Fast Friends Beer Company.

Fast Friends Beer Company

Fritz German Pilsner, Sup Y'all IPA and Vadr Dark Czech Lager are the three beers The Austin Chronicle names in the piece that ranks this brewery 14th in the city.1

Why go

The lager-first board has a pedigree behind it: head brewer Keith Shaw came from Modern Times in Anaheim, and the Chronicle read that as more lagers and IPAs eventually written into Austin's craft beer canon.2 The brewery entered the paper's power rankings at 20th on a score of 73.25 in 2023 and came back at 14th on 86.4 in 2024.1 Silent Laughter, a red IPA, took silver in the Specialty Hop category at the Texas Craft Brewers Cup.1 The site is three acres and it is built for staying: a light and airy main taproom, a lower-level lounge with game-watching nooks, a two-story family beer garden and a speakeasy-style barrel room.2

Order this / avoid

• Fritz German Pilsner, the beer the Chronicle leads its 2024 write-up with.1
• Vadr Dark Czech Lager, the dark end of the same lager program.1
• Sup Y'all IPA, which also cans as a West Coast IPA and now reaches H-E-B shelves.1
• Jala Pep, the jalapeno-swirl pepperoni pizza. The 2023 piece calls it unmissable and the 2024 piece calls it phenomenal, and the beer travels to the shops while the pizza does not.2

What locals & experts say

• The Austin Chronicle brewery power rankings, Eric Puga, 17 October 2024: 14th in Austin on a score of 86.4, with the line FF is throwing heaters out there with outstanding beers like Fritz German Pilsner, Sup Y'all IPA, and Vadr Dark Czech Lager. The piece is a staff editorial carrying a published scorecard: mainstay quality 35 percent, taproom 25 percent, seasonal and limited beers 15 percent, revisitability 10 percent, that year's awards 10 percent, intangibles 5 percent.1
• The Chronicle's previous edition, 10 October 2023, entered it at 20th on 73.25 and called it the year's paragon among 2023's new brewery debutants in Central Texas, crediting head brewer Keith Shaw, formerly of brewing titan Modern Times in Anaheim. The piece also reports Fast Friends as winner of Austin Monthly's Best New Brewery; that magazine's own page was not read here, so the award is carried as the Chronicle reported it.2
• The Infatuation Austin, Nicolai McCrary, page dated 31 May 2023: Just off of I-35 near William Cannon, Fast Friends is a South Austin brewery, with a kid-friendly space and a dog-friendly patio. He puts the vegan and gluten-free range down in part to the food program being run by the chef from a plant-based supper club. The page shows no score, which is the outlet's stated policy where you cannot eat a full meal.3

Good to know

• Hours. Sunday to Thursday 11am to 10pm, Friday and Saturday 11am to 11pm. Walk-in.4
• The kitchen is in house and it is a pizza kitchen, with vegan and gluten-free options on it.3
• The freeway is a live issue. The Chronicle writes that it's on the city's agenda to swallow this brewery with a one hundred year I-35 reconstruction plan, which is the writer's framing of a city process, so check access before a long drive.1
• Hygiene: no finding. Austin Public Health scored the kitchen 87 on 13 January 2026, 86 in July 2025 and 93 in March 2025 (the city writes the address as 7313 S Ih 35). Nothing below 70.6

Verdict

could-visit — A Southeast Austin brewery the Austin Chronicle ranked 14th in the city in 2024 on a score of 86.4, up from 20th in its first year on the board. The board is lager-led, and the Chronicle names Fritz German Pilsner and Vadr Dark Czech Lager alongside the Sup Y'all IPA. Head brewer Keith Shaw came from Modern Times in Anaheim, the red IPA Silent Laughter took a Texas Craft Brewers Cup silver in the Specialty Hop category, and the Chronicle names the kitchen's jalapeno-swirl pepperoni pizza in both editions. It sits mid-table on a board of 25 breweries.