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(upbeat music) - In a state that loves its barbecue, only one town can claim to be the sausage capital of Texas.

We dive into its smoky history and even see how the sausage is made.

We explore the historic downtown and find some new goods to take honky tonkin into the night with a country legend, but not until after we eat.

You guessed it, more sausage.

Elgin, whoa, oh, ah!

(country music) (country music continues) (bright music) About 25 miles east of Austin, you'll find Elgin.

So close you can almost smell the smoke.

Drive into town and you can immediately tell Elgin has history.

Elgin is a town of many names.

Now the oldest folks know this community as Hog Eye.

As it was a stage coach stop that also held dances.

Now unfortunately, the town fiddler only knew one song, Hog Eye.

Later, it became the brick capital of the southwest.

And today, well, it's the sausage capital of Texas.

And if that doesn't get your juices flowing, you need to change the channel, wee-hoo.

- That's our boss guys, right there, that's our boss.

- Sausage time baby, let's go.

(crew laughs) (rock music) In this sausage kingdom, there are two competing houses, each with very loyal subjects.

Southside Market and Meyer's Smokehouse.

Families have been divided over, which is better.

Utter your preference in the wrong setting, it could be fighting words.

And we're jumping right in the middle of the ring.

I hope y'all are hungry.

- I'm so hungry.

- Because we're gonna test even our barbecue consumption capabilities today.

- I grew up coming here all the time.

I have family that lives here.

You're either Myers or Southside, baby.

- Put that down, you only give people in the street it could cause a ruckus, Daniel.

- It's like the Hatfields and McCoys, I guess.

- Apparently so.

- With sausage guns.

Pew, pew, pew.

- Whoo.

- What?

(everyone chuckles) (bright rock music) - We're starting with the oldest, not just an Elgin, but the oldest barbecue joint in Texas, Southside Market serving meat since 1882.

This is third generation pit boss, Brian Bracewell, whose family has owned this castle of Cue since the 60s.

So you've been called the Abe Frohman of Elkin.

Is that a compliment?

- Somebody who grew up in the 80s, heck yeah.

- Yeah (laughs) you're the little dude in the, you know, 1980s ball cap and T-shirt running around in this photo.

- Yes sir, I've been working here since I was 12.

It was a small town family business.

- Yeah.

- And so that's where we did life was we called it the market.

We just did life at the market.

- The family market got its name because it was originally on the south side of the tracks in downtown Elgin.

The building still stands, but the legend of Southside is even older than the pits.

- So William Moon started Southside in 1882, sold fresh meat door to door.

- Oh gosh, okay.

- That's where Southside was born because whatever he didn't sell fresh, then he had to take back home and figure out a way to preserve it, put it in a casing, cure it, and then smoke it.

Then you can sell it the next day or the day after that.

- Yeah, you got a couple days now.

- And so at some point in time, sausage became more popular than the rest of the meats in the case.

- Yeah.

- Southside and Elgin kind of became known for our sausage.

- For well over 100 years, sausage has been serious business in Elgin, but it's not just any sausage, it's Elgin hot gut sausage, a certain kind found only in this town.

- It's this sausage specifically right here.

That's our all beef original sausage.

- Oh man.

- Really Nothing special, it's just a- - Nothing special.

- Old-fashioned.

- Are you crazy?

- Well, it's just an old fashioned Texas barbecue sausage.

- Yeah, but there's something about it.

The grease factor, the grind, the seasoning.

Like it epitomizes Texas barbecue.

- It's unbelievably simple.

Things don't have to be complicated to be good.

- Simple does not mean easy.

Making sausage is hard work and Southside selection has only gotten more complicated over the years with seven different flavors.

Breakfast, polish, jalapeno cheese, all tasty, but when pairing the classic hot gut with their table hot sauce on a saltine, woo, it don't get no better.

That's the finest of Texas hors d'oeuvre right there.

You're third generation carrying the mantle.

What's that mean to you?

- It's a tremendous honor.

It's a heck of a responsibility.

Southside is bigger than me and if I do my job right, it'll be here for another five generations.

That's important to us.

- Towing that smoky line between the past and the future of barbecue is a tough place to be.

What's even tougher?

Making this much sausage every day.

- 300 pounds at a time.

- Oh, that's a lot of sausage.

God, how much would your grandfather have loved all this equipment, all these fancy toys?

- It would look a lot different back in those days.

- Oh, I bet.

- Won't you get involved, Chet?

Let's go over here and meet Mando, he's been here 33 years and making the sausage.

- 33 years?

Nobody's better to learn from than them.

- Okay, oh, I feel like I know how this ends, but I'm willing to give it a shot.

This sausage is flying.

So you're gonna make 300 pounds in a matter of minutes?

- No kidding, all right, I'm watching the hands.

I think I got it.

I mean, how hard could that be?

Oh, oh, geeze, I didn't even touch that thing.

- Oh, oh, he's slowing it down.

Put the training wheels on.

- Wait, leave it long, oh, oh, oh, oh, slow it down.

What am I doing wrong?

Nah, I mean, it's the same, right?

That's not how you can tell it's craft.

That's how you can tell it's homemade.

One looks like it's got a giant hernia and the other just looks like an earthworm.

I'm an embarrassment to me and all of Elgin.

I apologize Mando.

- Yeah.

- Y'all make the sausage.

I'll eat the sausage, deal?

- Okay.

- That's all.

(gentle music) - The Southside is of course a full barbecue joint.

One of their specialties is sausage with a spin.

The slammer, it's house sausage wrapped around a cheesy jalapeno and tucked in with a blanket of bacon.

Oh yeah, about to slam this down into my stomach right now.

Let's go, hmm, that right there.

Who doesn't love a jalapeno popper, right?

It's like wrap it in a ball of sausage and bacon, come on.

Texas barbecue has changed and the last decade have just been monumental in how much it has shifted into this craft barbecue scene.

But I hope we never lose the roots of where Texas Barbecue came from.

And that's in joints just like Southside.

It's a meat market, it's multi-generational.

These places are our collective memories and they taste delicious.

- Memories can taste.

- Yeah, that's right, you didn't know that.

- I didn't.

- I guess memories truly are our link to the past.

(country music) All right, there's another royal family in town that we must pay homage to.

Now you've heard of Camelot.

Well welcome to Cuetopia.

Yes, indeed it is.

This is Myer's Elgin Smokehouse.

The Myers family came to Texas from Germany in the 1850s bringing with them their very German recipe for traditional sausage.

This is Greg, Gary and Becky Myers.

This is it.

This is the Myers sausage.

Okay, so what do we have here, Becky?

- This is our fresh beef.

It's the Elgin hot gut.

- Yep.

- This is our garlic and this is our pepper jack, our newest sausage.

- All right, so where to start?

- Wherever, just grab it.

- It's all good.

- Now this pork sausage.

- All pork.

- The original recipe that came over from Germany in the 1850s.

- Mm, grind, flavor, smoke.

That's a good sausage.

- That was just the family recipe.

- That's the Myers one.

- Yeah.

- By the 1940s, pawpaw and mamaw Myers had a small grocery store, which is when the family recipes went public.

- They started selling it through the grocery store and everybody loved it and he started pedaling it out of cardboard boxes out of the back of his car.

- So that sounds a little different.

You know, a lot of other sausage places.

It was like, like a byproduct of a meat market.

- No, that was the main product.

- We made sausage.

- That was it, yeah.

- Sausage at Myers was never a second thought success.

The barbecue restaurant was more accidental as folks kept showing up to the factory wanting a hot lunch.

Over the years, the Myers added the local favorite hot gut variety, which you need only your eyes to see why it's so good, oh yeah.

This is delicious.

And they're all so good.

- It's the best.

- Not that we're biased, but that's the best sausage.

We don't even eat sausage anywhere else because nothing compares.

- I mean, you know, you're sort of spoiled.

- Oh yeah, yeah.

- When you grow up eating this right here.

Spoiled probably isn't the right word.

The Myers family has earned every bit of it.

- When we were young, yeah, we'd get up at five o'clock in the morning and go in the plant and grind meat before school.

- Make sausage.

- When they needed help, yeah, yeah.

- And then, you know, maybe in the evening if they were shorthanded we'd come and clean up.

- Clean up.

Help clean up.

- If you were Myers, there was no sitting around.

- There was no catch.

- Yeah.

- You were making family sausage.

- Yes.

- What would you hope that your mamaw and papaw would say if they came back and tried this?

- We always say, I think they'd be proud of what's transpired here.

- Yes.

- You think it tastes the same as when they did it?

- The process has changed but the product has never changed.

- Good.

(country music) When Greg offered to take me down the street to the factory, I couldn't say no.

This operation is huge, yet still fuels homegrown.

You wouldn't think I'd still be hungry, but looking at the sausage, I can't help myself.

Greg wants me to jump in, but I'm retired from stuffing.

Maybe I can be a racker.

This thick in here, two, two per side.

This is slippery.

You think holding fish is hard, this is worse.

- Chet, keep up.

- I know.

- Look.

- All right.

- Two back and then you go four like that.

That's it, that's the key.

(buzzer buzzes) No, wait, that's five.

(staff chuckles) That was no good.

I'm just the grunt laborer.

I can't count, I can't throw.

It looks so easy and it is not.

They are true pros.

(gentle music) Back at the restaurant, Garett, the pit boss has whipped us up a very special sandwich.

The Cowabunga, sliced brisket topped with a heavy helping of all beef hot guts with grilled onions on a sourdough bun.

That was amazing, it's pretty darn near perfect.

They're grilled onions, man, what a touch.

Like bringing a little bit of sweetness to it.

- Know how you can kick it up a notch?

- Ooh, bring on that hot sauce baby, let's go.

You dub a town the sausage capital of Texas in a state that loves sausage.

I mean, that sets the bar pretty high.

You got some pretty high expectations, but let me tell you, Elgin delivers, start your engines y'all.

Only one thing left to do at Myers.

Oh, you know the best way to wash down some German sausage, German chocolate cake.

The old Myers family recipe.

Oh, they dropped the cakewalk.

- How is he still eating?

(dramatic music) - So I know what you're wondering.

(whip cracks) Which is the best?

Well that sounds like a job for the crew in a blind taste test.

Ladies and gentlemen, people have debated this for generations.

But today we settle that debate.

Eat the one on your left.

Now eat the one on your right.

You must choose.

There can be only one.

- I'm going with the one on the right.

- And I'm going with the one on the left.

- 100% right.

- Daniel's going right.

- I think I'm gonna have to go with the left on this one.

It's all on you.

- What are you gonna do?

- This is a lot of consequence.

I need a glass of water.

- There you go, easy buddy.

- The right.

- Yes.

- Yeah.

- Yes.

- Okay.

- Team, right.

- Boom.

- Team right, losers on the left.

We voted right and y'all voted left, but which one's which?

- It's been settled.

I switched them for all of y'all.

Y'all all pick different places.

Let's get back in the car.

- I thought I really mattered in this.

- Honestly.

- Come on now.

We don't pick favorites on the Daytripper.

That's your job.

Go eat 'em both and let me know.

(upbeat music) Time to get our heads outta these smoky pits and explore town.

Believe it or not, there are things other than sausage in Elgin including a downtown that's coming back to life.

And a number of businesses ripe for tripping.

Man, vintage shops in small towns is where it's at.

Need some rattlesnake boots.

These still stings.

You can tell the venom's still in there.

I can always use an old coat.

It fits pretty good.

- I mean.

- Then that's a done deal.

- Are they gonna make any more Stranger Things?

'Cause I think we could get cast if we wore these vests.

I'm going into the upside down y'all, let's go.

- You would definitely be a Will Byers.

- Downtown Elgin really started taking off when The Owl opened.

It's a unique boutique meets wine bar named after this old mural.

Hoo wouldn't love this store?

- Guys are a hoot.

- Oh Greg.

(funky music) This is cool, you don't expect a knife sharpener in a historic downtown.

- No, and I didn't expect to be here.

- Grizz here can sharpen anything and sells many one of a kind Texas made knives.

- This is actually the burned pine cone from the Lob Lolly fires.

- Wow.

- And then a fireman from Bastrop was kind enough to give me a bucket of chainsaw chains that he used to fight those fires.

- No way.

- Because I get people from all over the country, all over the world, literally, that have come through here and shared so many stories of this was my grandfather's pocket knife.

The tip is broken, can you repair it?

I have a 93-year-old customer.

She brings me a pocket knife that her great-grandfather gave her.

- Buy a good knife, and your great grandkids may need it sharpened someday.

The legacy of generations past seems to hang heavy over Elgin.

It's like each business is hyper aware that it stands on the shoulders of all the ones that came before it.

All right, so this is Lo-Fi Coffee House.

It sits inside of the old Southside Market building.

Very different, still delicious.

- Whoa.

- Like super duper, I almost wish I had eaten less sausage delicious, but oh well.

And for folks who want to connect with their distant past across the sea, there's Things Celtic.

- Chet as an Irish person, I'm offended.

- Hey, I'm Irish too.

Thank you DNA testing.

And if you need items imported from that little green island across the Atlantic, or a William Wallace-esque kilt, well this is your store.

It was in Austin for over 20 years then in Dublin, Texas, now Elgin.

Is this a Scotch Irish town, a Celtic?

- Yes, absolutely.

- Really?

- More than you would imagine.

- Every one of our seven Celtic nations sykes out there, we've had a visitor from every one of those.

- Every one of them.

- These are owners, Bob and Nikki Rafferty.

Now there's actually an Elgin city in Scotland.

And if you don't know if you're Celtic, well they can help you look it up and maybe even find your family tartan.

Gonna find my tartan, Daniel.

Reconnect with my heritage, G-A-R-N-E, ey!

- Right here.

We would be looking for the Argyle district tartan.

- Argyle, it sounds strong.

- We can custom make you a kilt, a sash, a tie.

- Finally, I'll make my clan proud.

Now, if you're not Celtic, but you are Texan, well they have a tartan for you too.

The Texan lone star.

Look at that.

- Yes.

- Absolutely registered in the way of tartans.

- So even if you don't have a clan to identify with.

- That's right.

- Yes.

- Texan soil.

- Exactly.

- That's it.

- You can do a lot with a good tartan.

And I'm now way more fashionable thanks to Downtown Elgin.

(rock music) But to look proper for the place we're headed tonight, I'm gonna need one more important accessory.

Now I know I'm a man of many hats, but I can always use one more.

So let's head to Elgin's famous Double R Hat House.

This is owner and founder Emilio Rungel.

A man can't have too many hats.

- Oh man, I got the same problem myself.

- That's right, so you know there's something a little more western, a little more cowboy.

- Yeah, let's look for some, with a little bit more brim on it and we'll show you some options.

- I love it.

Emilio started a decade ago working with ranchers and rodeo folks.

His Double R name has now spread from the Rio Grande to the Red River.

Now, that's not where name comes from, but it could be.

- Have you thought about what color you like?

- I mean, we got a lot to work with here.

- Right now, chocolate's made a huge comeback.

But I see you in that hat right there.

- You're not wrong, Emilio.

Now here's where the artistry comes in.

Emilio takes that blank canvas of a hat and shapes it to fit both the head and the personality of the cowboy or cowgirl who's gonna wear it.

- And anybody can go to a box store and just buy one off the shelf.

- Yeah.

- But there's no personality in that, you know?

- Right.

- I think you're an interesting guy and you gotta have something that goes with you.

- He can even cut the brim down and Emilio's seen just about everything.

- It's very regional.

You go to South Texas, it's a lot of big brim rolled up.

You know, a lot of dip.

West Texas, same thing.

You add bigger brims.

North Panhandle will turn 'em up quite a bit.

And the further the Lubbock you get, they start flattening it out a little bit.

There's a hat for everybody, I truly believe it.

- A hat for every head.

- Exactly.

- Oh man, that's looking sharp.

- All right, let's try this on.

- How we feeling?

I rolled it up a hair more.

- How we feeling about that?

And that's three and three quarters.

And check it out, that's you right there.

- Oh dude, that's a good hat.

- Okay, oh yeah.

Yes sir.

- You trust the instincts.

- That's a good hat.

If you need your first hat or your 20th, Double R's right on the money.

(bright music) - That hat looks really good on you, Chet.

- Thank you, Luke.

I was surprised y'all didn't get a hat.

Get in on it.

- I'll wear a baseball hat, but I cannot wear a cowboy hat.

- Dude, you could so wear it.

- Luke.

- False, false.

- I cannot.

- Try Chet's other one.

- I would never.

- Try that one.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Try it on.

- Grandpa.

- Dude (laughs).

- Hard pass.

- Come on.

- No.

- Hey, put this one on.

See how that one does you.

- Ooh.

- Ooh.

- Whoa.

- Come on now.

- Nope.

- Wow, it's like John Wayne in the backseat.

- I know, all of a sudden.

- It's gonna be a little bit too big for me, I think.

I like swim in this thing right here.

- Greg actually pulls it off.

- Hey see, you can rock it too.

- You kind of feel like I want my own show when I put this thing on.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

(gentle country music) - So what are we doing in this fancy new hat you ask?

Well, I also have my dancing boots on, and out here, well that means we're headed to the Coupland Dancehall.

This little historic stretch of buildings dates back to 1904 when they housed a mercantile, pharmacy and an inn.

Many decades ago, a saloon, and then a dancehall were added.

And folks have been boots scooting ever since.

Here are the current stewards, Chad and Preston, who took over when Coupland was about to close for good.

So like what made y'all wanna save the Coupland Dancehall?

- Preservation of country music, you know?

- We need to bring dancing back.

- Dancing, yeah.

- Amen to that.

- We need to bring dancing back, I'm a dancer.

- Yeah.

- My wife's coming tonight and we're gonna burn up that floor.

- Even without a band on stage, you can feel the music.

Near countless artists have played this stage.

Legends and up and comers alike.

Stevie Ray Vaughan even recorded a music video right here.

- Listen, I'm a rock and roll guy by heart.

And this place just grabbed me.

I walked outta here and called my wife and I just told her, "I think we're buying a dancehall.

There's no way we can't do this."

So got him out here and he kinda said the same thing.

It's like, holy cow.

- Places like this, they just have a soul.

That's what a century and a quarter will get you along with a bunch of history mixed with a bit of folklore.

- There's a lot of ghost stories.

- Really?

- There is, there's rumors of some people that have died here.

They still haunt it.

A little girl supposedly haunts the kitchen area.

There's another one that likes to roam around the dance hall.

- All of this, bears investigating, up to the end.

Right, so Preston, this is a like a Airbnb kind of deal?

- That's right, that's right, yeah.

It has eight bedrooms.

Right there is what they, we don't go in that one.

- Okay, no one goes like?

- No.

- No one stays in there?

- No, no one stays in there.

No one goes in there.

- All right, we're going in.

I'm getting very much San Angelo vibes in here, Daniel, are you?

- You know what vibes I'm getting is that they're trying to leave this room and you're staying.

That's what I'm picking up.

- Let's see it.

- As long as I stay, - It's time to go.

y'all have to stay.

Well, we're not here to ghost hunt.

We're here to dance and on the stage tonight, will be country legend and platinum artist Mark Chestnut who came out to chat before his show.

- The honky tonks to me hold a special place because that's where I started.

My daddy took me into Doc Holidays down there on College Street.

- Yeah.

- Belmont.

- I was hooked from the first time I walked on stage at 16 years old and I never looked back.

- Mark, I gotta say I am beyond excited to hear you on stage tonight.

- Oh great.

- So.

- I was really sad to see when I read a while back that they were closing this place down.

- Yeah.

- 'Cause I've been here a lot of times.

And then, I saw that it was gonna keep honky tonkin'.

- Yeah.

- So that's great.

- So I love it.

- Good.

- Good.

- I love being able to come back to places like this.

- Well, hey man, break a leg.

- Yes sir.

- We'll be out there two stepping to you tonight.

- Well, you'll break both of 'em then.

(Chet laughs) - We got just a little time before Mark plays.

So while the dance hall fills up, let's fill up our stomachs on some of the house barbecue.

Ooh, that brisket looks good.

- On the pit we have some brisket, sausage, some baby back ribs.

We're gonna make you some Texas taters all loaded up with all the goodies in it.

- Bring it on, I haven't eaten all day.

- Wait a second.

- Brandy here makes some mean cue.

And when it's the sausage capital of Texas episode, I figured you know what harm could one last meal do.

Remind me my last meal, honestly, with the amount of sausage I've consumed.

Oh, that's good though.

Now, it's showtime.

(crowd cheers) (country music) - Good evening everybody.

It's good to see you again.

(country music) - Let it roll, Mark.

And there is nothing quite like finishing the day honky tonkin' with your newest friends.

I tell you, Elgin is a testament to the spirit of small town Texas.

Hardworking families with generational recipes, good enough to build empires of meat.

Small businesses growing right alongside the town itself.

And music so good, you might just dance off all that sausage you've eaten.

Ooh, it has been a day.

I think I'm still full.

Okay, what's this, a little sausage snack?

What do you know!

So I'll see all y'all out of the road.

Vaya con dios, amigos.

- Wait, you seriously have a sausage in your pocket?

- Well, I mean, I keep a lot of sausage in all pockets.

- Oh boy.

Howdy, y'all.

Follow along with my adventures at chettripper on Instagram and at thedaytrippertv on Facebook and YouTube, or head to the daytripper.com for travel guides, past episodes, and info on our mobile app and team "Daytripper."

- The "Daytripper" is made possible by Rudy's, real Texas barbecue.

Shipping nationwide at rudys.com.

Karbach Brewing Company from Houston, Texas.

Makers of Karbach Lager, a beer that is proudly partnered with Don't miss with Texas, please dispose responsibly.

Visit Georgetown, where big ideas meet small town charm.

Georgetown, the most beautiful town square in Texas.

Texas Farm Bureau Insurance, protection and peace of mind for Texans since 1952.

Don Hewlett Chevrolet Buick in Georgetown making Texas Road trips possible for over 50 years.

Don Hewlett Chevrolet Buick, Texas True.

Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages, Texas' local bottler providing the Lone Star state with a variety of Coca-Cola products.