“Have you talked to that guy over there?”
A patron points towards two older gentleman sitting in the corner. He gestures to the one wearing a hat.
“He’s got some stories. Sometimes he’ll just grill hot dogs for people.”
These are the type of stories you heard from almost all the customers at Draught House. Folks gathered at the Austin bar, an institution in the city, for the Food Truck Dinner, the closing event for our Into the Wild series with New Belgium in Austin, Texas.
In Austin, food trucks are king—drive down any street and you’ll see a bevy of trucks with a side of picnic tables. So it makes sense that the last night of our epic sour-fueled tour was celebrated with the newly-parked Little House, whose residence is the outdoor patio of the Draught House.
“In the 90’s, we used to bring our own lawn chairs,” one of the diners says. Draught House just celebrated its 50th anniversary in June, when it was built by Wayne and Gay Overton. After Wayne died, part of the building became a dental office (“I think the dentist’s office was in that window,” someone points out gesturing to a window in the top right corner of the building). The bar still remained, but Gay wanted to hang on to the Draught House name so it was known for a short period as Draught Horse.
Then, in 1999, Josh Wilson, formerly of Bitter End Brewery, assumed ownership and it became the Draught House once again. That small blip in the tavern’s history didn’t change the place’s vibe; it’s still the place where you find Austin locals—yes, actual Austin locals—sharing stories, hanging out with dogs, and maybe grilling a hot dog or two.
Tonight, however, was about the food truck. Chef Justin Bruce Turner paired food with a selection of beers from New Belgium, often telling stories of his favorite food memories and explaining why each dish was particularly special to him. “I remember having this sausage and thinking it was one of the best things I’d ever eaten. Definitely erring on the side of awesome here,” he said, as the second course of Frikandellen, or crispy sausage, hit the tables. Of course, this was paired with New Belgium’s Err on the Side of Awesome, a Dark Sour Blended with Kriek and made in collaboration with The Rare Barrel in Berkeley, California.
The last course, called Love in a Cage, put New Belgium’s L’Amour en Cage together with a milk & honey mousse, pistachio, speculoos cookie butter, and caramel candy. The caramel candy was, appropriately, spun to be a cage around the dessert, and there were more than a couple of people who, despite being full after four courses, were scraping their plates to get every last bit of cookie butter.
Did we mention the music? There was music. Folks enjoyed their meal with the tunes and tales of Tony Drewry and his band, Shotgun Friday. To describe Tony as a beer legend is underselling it. All night, Tony entertained with whimsical melodies, riffs on old classics, and stories that only increased in absurdity and entertainment. Ask Tony about the easiest $100 bucks he’s made. Then ask him about the second easiest $100 bucks he made. Both are incredible.
After the dinner, folks dispersed, sipping on either Mural, an Agua Fresca Cerveza made in collaboration with Primus Microcerveceria in Mexico City, or a beer brewed on site at Draught House. That’s when bar regulars started swapping stories, recollecting their best (and not-so-best) nights spent at Draught House. And almost all of them, at some point in their stories, referred back to the same person.
Towards the end of the night, mic in hand, I asked if the man with the hat—the grill legend I’d heard in every single story about the Draught House—would care to share his stories. He looked away from his conversation, and after a considered pause said, “No.”
And then he turned back to his conversation. Fair enough.
Words and photos by GBH in collaboration with New Belgium