A New Austin Brewery Opens on St. Elmo Road

New Brewery Opening
New East Congress area brewery Vacancy Brewing opened last week as of Friday, April 2 on 415 St. Elmo Road. The brewery is led by head brewer Brent Watson, who had overseen the beer at now-closed Austin restaurant and brewery the Brewer’s Table as well as Berkeley brewery Trumer Pils. The taproom is open for on-site services, and to-go cans are available as well.

Hotel Pool Bar Opens
New South Congress spot the Hotel Magdalena opened up its pool and accompanying bar to the public as of March 12. The pool is available through reservations or passes; the bar is open to the public. The bar offers cocktails, natural wine, and food from the hotel’s executive chef Jeffrey Hundelt, including ceviche, a smash burger, and carnitas tacos. Everything is available to-go as well. Reservations can be made online or through the phone. The bar is open from Fridays through Sundays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Masks are required, but people physically in the pool are not required to wear masks. and the space is seating at limited capacity.

New Sommelier
Downtown hotel and condo tower Austin Proper added a new sommelier to the team of its Mediterranean restaurant the Peacock. Monique Wise, who is from Austin, had worked at wine programs at New York restaurants, including Marta and Union Square Cafe. At the Peacock, she will highlight female winemakers with sustainability practices in Sicily, Turkey, Greece, and Lebanon.

Marathon Chips
Austin grain-free food company Siete Family Foods is partnering with this year’s Austin Marathon, which is taking place as a half-marathon only on Sunday, April 25. As part of the partnership, Siete will provide bags of its sea salt tortilla chips for the runner bags as well as snacks for the volunteers.

Higher Crawfish Prices
Texas Monthly digs into why crawfish prices are so high this season.

Cocktail Donations
Distillery the Botanist is raising money for restaurant trade group the Independent Restaurant Coalition (IRC) this spring. The company will donate $5 for every sale of its dry gin and tonic cocktail and to-go cocktail kit at participating bars across the country to the IRC, with a maximum of $25,000. These donations will double for sales made on Friday, April 9 (because it’s national gin and tonic day) and Memorial Day weekend from Friday, May 28 to Monday, May 31. Austin bars include North Loop’s Drink.Well and downtown’s the Roosevelt Room and Peche.