Hold Out Brewing Hosts First Ever Pinvitational Cask Fest This Saturday

In Austin, March begins a festival season that lasts all the way until Feb. 28 of the following year, so everyone should be thrilled to hear that a brand-new beer hoedown is setting up camp right at the cusp of this year’s SXSW blowout.

Hosted by the beloved (and #2 in our Annual Brewery Power Rankings!) Hold Out Brewing, the Pinvitational Cask Fest will take place on Saturday, March 9. The mini-festival will feature 34 powerhouse beer makers from around the city, state, and country (along with one local cidery) bringing their own proprietary versions of cask-conditioned ales and lagers that are unfiltered, unpasteurized, and hand-pumped from beer vessels called pins (5.4 gallons) and firkins (10.8 gallons).

Out of the 34 participating breweries, 18 are based in Central Texas, including local darlings Austin Beerworks, Zilker, St. Elmo, Oddwood, Jester King, and. of course, host apex thirst hunters, Hold Out. Outside the region are 2024 Texas Craft Brewers Cup medal hoarders Pondaseta Brewing from Amarillo, Equal Parts from Houston, and Good Line Beer Co. from Lubbock. Nationally, California brewing giants Sierra Nevada, Fonta Flora from North Carolina, and Duchess Ales of New Yawk will be three of six national breweries to participate in this anticipated annual event. It’s like a Southby showcase of Beck ft. Dave Grohl, FKA Twigs, and The Strokes covering The Velvet Underground & Nico front to back; a really can’t-miss kind of deal, we think. The full list of participating breweries can be seen below.

Tickets ($45, pre-sale only, no door sales) are expected to sell out and include a glass, eight drink tickets, and all the mingling space you can cover between Hold Out and the front lot of Better Half. Additional drink tickets will be available for purchase while the beers-a-flowin’. There will be British-inspired culinary creations from the bakery and kitchen of both Hold Out and Better Half, traditional hand pies from The Great British Baking Company, a UK-inspired menu from Zee’s Wiener System, and some fun-assed Brit Pop/British Invasion/First Wave to shake that intestinal carbonation up a bit. Nothing screams “Cask Beer Fest” like a rousing banger from PULP, besides. Pinvitational starts at 3pm.