North Austin beer drinkers have it made

Friday night I ventured down south of the river to the newest "brewpub" in that part of town, BJ's Brewhouse. I had been once before, but late on a weeknight. This was my first time to see it at a peak time. I was shocked at how crowded it was! The wait for a table was an hour or more. We waited in the bar and eventually just ate there as well. And even the bar area was so crowded that we were only able to stake out a tiny piece of countertop real estate at first.

The popularity of this place puzzled me, because the beer isn't anything to write home about, and the prices are high. But then I remembered where I was - Hwy 71 and Brodie. If I was your average South Austinite on a Friday night looking to go out, my choices of restaurants or bars serving good beers would be pretty slim. I'd either have to drive up north, or wait it out at a crowded BJ's. I hope I am not completely overlooking some South Austin gem that I'm unaware of, but as far as I know, there really isn't much down there for beer geeks. I suppose Uncle Billy's is technically south, but that area feels more like an extension of downtown these days.

In North Austin, however, we are spoilt for choice. We can start out north of the university at Crown & Anchor and make our way up to Opal Divine's Marina (in what I would consider to be south Dallas), with several quality options of beer hangouts that aren't overly crowded. And with the new Flying Saucer opening at the Triangle, we are about to have even more options.

South Austin beer drinkers - slam your pints down and demand beer-friendly development! And perhaps try to get yourself on the Black Star Co-op Location Search Committee... ;)