Each May, several Austin craft breweries come together to raise money for Divine Canines. Dvine Canines raises money to provide therapy dogs. We participated in this event last year and went to our local Cedar Park breweries and waited a long time before making it to any other breweries. This year we hit the kickoff party at Whitestone Brewery and made tentative plans to visit other places with friends. This weekend we hit some of the breweries in Dripping Springs with our friend, Lauren. Our first stop was Suds Monkey. It was quite a trek for us to this small brewery in a warehouse style setting. We got to talk to the beertender, who was also one of the brewers. Many of the beers had clever monkey related names. In the end, I selected the Punk Monkey Porter, which was super smooth and tasty. We hung out here for a while, meeting another patron from our neck of the woods and trying a few more beers.

Our next stop was Acopon Brewing Company in the heart of Dripping Springs. It was definitely the cutest location with a small town Main Street kind of vibe. We met another friendly beertender, who educated us a bit on their beers. I ended up picking the Gaspipes, an English Bitter, which was definitely not bitter tasting. We didn’t spend as much time here because we knew we had another stop. Lauren was excited because she got to pet a dog here-sometimes its the little things that make us smile.

Our final stop was Family Business Beer Company. This one has been in the news a lot with a few “celebrities” running the food truck and brewery. This brewery had the prettiest venue with a lovely picnic area out back with a food truck. I opted for the Haulin Oats Brown Ale, which sounded delicious from the description, but was actually a little bit of a let down. My BLT from the food truck was pretty tasty and I was glad to have some food.

We had a really great time trying some new places and spending time with one of our beer friends. Hopefully, we will get a chance to repeat this again in another section of town.

The New Austonian