{"id":2389,"date":"2014-02-24T16:27:35","date_gmt":"2014-02-24T21:27:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/first2board.com\/southerntravelgirl\/?p=2389"},"modified":"2016-02-14T11:18:52","modified_gmt":"2016-02-14T16:18:52","slug":"austin-megado","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/first2board.com\/carolinatravelgirl\/2014\/02\/24\/austin-megado\/","title":{"rendered":"The Austin MegaDo"},"content":{"rendered":"

Austin MegaDo 2014 – Friends, Fun and BBQ<\/h1>\n

So you may be wondering what a \u2018Do\u2019 or \u2018MegaDo\u2019 is.\u00a0 When I tell my friends that I am going somewhere to attend a MegaDo, I often get quizzical looks. To put it in its most simple terms, a Do is a gathering of members of the frequent flyer community, primarily for travel and social reasons.<\/p>\n

A Do is structured around location, events, and lots of discussion about flying and destinations. Sometimes the events are sponsored by hotel chains, airlines, frequent flyer organizations, or simply someone who is brave enough to put the event together on their own. Some sponsored events may also put forth social causes like Livestrong<\/a>, or Kiva<\/a>. Some of the events at the Austin Mega Do were in part sponsored by Milepoint<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I just returned from the Austin MegaDo<\/a> which is now in its third year. The organizers did a fantastic job with the planned activities and, as always, it is just great to see and connect with friends \u2013 old and new. Although I had to leave a day early, I thought I would share a few highlights that I experienced.<\/p>\n

We started on Thursday with lunch at Stiles Switch BBQ and Brew located in the Violet Crown Shopping Center, one of the \u201coldest\u201d shopping centers in central Austin. It was a great, informal start to the week-end. The brisket was cooked to perfection but the ribs were absolutely to die for. \u00a0There were plenty of seats and a good selection of beer on tap.<\/p>\n

\"Stiles<\/a>

Stiles Switch BBQ – Austin<\/p><\/div>\n

At 7 pm we all met up again for a private party at the Flying Saucer. If I lived in Austin, this would definitely be a place I would visit again. It has a huge outdoor patio and inside serves just about every beer you would possibly imagine or want.<\/p>\n

\"Flying<\/a>

Flying Saucer – Austin<\/p><\/div>\n

Friday was the day I was most looking forward to and it did not disappoint. We were up early and on the road by 8:30 headed to the small town of Hey, Texas, to visit Garrison Brothers Distillery<\/a> the first and oldest legal whiskey distillery in the State of Texas. Arriving at the bunk house where Dan Garrison, who founded Garrison Brothers in 2006, may stay during the week. We were soon trundled up the hill on a tractor pulled trailer to the distillery and packaging area.<\/p>\n

Garrison uses top quality organic grains – corn from the Texas Panhandle and premium organic winter wheat and barley from the Pacific Northwest and Canada. \u00a0All the grains are ground fresh daily on site.\u00a0\u00a0The corn is cooked first, then wheat is added and cooked, and then the malted barley. The yeast is the final ingredient with fermentation taking four days. What helps Garrison bourbon to stand out from the crowd is that he uses pure sweet mash instead of sour mash. Any spent mash is used by local farmers as feed for their cattle.<\/p>\n

Learning about the process and the requirements of what makes bourbon, well, bourbon; tasting the sweet mash, sampling the final product, and even helping in the packaging barn, it was a fascinating tour. Although a little pricey, a bottle of Garrison Brothers bourbon came home with me!<\/p>\n

Below is a slideshow of pictures from the tour.<\/p>\n