We've all heard the saying that everything's bigger in Texas
but today we're headed to Live Oak Brewing Company in Austin where we're
going to dispute the idea that bigger is better.
This small craft brewer's restrained focus on classics with balance
simplicity and even lower alcohol content is a delicious deviation from
the more commonly seen beer trends.
Hi, I'm Suzanne Henricksen a researcher and
storyteller by trade and a world explorer, drink local enthusiast by heart.
I'm traveling the world to celebrate and share the people, the process, the stories
and the innovations behind craft alcohol and I can't wait to share our amazing
finds with all of you. So let's get drinking Crafty Cask style.
Beyond the approach to the beer, what I love about Live Oak Brewing is the
atmosphere. It feels like we're in the middle of the American countryside beneath
sprawling live oak trees yet we're sipping on delicious Eastern European style beer
right outside the cultural mecca of Austin, Texas. A little bit city, a little
bit country and a whole lot of delicious Eastern European style beer. Lets head
inside you see what we can learn about this unique brewery.
Chip, hi! Hello Suzanne, you're just in time.
Oh yay. I just poured a beer. Look at this! Special for you.
I love seeing the mastermind of Live Oak Brewing right behind the bar. Well thank
you very much. I like to be behind the bar. So what made you think about opening
a brewery entirely focused on kind of Eastern European style, Central
European style beers way back in the 90s, in the heart of Texas? They're just
intrinsically delicious beers. Did you feel like you had to educate consumers a
little bit way back then to these styles of beers? Where these styles of beers
kind of popular in the nineties? Oh there was a little bit of education but
they as soon as they tasted them they realize oh these are delicious beers.
Yeah baptism by fire. I don't have to think about it. They're just good. Good I love it.
So you can't make a girl drink alone. I think you need to join me in this. My
pleasure, I thought you'd never ask. Cheers, cheers, Thanks for coming.
Yeah this is exciting! Take a look in the the brew house, we can
start there and go off into fermentation, great.
We're in the brew house it's kind of the heart of any brewery and if we talk about the Pilz, the malt bill is
our easiest one it's only one malt. We use an under modified heirloom variety
of barley malt. To be more authentic. To be more authentic. So in the spirit of
authenticity though it makes your process a little bit more complex versus
you could to kind of take a shortcut and use more modern malt right. Absolutely,
You choose not to do that. Absolutely our philosophy is that well we could take a shortcut on
the mash and it probably only change the flavor of the beer, five or ten
percent. We could take a shortcut on our ingredients. There certainly just as good
of malts here in North America, they're just different, that's only gonna make a
you know 10 or 15 percent difference and so on and so forth all the way through
the process and pretty soon it doesn't taste like you wanted it to taste.
Doesn't taste like this delicious beer, right. So we're trying to duplicate the
process and the ingredients and make it as good as possible. Even if that's a little harder?
Eh, it's a little harder, It's not that bad and in fact especially since we have the new
brew house the Brewers they really like doing it that way.
It's these small but important pieces that you're paying a lot of attention to that
you know make your beers distinct and different from other people kind of making these beers, right?
Oh Yeah. Absolutely. Well I have to say we've been sipping on
this delicious Pilz, which I love, but I would like to try some of these other
beers? I'm getting a little thirsty as we talk about all this process and all this.
Yeah and you're asking me all these questions I can't drink fast enough. I know I'm
not letting you drink, that's right. So why don't we go let you drink for a
second and we'll pour some more beers and we can try a few.
Cheers to that! Yeah let's do it.
I'm pretty excited about this! Yeah so we lined up four of our beers.
We've got the Grodziskie, The Schwarzer Rauch, Hefeweizen and our
Czech Pilsner the Pilz. Great. So I suggest you start here with the
Grodziskie it's nice and light. 100% smoked wheat malt beer. Smoked alright. Wow!
This is interesting. This is like I feel like this could confuse some people when they
take their first sip because when looking at this beer it's light and
bright and I'm not expecting that little bit of smokiness to it but it's a really...
But it's not overpowering, it's very complimentary, it's a very refreshing and light beer.
Yeah I actually love it because I really like smoked beers but I like that this
is a lighter smoked beer that I could have quite a few of! Yeah, only 3% alcohol, it has the full mouthfeel of a
regular beer even though it's low alcohol.That's really great. All right
the next beer is also smoked beer that's our Schwarzer Rauch. So it's
a black lager. It has some smoked malt in it as well. This is really nice. The look
of this is what I expect more from my smoked beer. I expect it to be a darker
beer typically but it's actually still really easy drinking. It's like a very
light beer despite that it's a smoked beer. Right it's just a regular beer, I love that.
And that's what that gets back to we're just trying to do beer that in some
place or another have been the predominant beer style. All right. The
next beer is our biggest seller the Hefeweizen. It's a Bavarian style wheat
beer unlike this one it's only it's about 50% wheat malt and it's cloudy
it's unfiltered a lot of that is from
the yeast a lot of it is from the wheat malt and the the defining feature of a
Hefeweizen is that it have that clove and banana flavor.
You definitely pick up on that banana, you're right. Absolutely.
It's making me actually feel like a lot of Hefeweizens I've had in the
past aren't actually real  Hefeweizens because I don't always get that.
Many are not. Yeah no I love that it was um and the banana for me is
like a very concentrated banana, like a little banana chip, kind of dried banana
flavor and that clove is really, mmmm. Again, it's a very refreshing beer on a hot day.
This is great. And the last one we're trying... Last but not least!.. is it's certainly not least it's the beer that
started the brewery it's our Pilz. It's a Czech style
Pilsner. It's got nice assertive hoppiness and bitterness,
nice bitterness, bitter aroma ,it's crisp and clean and yet
it has this background maltiness. Yeah. And that has to do with the type of yeast
that we use to ferment it. The beer that started it all, Cheers.
You know you and I were talking how Pilsners are very common and
I think you said it's the most. It's the most consumed beer in the world, right,
Style. Beer style. Beer style, right. And so I'm very
familiar with Pilsners but I honestly like they just kind of, I'm like that's
what beer taste like whereas this it has some like nice complexity of the
hops and it's like a very more like well crafted Pilsner to me. Well we work really hard to make
that beer. We use, as we discussed in there, a decoction mash which is a very
elaborate mashing procedure but it comes through in the malt character of the
beer. Yeah and all those local ingredients that you're bringing in from
and I say "local" but they bringing in from the European areas where these beers are most predominant.
It's local where you make these beers. Absolutely, and I feel like I can taste that. Yeah.
These are amazing and I feel like we have lots of beer to to consume now which I'm very excited about.
So, what do you think? Should we go head outside and hang out in your beer garden?
Adjourn to the beer garden? Sounds good!
The foresight and risk it took to start a brewery entirely
focused on European style beers way back in the 90s is impressive and honestly what
supporting craft brewers is all about. It's about incredible beer born of
passion and a taste of place that intertwines tradition with innovation.
Next time you're in Texas make sure to get your hands on some Live Oak beer or
better yet come on down and enjoy this fabulous beer garden. Until next time
drink craft and drink local, Cheers!
 
