I hit Saint Arnold’s in Houston yesterday and Spoetzl brewery in Shiner, TX today. Posts coming soon!