Tears in our beer
North by Northwest Brewery permanently taps out of southwest Austin location
The bad news keeps coming from Austin’s restaurant world. Hours after Blue Star Kitchen + Bar revealed it closed on January 28, North by Northwest Brewing Company issued a statement on January 29 that it is closing its location at 5701 W. Slaughter Ln. on February 2.
Unlike Blue Star and the recently shuttered Lucky’s Puccias & Pizzeria, high rents and rising property taxes were not the nail in the coffin. Instead, the owners cite the rampant pace of Austin development, the owners said in a release.
“Unfortunately, the construction work in the area has created an ongoing issue that we have tried to work around,” say the owners, “but we’ve ultimately made the decision to close this location.”
The closure is a blow to one of the Capital City’s beer’s trailblazers. Davis Tucker first opened the original NXNW on the North Capital of Texas Highway with a menu designed by Asti’s Lisa and Emmett Fox, long before restaurants like Pinthouse Pizza got into the brewpub game.
Notably, he was also at the helm Copper Tank Brewery downtown. Before it closed in 2005, it was one of the forebearers of Austin’s craft beer revolution as one of the first trio of brewpubs, along with Bitter End Bistro and Waterloo Brewing, to open after Texas law first allowed restaurants to brew beer on site.
The Stonelake location of NXNW will remain open. Gift cards bought at Slaughter outpost can be redeemed at the North Austin location.