Last year I traveled to Austin, Texas for a few days for work (my first time), and while it wasn’t a beer trip, I did get a chance to check out several breweries and enjoy some good beer. One such visit was to Hold Out Brewing when I had a free night, to grab some dinner and try the brews.
Craft Beer Austin has a handy write-up about Hold Out, with good background on the owners and an opening that describes the unusual setting:
Nestled behind their sister restaurant, Better Half Coffee & Cocktails, Hold Out is a fun surprise off the beaten path…or 4th Street, that is. The space comes to life after living its former days as a 1970’s era Camp Mabry Quonset hut. If that is not interesting enough, for some unknown reason, it was placed on top of a 1950’s home where it was used as a commissary kitchen. If you look at the western side of the building you will see a portion of this quaint home sticking out of the hut, which is still used to this day as Hold Out’s prep kitchen. The hut was just so compelling they couldn’t NOT utilize it for something delightful & creative: a craft brewery.
The brewery is also quite community-minded, collaborating with local artists, other breweries, and various organizations, and according to Craft Beer Austin:
Each month, Hold Out donates proceeds from various merchandise & beer to an assortment of organizations such as Central Texas Food Bank, the Austin Justice Coalition, the NAACP Empowerment Programs as part of the Black is Beautiful campaign, Pink Boots Society, Tree Folks, & Equality Texas.
Here are some notes I took on my phone during my visit (fleshed out a bit):
Super lively for a Wednesday early evening, but they have a great outdoor and partially covered space. I got here in time for happy hour, and a $5 pint and $6 double cheeseburger is hard to beat. Plus it’s good too, and I got a side of curly fries which are really cravable.
The brewery is situated in a Quonset hut or old hanger space, and inside maintains that industrial feel, with concrete floors, steel, exposed beams and infrastrucure, that kind of nouveau industrial vibe you’d expect for a place like this.
There’s plenty of seating, with ample space inside, a large covered patio, and huge outdoor area; it’s largely communal beer garden style which makes sense for the community-oriented brewery.
The beers are good overall from what I tried, with some interesting looking ones on the website. I started with the Pink Boots Society collaboration West Coast IPA, then hit some tasters of a pilsner, hazy IPA, and what the brewery is calling a porter with hints of coconut from Sabro hops.
Specifically, these beers were:
- She’s Speaking, the PBS collab, a 7% ABV West Coast IPA. I had a pint of this to start.
- Ol’ Gils Pils, a “Euro Pils” that’s 4.5% ABV
- Liquid Television, hazy IPA featuring Azacca and Idaho Gem hops, 6.8% ABV
- Last Light, an English-style porter brewed with Sabro and HBC 472 hops which are a bit unconventional for the style; 6.1% ABV
The last three were tasters rather than full pints.
I also purchased a four-pack of Long Neck Lager, an American light lager brewed with corn, which I enjoyed at my hotel. I was originally hoping to get the Spudweiser, a collaboration brewed with Live Oak Brewing that apparently includes potatoes, but they were out of cans. Maybe next time.
If you find yourself in or near downtown Austin, I recommend stopping in at Hold Out for a beer or a few, it’s well worth the visit.
Hold Out Brewing
1208 West 4th Street
Austin, TX 78703
