Flying Saucer’s Fall Beer Festival

Nice crowd, good beer selection, good outside patio area, easy parking, pleasant staff. Most suitable for groups.
Food? Naaw, not so great– very average to below average, bar stuff. But… Mandola’s Italian Market is just across the way, and you can get takeout, and nobody said I couldn’t eat what I brought.
definately a «return visit» kind of place.

I can’t believe I almost missed this event! I love the Austin food and drink scene! This was perhaps the most fun AND mellow fest of this kind that I have been to in any city. If this had been held in LA, you would be stuck facing long, chaotic lines (both to get in and at all the booths), high prices, skimpy pours, and who knows what other annoyances. Here, everybody had a great time, the pourers were enthusiastic and generous (I had several tastings filled to the brim and others that maybe weren’t counted on my card *wink), and the lines were never longer than 4 people maybe. It was a gorgeous day too. I was really surprised to see people with their dogs; I’ve never seen that at an event like this, but there seemed to be no problems! A couple of the Austin food trucks were there too, but I had no room for both tasty bites AND lots of beer. And of course, the beers were great. I had several beers over 10% alcohol, so I relied on my camera to document all my tastings. Dogfish Head’s «Punkin» is a delightful alcoholic pumpkin pie in a glass. If you like hazelnut, you must try the Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar. The Live Oak «Tree Hugger» (made in Austin!) might just kill you– 13.7% ABV! I enjoyed the limited release (512) Brandy Barrel Aged «One.2» as well. For only $ 12 for twelve 2 oz samples (don’t worry, it doesn’t seem like a lot but you will be fairly destroyed afterward), this was a great event. We were done after about 4 hours here. A big thanks to Blake and Angie, for telling me about this. I can only hope I will be in Austin again next year for this event!