When people speak of craft beer people being snooty or uppity. It is usually aimed at the apparent seriousness and wine-ification of beer. Where some of the fun seems to be leached out of the simple act of drinking a beer.
And that leads me back to a question that I come back around to on occasion after visiting yet another, nicely appointed bar with a well-made bar and varied tap list with Etsy-esque bottles used as lighting fixtures and a cool logo. Why aren’t there more fun craft beer bars out there?
Where is the British or Irish bar? Where is a bar with old-time videogames (Philly I guess). Or the charity pub (see here). Or hell a dive bar. A certain cookie cutter approach seems to have taken root. Breweries have taprooms in industrial districts and invite food trucks. Bars will have gastropub fare and multiple taps and multiple TVs. End of story.
How about matching the creativity of beers with a creativity in design and thematic elements. I’m not looking for Dave & Busters meets Charles Edgar Cheese but something fun. Maybe a design theme based on a bottling line or history of a local and perhaps long gone brewery.
I would like to see a little whimsy injected into the next wave of beer establishments. We already have bloggers belittling other bloggers for not being serious enough, we already have brewers suing over names, we already have a bleeping hellacious water issue in California.
There is enough serious. Let’s have a fun pub.
My favorite beer bar used to be a somewhat scuzzy convenience store in an otherwise decent neighborhood. It now is a family/kid/dog friendly bottle shop with 39 taps and many coolers full of beer. They fill growlers and sell bottles to go. They pour pints, half pints, and “uncork” bottles for onsite consumption. The staff know and appreciate beer. They also readily offer samples of anything on tap and keep milk-bones behind the counter too. There’s a cooler full of cider, mead, and gluten free beer. There are usually 4-5 taps pouring ciders with an occasional mead too.
In addition to an appropriate selection of junk food they have the rudimentary food offerings needed to keep the liquor control board satisfied and bring in some of the best food trucks in the city to keep their customers satisfied. There’s also a ice cream cooler that keeps kids of all ages coming back.
The web site for the place has an up to date tap list, a food truck calendar, and a special events calendar. They’ll host the occasional tap takeover and will occasionally have an epic special event with reasonably priced opportunities to something special. There’s always a reasonably priced option to get a cider flight or IPA flight and last week it was four sasion pours for $7 too.
There’s a book shelf stocked with a few tabletop games. In the summer their small parking lot is given over to outdoor seating. I wish they sold more single 12oz bottles but really I can’t complain. Overall it’s a fun, unpretentious place to hang out and drink beer. If you ever visit Seattle check out Chuck’s Hop Shop.
It is really strange and interesting to see what bars strike a chord with people. There are some you can walk into and feel right at home and others just don’t seem to fit.