This month's $250 gift certificate winner!

This month's winner is Amanda Thomas. She's a Sagittarius, which according to the Internet means that she is optimistic and intelligent. She's a graphic design Master's student at Texas State University, and has left the big city life of Austin for the sanguine life of San Marcos--for now. Check out her design work here. Her favorite food is corn, her favorite animal is the zebra, and she loves big band music. Even though I made that last sentence up, I hope we'll be seeing a lot of her with her winnings. Photo by the talented and prolific Alison Narro.

Beer spotlight: Sierra Nevada Tumbler

We're a big fan of Sierra Nevada Pale (who isn't?), so when we found out about the SN brown ale, the Tumbler, we had to check it out.

Appearance: Pours thick tan/khaki head. Dark brown color with some red highlights.

Flavor: Smooth and malty! Chocolate and fruit notes. Medium to medium-low bitterness. Not real hoppy.

Overall this is a great beer! Balanced and easy to drink more than one.

I was driving to Houston a couple months ago and turned on Weezer's Pinkerton. I hadn't listened to the full album in a while. This is one of those albums that takes me back to the age I was when I first absorbed it--in this case it was 1996, and I was 15 years old. I listened to this album every day for roughly two years. It only took me a few songs to come up with the idea of a Pinkerton hoot night; 15-year-old me was peeing my pants.

Giant Steps got a hold of some of the best bands in Austin to play the entire album (plus a few other songs, b-sides and such) on September 9th, and I hope you'll come and bring your friends.

Oh--this is kinda funny: We tried to come up with a drink special fitting of the band and the album. It turns out that a friend of Giant Steps is a guitar tech for Weezer right now, and we asked him what they drink. "Coors Light," he told us. Well, we don't serve Coors Light, but we will have $1 Tecates on hand. See you there.

Our very own Ryan Hall, in a preview of Alison Narro's photography of our staff.

Now Brewing . . .

As of today, November 8, 2010, Thunderbird is brewing the following coffees in either our Single-Cup bar, our espresso drinks, or French press coffee. Keep this page bookmarked for updates!

- Intelligentsia Coffee Roasting Company: Yirgacheffe Dama (Ethiopia)

- Intelligentsia Coffee Roasting Company: Kirezi (Rwanda)

- Cuvee Coffee Roasting Company: Mezzanote Midnight Blend

- Cuvee Coffee Roasting Company: Meritage espresso

New website launch and art opening this Sunday!

Music from DJ Hobo D, $2 Dos XX pints, Pacifico bottles, and Negra Modelo bottles! New art from Lydia Reynolds, and a celebration of our new website designed by Lydia Reynolds and featuring the photography of Alison Narro. Wooo!

This month's $250 GC winner!

This month's winner of our monthly $250 gift certificate giveaway is Autumn Ewalt! Autumn is an artist and general troublemaker here in Austin. She specializes in sculpture and mixed media, and she has her Master's from Cranbrook Academy of Art. She likes iced lattes in the summer and hot lattes in the winter, and she always loves playing the ukelele. She's a Libra, she loves Neil Young, and she's living the swinging single life! What a catch!

This month's photo was taken by the lovely and talented Alison Narro. View her amazing work at alisonnarro.com, and then go out and buy her your choice of either puppies, ice cream, laser beams, or a giraffe.