Lovejoy's

Lovejoy's is the funkiest of Austin's brewpubs. Their beers are closer to homebrews than other brewpubs', but that may be because Eric Roach, owner of Austin Homebrew Supply, is a consultant and Paul Koonz, an avid homebrewer, is the brewer. A half-block off Sixth Street, Lovejoy's is a combination living room and local pub with couches, picnic tables, tables made from man-hole covers, and a small bar. The 125-gallon batch brewing system is in the back, out of view.

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1. Samson's Best Draft Ale Named for owner Chip Tait's dog, who is ever present at the pub. An American-style bitter using American hops instead of British hops and served through a beer engine for smoothness.

2. Helmut Kolsch Wheat Beer Named for a neighbor's dog, a German-style beer using 20% wheat and 80% barley with a live yeast to give it a fruity flavor.

3. Old 97 Steam Beer The only style of beer indigenous to the U.S. An ale-style beer using a lager yeast, it was invented in California in the 1800s before refrigeration and has been taken over by Anchor Steam Brewery.

4. Franciscan A Belgian-style brown ale using Belgian-style yeast with a rich but not too sweet flavor. This is Lovejoy's most popular beer and was special ordered for a wedding recently.

5. India Pale The most complex of the beers made at Lovejoy's with three hops and six malts. Very hoppy flavor.

	Samson's Best Draft Ale	Helmut Kolsch Wheat Beer	Old 97 Steam Beer	Franciscan	India Pale
Michael Bertin	23 Steam beer? Weak taste. Good finish. Still sober.	13 Appearance: cloudy. Odor: fruity. Wheat beer? Yummy. I feel like I should be writing more comments.	19 Great. Everything is already starting to taste the same. I'm screwed.	28 I got seconds, but they stole it while I went to play some of Kelly's music on the jukebox.	20 Bitter. I would never drink this. Can't believe I gave it 20 points.
Patrick Earvolino	20 Cloudy, amber color, apple-y flavor. Aroma good up front, not much finish.	29 Frothy cider dream, creamy head.	25 Working theory: All Lovejoy beers look (and taste?) the same.	24 Ah, this beer looks different than the others; a prune-y, grape-y thing.	33 Sweetish and hoppy, yum, yum, yum; bitter in a good way -- bite me, baby.
Spike Gillespie	21 I like the smell. Apricot-y. Like an Avon product Aunt Bobbi would use. But the taste, such a letdown. I am sad. I wanted to like it, really. Next time, I'll snort it, I think.	20 Its dark is worse than its bite. It's got that cloudy, murky, yucky look that scares me. But I like the way my taste buds snap to attention upon impact. Nice after-tingle, too.	25 Num-num. I could see (easily) getting numb-numb on this. Wacky, woody aftertaste. And Spike loves a good wacky woody.	28 Tall and tan and lean and lovely, this beer from Ipanema -- or wherever -- as it passes through me makes me go ahhhh....	33 Like one of my favorite ex-boyfriends: sweet, sparkly, and full-bodied.
Johnny Hardwick	27 I don't know if it was me or the beer, but the odor was wonderful. Taste a little bland, the way a Land Rover looks.	30 Tastes better than it looks. Sharp! Would go well with cheese. Highly recommended.	28 (Where the hell is the mustard? I can't eat pretzels without mustard, dammit.) Unpretentious. Good beer to drink when playing Gnip Gnop.	32 Dark as the inside of a nun. Although this beer has the most points, I liked #2 better. (Ah, mustard! Thank Jesus.)	27 Tastes brown. That's good. This one probably has the most alcohol, so I like it a lot. Slightly bitter.
Pableaux Johnson	20 Appearance: cloudy bronze. Everybody's taking this beer really seriously.	16 Sharp...tongue.	22 ?	16	20 Aftertaste: Goes on and on and on and on.
Kate Messer	19 The cloudy appearance and fruity smell were misleading. I thought it would taste good, but I drank it all anyway.	13 I huffed. No bouquet, no smell whatsoever. What the f*ck? I'm not drunk yet. This is kinda medicine-y; I like it okay.	22 Meredith says this smells like old milk. I think she doesn't clean out her fridge enough. This stuff rocks.	24 These pretzels are making me thirsty!!! This tastes like the air in Poza Rica, Veracruz, Mexico, a refinery town. Skunky but groovy.	28 Yummy and thick and nice and is that a Nathan Jensen air duct over my head? Nice doggy.
Meredith Phillips	28 Light, foamy head, amber, rich tast, bitter finish.	27 [Almost no aftertaste.] Fruity and wide, reaches to the gleeking regions of the mouth. A Hefeweizen? Sharp, fizzy bite on the tongue.	25 They all look the same but taste different. This one's dark tasting but light looking. Little odor, but if you sniff really hard, you get a hint of old milk. Tiny fruity aftertaste.	16 Appearance dark, thin. Punitive odor -- peanut sauce -- but no one but me can tell. I think it's the glass. They're making us drink faster and faster.	28 Dark amber -- really bitter.
Bruce Robison	9 I don't like this beer -- but, it's the first go.... Sour.	18 Good. I like better. Me talk good.	17 Bitter in a good way -- Oops! It's gone.	17 Cloudy in its darkness. Kinda nutty.	21 Bold, bitter, unashamed, liberated.
Kelly Willis	20 Cloudy-ish, but pretty, amber color. Looks like caramel candy! Bitter aftertaste, but after one pint, you won't notice it (so much).	20 Kinda sweet. I liked it!	26 Very smooth.	31 Kinda nutty or something, but I actually like it -- darker beers usually send me running.	28 This beer rated a 7 in every category. And 7 is a lucky number. So maybe if you drink this beer, you'll get lucky!