Drinking at SXSW we’ve learned here at TrashBlanc.com can be a tricky activity. Sure there’s plenty of free drinks sponsored by the likes of Google, Frog Design and lots of other companies trying to retain a level of cool they once had (or is that me being cynical). But they’re not really free. Payment takes the form of hour long queue surrounded by the type of people who think said queue must mean there’s a kicking party inside. Guys, there isn’t. We’re all geeks.

However, sometimes the geeks do get it right, Saturday night at SXSW being a great example. Instead of joining a line in downtown Austin, the collective intelligence that is Twitter decided on the wonderful Gingerman bar on West 4th. No freebies, no queues and somewhat unexpectedly no hard liquor. Instead there were over 80 draught beers on tap and an outside patio full of ‘Internet Famous’.

TB ignored the celebs in the back and sat at the bar for some Texan hospitality. In terms of beers, Arrogant Bastard was going down a treat, and there was one punter whose eight horse accumulator came in when he saw the bottles of Westmuler Triple in the fridge. No doubt he was caught in a Trappist. So a pretty impressive selection of yeasty hoppy goodness then. Our tipple of choice for the evening was a Hacker Pschoor Oktoberfest. No, we hadn’t heard of it either and we can only describe it as an amber viking of a beer. Red, rough and likely to rape and pillage a small Irish village if left to its own devices. We had a second pint before leaving and we’ll be back before the end of the week.