I’m in Texas on vacation. What beer should I buy here that I can’t get in Kansas or Missouri?
Dogfish and Harpoon are two national brands I like that I can’t get back home. No Label and St. Arnold are local brews that are decent.
Anything else in Texas I should try which you know isn’t widely distributed?
I like Belgian whites and hefeweizens right now but open to anything not super hoppy.
Thanks.
Welcome to Texas. You should try Real Ale’s Rio Blanco Pale Ale and Full Moon Pale Rye Ale. They are nicely balanced with hop and malt flavors. Their Han’s Pils is also very good, but on the bitter side for a German Pils. It is sold in cans. Rahr’s Uglu Pug is a nice schwartz bier. Shiner’s Black lager is pretty good for a mainstream brewery. It has some malt, but a dry, American lager like finish. Austin Beer Works beers are good beers in cans. They have a nice pils. It has a hint of diacetyl which I find authentic to Czech lager, but I know some are very sensitive to it. Live Oak makes great beer, but it is only on tap and hard to find outside of Austin. They have a nice pils, and a very authentic hefe-weizen. 512 Brewing is another Austin brewer that has limited distribution, but when I go to a pub in Austin, everyone is drinking it.
Jester King Black Metal Imperial Stout is REALY good. Their Noble King is a nice Belgian IPA. It is not very bitter, but has a big hop flavor. JK beers are only sold in 750 ml Champagne bottles and on tap. Most of their beers are interesting, but on the hoppy side.
If you like wits, you should go to Freetail Brewing in San Antonio. The brewer used to work at Celis in Austin. He usually has several wits on tap. He often has beers bottled up to sell in the cooler. They will probably have beer in the grocery store next year since the laws in Texas have changed, but for now, you have to go to the brew pub to get the beer. I had a Deep Ellum Wit last week, and it was pretty good. I think they are only in Dallas though.
I have tried to recommend non-hoppy/well balanced beers. There are many local beers and brew pubs depending on which city you are visiting. We are kind of having a beer boom right now so there are too many breweries popping up to keep up with. Enjoy.
No Texas expert here, but we had some great brews from Deep Ellum Brewing Company during a visit to Austin this year. I also loved Jester King.
Lots of very good new small breweries in the DFW area (finally). However, their business model generally involves commercial accounts first (on tap in bars/restaurants) then moving on to bottling/distribution later. Rahr is available readily. Revolver only offers one of their beers in bottle right now. Four Corners has one or two, I think. Cummunity, Martin House, and Deep Ellum are tap only. They all make very good stuff.
Texas has weird alcohol laws so none of these breweries have pubs. They all do tastings on the weekends. You pay 10 bucks and get to try their beers on site. There’s ususally food and music too.
+1 here for Real Ale Brewing, but many Texas microbeers are only locally or regionally distributed so what part of Texas are you visiting?
Houston.
I’m going to stock up before heading home. 
New here, this part of the forum doesn’t seem to move too quick.
Anyway, I’m living near Houston from the Philadelphia area. For this area, I recommend;
Karbach: Hopadillo, Any seasonal bomber, Barn Burner saison
Saint Arnold: Elissa IPA, Brown, Sailing Santa
Southern Star: Buried Hatchet stout, Pine Belt pale
+1 on Karbach Saison. Probably one of the best Saisons out there. I like mine earthy which is one of the reasons I like this one so much.
Also: Ranger Creek Brewing (San Antonio) Mequite Smoked Porter is outstanding.
Wont even go into Austin area breweries which are now so numerous they publish a travel guide for them.
GBT!
I know this thread is long since dead but if you come back to Texas stop by Lubbock. A city with a German name and a place with alot of bier.
