Separatist Beer Project / Separatist Bar + Bottle

This place is as pretentious and overrated as the very ales they make.

According to their website, "SØLE BAR+BOTTLE seeks to create an experience that pushes the boundaries of what a high-end beer bar can be". OK, folks. Let me tell you, you haven't created a Mikkeller-on-the-Delaware here. Sole Bar+Bottle is just a beer bar. Modern and sleek, but it still is just a bar with a couple of beers on tap. Nothing boundary-pushing here.

Also, having "members-only" taps in a place that is not even a year old is silly.

Last but not least, the beers are not that good. Yes, they are worshipped and hyped. But you know what? Most of the IPA's here taste like a malty, boozy ale made c. 2006. "Fruity Dabs" and "Over 9000" are particularly heinous.

Walked over from my brother's place, 2nd District, Brewery ARS and POPE are all nearby, so it makes for a good afternoon. New interior, wood and steel, bar and several small table available. Corner location, so windows all around, plenty of natural light. A few TVs, but not enough to distract. Small crowd came and went, but it was steady (Sunday afternoon). Great service, short pours available. Did not notice if there was food or not, but plenty available in the neighborhood.

The bar service had the personality of a sloth and wasn't very interested in being cheerful or helpful to the customers. We were more of a hindrance than a customer. The beer was flat and unimpressive. When they were Sole and a gypsy brewery the quality and craftsmanship was soooooooo much better again. I'm sorry I wasted our time.

 

The beers are good and the selection is wide. I may not like some of the odd items but they are made well and served correctly.
The interior is sort of like an industrial cafeteria but they are moving to another spot soon I heard.
It’s a good crowd. Engaged but not obnoxious.
I disagree on the TVs, there’s nothing wrong with having a few overheard showing sports (audio off).
I don’t know if they still have “member taps” but it’s a bad idea. Pompous.

Søle's Bar+Bottle location in Easton, PA is downtown and right across the Free Bridge from Phillipsburg NJ so it's easily accessible. It has a great vibe and the space itself features both industrial and Victorian architectural notes. It's bright, airy, and often packed and noisy. The day I visited there was a competition of local home brewers. The beer, which is brewed at another location, is uniformly excellent and they serve light bar food, including really good warm pretzels. Overall, it's a great, fun place to drink some outstanding beer!

If you live in the Valley, you owe it to yourself to give this place a try. Cool vibe and good beer.

There are two halves of the bar - on the left side there is a bar with seats for drinking beer. On the right side, there is a bar for crowler/growler pours, and for paying for takeout beer from the cooler of cans/bottles. I wasn't a fan of the vibe. The exterior of the place is a nice victorian style building with stained glass windows. But then the interior is ultra modern, white/black, very sterile and cold feeling. Comes off pretentious, like their social media posts, the whole no sign but a flag issue, spelling their name with a Scandinavian character, etc.

The tap lineup 13 beers on tap, plus red/white wine. Beers are heavy towards IPA and pale hoppy beers, but there are some other styles as well. All beer is poured in the same glassware, that are like stemless wine glasses. They just adjust the fill level accordingly. The three beers I drank were fairly good.

Service was fine, but it was a bit awkward to have to go over to the other bar to add some takeout beer to my tab, then come back to the bar to close it out. Also, they don't fill other growlers, which is lame.

 

 

 

 

Located a few blocks off the circle in Easton, Sole has a very unpretentious street appeal meaning there's no signs marking the establishment other than an unmarked flag flying above the entrance. Very low key and easy to miss if you're not watching closely.

What I love about the interior is it's lack of TV monitors around the entire establishment and music playing at a perfectly audible level that allows good conversation without any shouting. (Whatta a concept these days.) Wood floors, brick walls, very high ceilings, a concrete bar - a somewhat industrial/manufacturing vibe going on. Service was impeccable.

The cool part: very low key on the exterior and an interior atmosphere that encourages conversation. The down side, the interior is a little sterile feeling and I totally hate the concrete bar top. Most importantly: rock solid beers being poured without being overcharged.

Used to love the beers but something changed in 2017. Quality control is not consistent, the owner refuses to respond to complaints directly, the owner/head brewer blames the state of the art equipment of the brewery he's contract brewing out of for his sub par offerings, Peach Smoosh, and let's not even go into how he swindled around 150 people out of $500 for a "Society" membership and haven't fulfilled his promises. Wiping my hands clean of this brewery and brewer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stopped in the day after their grand opening. I knew it'd be a shit show the first day so I stayed home. After arriving there I managed to find one open seat at the bar, it's got a chill vibe going on, no TV's or anything but the music playing on the speakers wasn't bad. The selection and service was good. Plenty of interesting styles to choose from. The only downfall in my opinion is that they have "Society Only" drafts on tap that taunt you the entire time you're there if you're not a member. All in all though it is a cool place to hang at but be aware that it's basically all street parking and you'll need spare change for the meters.