The last week of October, Austin celebrated Beer Week. My husband and I like beer so we felt the need to join in. We started off on a Saturday hitting up the Dig Pub in nearby Cedar Park, Texas. It was nice to get to see yet another part of town. The event at the Dig Pub had gone on all day outdoors with beer, games, music, and a few vendors. It seemed very family friendly with lots of kids and even dogs. Indoors, was a bar and grill that was serving rare tapped beers hourly. The beer my husband really wanted to try was the last one scheduled to be served, so we weren't sure if it would happen. We tried some beers- I made sure to stick to Texas only beers so that I could get into the Beer Week vibe. We decided to order sandwiches and stay a while to watch the baseball game. (It was that awesome game where the Cardinals scored like a million runs.) The food was awesome too! Both were grilled and well seasoned with ale mustard and garlic. We had a great time and will be glad to take any friends to the Dig Pub at some point. The following day, I really wanted to go to Octoberfest at North by Northwest. As we approached, I could tell that the lot was full, but they had signs leading to additional parking. It was so cool-they thought ahead and had a shuttle taking people back and forth. What a great idea! The entrance fee was $2, which went to cancer research. We walked in and again realized that it was very family friendly with kids and dogs in costumes! Again, there were games, food, beer, and German bands. We went inside to get some beer and watched a little bit of the Rams v. Cowboys game. I really wanted a pretzel to go with my beer so we bought tickets, waited in line, and the guy was out! I was really upset, but we had to spend those tickets-so I got Apple Cobbler and my husband got a corndog. He ate his corndog pretty quick-it had some great mustard along with it. My apple cobbler didn't taste quite right and the apples were a strange color-almost orange. The cinnamon sugar crumbs were really good, though. After a few bites, I asked my husband to try it. "I don't think these are apples," I told him. "You're right, because they are peaches." Ughhhh! I was tricked into eating a fruit I don't like. Otherwise, a great weekend full of great beer. We didn't make it out to any other events because we were busy watching the World Series and felt like it was safest to be Cardinal fans in our own home. :)

The New Austonian