Broad’s Bachelorette Bash in Austin

Broad here! I’m taking over this post to do a recap of my bachelorette bash in Austin, Texas. Beard and I want to do a few posts on some of the fun things we did before and after our wedding and we’ll probably do a post on our actual wedding day. So let’s start with my Austin trip! This is not meant to be a guide on bachelorette parties because every bride is different. I just wanted to share all the cool stuff we did in Austin.
*Disclaimer: I did not take photos with our DSLR camera in fear that something would happen to it so the pics are not the greatest*

WHY AUSTIN?
Well, why not! Austin is known as a city with plenty of amazing restaurants and bars, live music everywhere and I was just intrigued by the famous saying: “Keep Austin Weird.” It has been on our list of cities we must visit. Beard and I originally wanted to have our bachelor and bachelorette parties in cities we both didn’t want to visit but it was getting hard to pick a place we didn’t want to go without each other. So finally I decided on Austin and he decided on Denver. We’re hoping for our anniversary we can do an Austin/Denver trip together.

THE LADIES
12 of my closet friends. Yes, 12! Beard and I had a long engagement so we had plenty of time to prepare for everything. I asked the girls way in advance (about a year before the trip) so they could arrange time off and save up. Most of my friends are married, have good jobs and want to travel. So getting my friends to agree to an Austin trip was SUPER easy!

AIRBNB
When you have a large group like mine it can be difficult to find a place to stay. I loved the idea of staying in a house so we can all be together and share a common space. I found the perfect Airbnb that was close to the airport and close to all the fun Austin spots. It was actually a huge duplex and comfortably slept 13 (it stated it could sleep up to 16). In addition to all the beds there were 5 bathrooms which is absolutely perfect for a large group of girls.

EEEATS
When we arrived we stocked up on the necessities: champagne, beer and chips. I also transported the most amazing cookies from the Itty Bitty Bakeshop in Cleveland. I had them designed as my favorite things: tacos, champs and of course, cats! Transporting them was a bit rough. I had to carry three boxes on the plane but it was well worth it!

I had two main things I wanted to eat in Austin: tacos and bbq. I also had a hunch that they were would more places with micheladas (see my previous post) so I wanted to drink as many as I could. Our first stop was Micheladas Cafe y Cantina. They’re known for the drink and for great food. They sure did not disappoint with either! The next day we had the most amazing breakfast at Juan in a Million. I honestly just picked this place because it was on our way to the breweries and had Mexican food. Even though the place is very unassuming, the food was excellent and the micheladas were amazing.

For our “fancy” dinner out I found Barlata Tapas Bar. I thought this would be a good option so all of us could split and try a bunch of dishes. It may have been the best tapas place ever. They were super accommodating to our large, rowdy group and even brought us a “porron” to pass around and celebrate with!

We decided against waiting in line at one of the famous barbecue places in Austin since we only had a few days there. But we did find a food truck with barbecue (there are food trucks everywhere) from one  during our brewery day and it was so good!

BEERS
There are so many breweries in Austin, I wish we had time to hit them all up. The number one brewery I wanted to visit was Blue Owl Brewing. Blue Owl specializes in sour beers, in fact they only make sour beers, so basically, my heaven. The brewery is awesome. It’s cozy, lively and most important, the beers are fantastic. They have a beer for everyone including if you’re new to sours or a seasoned veteran. I can’t pick a favorite, I honestly loved them all!

Another brewery on my list was Hops & Grain. Its a very cool place. Located in a small industrial building (reminiscent of a San Diego brewery) its a cozy space and at that time, the walls were lined with some amazing 90’s artwork from my new favorite artist Janis Fowler (I just had to get the Smoke ‘Nip Everyday picture). The beers were delicious (even my non-beer drinking friends drank some beers).  I even got to speak to the Director of Sales & Marketing, Sheila Garcia, about the beers and history behind the brewery!

We also stopped at Lazarus Brewing on our mini beer tour. This place was fantastic. They had your traditional bar seating and also eclectic living room seating with comfy chairs. There was also a large covered/uncovered patio where we set up campy. The beers were delicious and my favorite was the Despereaux, a full bodied saison.

We didn’t have time to make it to Live Oak Brewing Company but their Hefeweizen was by far the favorite beer of the group. It was light, full of flavor, delicious and easy to drink. It is one of the best Hefeweizens I’ve ever had. I regret not bringing some home.

FUN
For the longest time, I’ve always wanted to do one of those group booze peddle bikes. They have a few options but we opted for the PubCrawler of Austin. It was so much fun, even though I was feeling rough from the night before! We brought our own booze, got  to play our own hot jams and we went to some very cool places including the Mean Eyed Cat Bar (Johnny Cash themed bar), The Tiniest Bar in Texas, & Kung Fu Saloon (part arcade, part sports bar and part late night dance party). Our driver was awesome and put up with our crazy butts, she even went to college at Ohio University.

We had the most fun on Rainey Street. The deal with this little area is that its tucked away from downtown and all the  bungalow bars are in renovated houses. In between the bars is a little food truck area. We stopped at Banger’s and enjoyed beers in their huge, awesome beer garden, danced at Icenhauer’s, drank delicious cocktails at the circus-themed Unbarlieveable, and finished the night at the gyro food truck and a nightcap at the very cool Container Bar. I HIGHLY recommend going out on Rainey Street. We did East 6th St (the “Dirty Six”) one night and it just wasn’t my scene. Lots of club-like bars, promoters trying to entice you in, lots of commotion, lots of drunk people. It was just too much. I’m glad we saw it but I wouldn’t go back to hang out there.

Last but not least I just wanted to give a quick shoutout to Little Woodrow’s. Its a chain sports bar. Normally I wouldnt seek out a sports bar on one of my trips, but it was the NBA Finals and we had to watch out Cavs. We were able to reserve a a table and we had a blast even though we were surrounded by obnoxious Warriors fans. We had so much fun that after the game, we didn’t want to venture out to any other bar we just stayed there!

So there you have it! Thanks for sticking with my and my extensive recap and guide to Austin. Do you have any Austin recommendations I didn’t cover? I’m looking forward to going back and bringing Beard with me!