WhichCraft Is Austin’s First Craft-Only Beer Store

Editor’s Note: WhichCraft is closing its original location on Sept. 22, 2018. The newer Mueller location will remain open.

Do you ever get tired of sifting through all the crappy domestic beers at the grocery store to get to what you want? Come on, guys. I drank that stuff in college, but I’m grown now. I look for quality over quantity and I like to actually taste my beers and distinguish them from one another.

If you’re not looking for what you’re forced to drink at a baseball game, head over to WhichCraft, where you’ll probably be interested in nearly everything on the shelves.

WhichCraft has impressively filled a niche that was still available for the taking in Austin, by becoming the city’s first craft-only beer store. No sifting through the shelves here. You won’t find any of the watered-down lighter lagers from the big beer companies, or wine or liquor for that matter. When WhichCraft says craft beer only, they mean it.

Jody Reyes, owner of WhichCraft, got his beer chops by spending over a decade in well-respected beer cities like Seattle and Minneapolis. He moved to Austin last year and quickly noticed the diversity and passion of the local craft beer community. He also saw that there wasn’t a craft-only bottle store in the city, and has been working on opening WhichCraft ever since.

Reyes found a nice spot for WhichCraft on South Lamar (2110 South Lamar, Ste. F), next to Bird’s Barbershop and – conveniently – Black Sheep Lodge. Bar patrons can enjoy a pint before wandering next door to find something to bring home.

WhichCraft isn’t interested in being a typical stop-and-go beer shop. The staff is full of friendly beer geeks who want you to leave knowing more about craft brews than you did when you came in. The shop also plans to hold regular tastings with local brewers and brewery staff, as well as weekly tastings on Friday and Saturday nights that preview all the new arrivals for the week. To stay up to date on their tastings and new arrivals, make sure to visit their website.

WhichCraft organizes its shelves by style, rather than brewery. That way, if you’re an IPA lover, you can go straight to that section and see all that’s available, and so on. This method of organization should provide the customer with more efficient browsing and hopefully the discovery of new must-try’s in the process.

I would compare WhichCraft to a stroll through your favorite section in the library, or visiting the record store on a really good Tuesday. You’ll walk in looking for some good beer, and you’ll walk out knowing more about it and hopefully with a few new beer friends who like to hang out on South Lamar. Welcome to Austin, WhichCraft. I think we’ll get along.

 

@mattchampionatx asks:

What do you think of WhichCraft’s specialization?

 

Article photos courtesy of WhichCraft. Cover photo by Garrett Miller via Flickr CC.