Today is the annual . It's billed as the largest celebration of microbreweries in Texas.
Many of the 27 breweries participating in the festival are new Austin businesses, part of a recent surge in local microbreweries.
was busy canning Black Thunder, a German-style , on Friday. There鈥檚 plenty of technology involved, though not the same as other high tech industries in Austin.
鈥淚t is absolutely our version of Austin鈥檚 tech industry,鈥� said Adam DeBower, co-founder of Austin Beerworks. 鈥淲e have a lot of controls, but most of them are analog.鈥�
DeBower and three friends started Beerworks in 2011. Mike McGovern said the idea for a microbrewery grew out of a shared love of the drink.
鈥淲e were at a party with some mutual Texas friends, and we were trying to decide if we were going to eat a durian,鈥� McGovern said. 鈥淎 durian is a fruit that has a very particular smell, and not a pleasant one, and over the course of several beers we decided not to eat the durian but we just enjoyed beers and hung out quite a bit after that and became good friends.鈥�
Not long after, they decided to start brewing their own. And they aren鈥檛 the only ones. In the past four years, Austin has seen a number of them pop up. Along with Beerworks, there鈥檚 , , , , just to name a few.
With all these young upstarts in town, local microbrew legends like Chip McElroy of appreciate the variety.
鈥淲e can鈥檛 make everything here,鈥� McElroy said. 鈥淎nd having other guys make stuff shows just how diverse a product beer can be.鈥�
McElroy loves that there are more microbreweries in town. He says that there鈥檚 a camaraderie and creativeness in Austin beers. And McGovern says there鈥檚 no real risk of oversaturation.
鈥淚f you find a job that you love, you pour your heart and soul into it,鈥� McGovern said. 鈥淎nd I think that kind of shines through for everybody.鈥�
You can try Austin Beerworks鈥� Black Thunder 鈥� and lots of other beers 鈥� today from noon to 8 p.m. at the Craft Brewers Festival at Fiesta Gardens. For more information, check out .
