Smoke’n Hops

Visited February 22, 2015.

Got into Austin on a Sunday afternoon and this was the first stop on the way to Jester King. I’ve been to the area once before, a few years back, and like everywhere else in the country there are a lot more options when it comes to breweries nowadays. At that time the only one with public hours (outside of tours) was the Barber Shop. Now that Twisted X has a tasting room and Jester King has real hours there are a bunch of options, most of which are brand new breweries. These guys are in a nondescript building on the side of the highway next door to what looks like a daycare center (unless the playground belongs to them). Inside is kind empty with some tables scattered around and not much else. What they do have is a half a dozen beers and some decent snack food. The bartender was I think the owner and brewer. Really nice guy from New York (heavy accent).

Luckily the beers are not actually smoked. The smoke of course refers to their BBQ menu. I didn’t try the BBQ but the jalepeno poppers were enjoyable. The beers need some work but aside from being of homebrew quality (too sweet and hazy and difficult to distinguish) they were drinkable. What he has going for him is that he’s right on the highway so there really is no detour to get here if you’re heading out towards Jester King.

Prices were reasonable on both food and beer and the people were nice. I actually felt bad at first because the bartender made the two people sitting at the bar move to a table when I got there. I didn’t quite understand at first but it turned out that they were employees. Kind of makes sense but I still feel weird getting priority over someone else. Anyway, this isn’t on my top destination list in Austin but I would probably stop in again if heading to Jester King to get some jalepeno poppers.

Checked this out after stopping at Twisted X and Jester King. Service was good at the bar, but there are some serious health concerns that I have about this establishment after having a beer. There were literally swarms of fruit flies around the bar, taps and were going between the trash and condiments. The bartender was aware of them, but wasn’t doing much to alleviate the issue (cleaning). The entrance has a mess of condiments and is obviously not cared for. No wonder there are fruit flies. I would NOT eat anything from here, and I was even nervous about my beer here. This is a prime candidate for a show like Bar Rescue or Restaraunt impossible. Unless they change some things up, I doubt they will be here long. Too much competition in the area. Beers were ok.

Hoping these folks are just experiencing growing pains as I went with a friend on a very lazy Sunday and sat at the bar for at least ten minutes as people came and went behind the bar, never looking our way. Finally managed to get someone to stop and they seemed not so anxious to help. (Did we not know the secret hand shake?) Most disappointing was that they had none of their beers pouring that day. Plan to head out there again, but do not make it out that far all too often...