Globe Corner Blogs

As soon as I got off the plane in Austin we headed to happy hour at a local Italian restaurant, Sagra. Half-price pizzas and cheap, good beer. Tried a few local brews like an Independence pale ale. Then, the sun still being high in the sky and the heat oppressive, we napped on the couch for a few hours, the two cats curled next to us leaving splotches of fur on our sweaty skin.  Next came the pool where we experimented with synchronized swimming (it’s harder than it looks) and the day ended on the patio of the nearby Dog and Duck Pub. “And this is our life,” my friend smiled. I’m moving to Austin.

I took in a few of Austin’s best-known sites while there: we revisited Barton Springs, ate breakfast tacos, took in the State Capitol, and visited as many outdoor eating establishments as possible. One thing Austin does better than any other city I’ve ever seen is the patio. Specifically the patio bar.

In the evening with the sun mostly down and the city cooling from broiling to merely quite hot, there is nothing quite like drinking a cool beer on a picnic table in the evening breeze, doing nothing more strenuous than watching the condensation pool around the bottom of your glass.

This is not to say that a margarita at noon on a screened-in porch beneath whirring ceiling fans is not a great beginning-of-the-day experience. This particular patio was at Trudy’s, a sprawling restaurant that also had an open-air patio and some amazing salsa.

One nap and a few laps around the pool later we ended up at Cheer Up Charlie’s, a square little cinder block bar with excellent beers and a few picnic tables outside – not to be mistaken for Charlie’s, a gay bar that serves lots of authentic Texas Lone Star beer and doesn’t mind if a few straight girls take over the dance floor.

Austin is said to be the hipster capitol of Texas – and The Shangri-La is the statehouse. Tattoos, skinny jeans, and perfectly messed up hair abounded at this bar. We took a set of narrow stone stairs to a patio of slab rock with picnic tables scattered about. Though the place was crowded, strangers happily shared their tables with each other, cigarette ash dangling dangerously close to each other’s worn AC/DC T-shirts. The area was softly lit by lights strung among the tall trees  growing throughout. The general atmosphere outside was so lovely you could forgive the dank interior. But in Austin, why would you ever be inside? And where else but Austin could you find hipsters wearing cowboy boots and big belt buckles non-ironically?

An eclectic collection of beer-lovers sat at the bar and on the back patio at The Ginger Man in downtown Austin. One glance at the lengthy draft list and even this self-proclaimed beer aficionado was intimidated. The first bartender was a bit amused by my quest for good Texas beers, but nonetheless directed me to several great ones including a Kolsch from Franconia Brewing in McKinney, TX. The perfect refreshing beer for a warm night under the city lights. The other bartender – and a few of the regulars – accepted that I kind of knew what I was talking about and directed me to some great new brews, St. Arnold’s Lawnmower beer being amongst them, summery and fresh.

Enchanted by their beer list and their logo, I attempted to buy a T-shirt. No women’s sizes. Why not?! I asked, prepared to be incensed. The answer was sad: they don’t get many women coming in the bar. We all huffed and puffed a bit about the stereotypes associated with women and beer, but it was too late and I’d had too many beers to come up with a nationwide campaign promoting beer for women. But Dave the Bartender, I will be back.

Read more: Austin, Beer, Texas, Travel


Llalan specializes in all things Ohio, but has funny stories from all over the US and Canada, plus a few snort-inducing ones from Thailand. And not only does she read books from around the world, she also samples beers in as many languages as possible. Favorite style: the multi-national American Double IPA.

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