Sunday 9th of September 2012 10:10:24 PM

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Live Oak Brewery is located in a mixed residential and light business area. It is a small one story white brick building with a few trees on the premises. There is a side garage door that opens into the brewhouse. There is no public tap room, but brewery tours are held most Saturdays (reserve in advance on their website). Live Oak has several rotating seasonals and four beers that are brewed year-round: Pilz pilsner, Big Bark Vienna style amber lager, HefeWeizen, and Liberation Ale IPA. I characterize them as slightly better than average in today's craft beer market, and I think this brewery deserves to expand. I also hope they'll develop greater variety with more recipes in their offering.

Wednesday 18th of July 2012 11:46:48 AM

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This review is going to be dated for those reading this but I felt I needed to do it and once I visit again I will update this. When I visited this place they were in the process of getting ready to relocate within the year. So they've probably moved on. The pace they were in was very different. An old warehouse building with winding rooms. Almost could get lost if you didn't know the place. Very cool though. Low ceilings and everything. The coolest thing I have to mention about the atmosphere is the growth on the ceilings. You may be like "Growth!? WHAT!" Well as the last reviewer said there was mold growing on the ceiling I have to oppose this as it is NOT mold. It is salt deposits forming stalactites. The only brewery in Texas that offers them. Haha. Pretty cool look. Then there were the sideways laying fermenters. Since they don't have the ceiling space they had to use really old horizontal fermenters. Strange but they still work. The tour guide seemed to be very knowledgeable on everything and was able to answer all questions. Sometimes with a story.

The beer there was great! Because Texas has weird laws about beer, the way there do samples is not like some other places. Being a distribution plant they can't sell beer on site so no sample platters. Tour is free and you can sample all the beers they have on tap. Start with the light beers and work your way to the darker ones. Once I visit again at their new location I will do a newer brief summary about the new place.

Monday 5th of January 2009 01:07:19 PM

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Live Oak offers tours only on Saturdays at noon now. You must call ahead.
Our tour group was big, about 20 people, and that caused issues for touring as the group wasn't very mobile. It wasn't really nice to be standing around that long, but we were given refills on beer the whole time, which was really nice.
The brewery is small, old, and a bit musty with lots of condensation and mold on the ceiling. There's also some really random stuff tucked away in boxes between the tanks. I spied an early '80s television set and a clock radio that was 5 hours off. The tile on the walls throughout the building was reminiscent of the cafeteria of my elementary school. The tour leader, their only female brewer, was nice, personable, talkative and really knew her stuff.
All of the beers were offered up for tastings. First was the Big Bark, which is their amber and the most docile of their selection. This one is available in various establishments in town, so I had had it before. It's nice and very smooth. A good beer to drink if you're going to want several.
Then there was the unfiltered wheat. I don't like these, so I chose to drink the IPA instead, which I had also had before and very much liked. Really nice flavors and a hoppy finish, but nothing overpowering.
I did sip the wheat though and it was very good for what it is.
Their pilsner, the original Live Oak variety, was served up and was my favorite. I don't normally drink pilsners but this was very, very good for what it was. Really strong punch with a smooth finish.
They also have a newer beer which I don't recall the name of, and it's not shown on their web site, but it was very similar to a Dunkelweizen but stronger and with a lighter color. This beer was really great and had a high ABV. It was also apparently the creation of the tour leader.
Live Oak will be moving to a new facility near the airport within the next few years as they are now, according to the tour leader, at capacity. Until then, get down to the current facility for a tour. It's free, it's fun, and you get free beer.

Sunday 9th of December 2007 02:59:09 PM

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You can't have "lived" in a place unless you've visited the breweries!

I visited Live Oak years ago not long after moving to Austin. The guys are great and are serious about their brewing. They brew a particular type of beer, which I'm not a big fan of, but many people are. Hats off to them, they are doing what they love and making others happy while doing it.

Live Oak is sold in many places around Austin and is bottled, so it is accessible.

Annoyances: I enjoyed mine at the brewery but generally bypass it in the bar.

Thursday 19th of July 2007 09:22:57 AM

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This person needs 3 or more reviews on the site for their scores to start counting.

Chip (owner) and Steve (brewer) are a couple of great guys. The flagship beer is Live Oak Pilz, which is an assertively bitter and hoppy Fresian style pilz (IMHO), but balanced and refreshing. Steve does a fantastic hefeweizen, maybe one of the best non-Bavarian made versions that I have tasted. Live Oak is a brewery. They do not have a pub facility per se, but if you call ahead, they will gladly show you areound. They have their priorities straight... The first thing they do for visitors is to pour them a beer!