Opening an all-local craft beer bar

No idea what you would be getting into in China. I don't think many people on BA will be able to speak authoatatively on this really, especially not in the general Beer Talk forum. Judging from threads in the Asia subforum though, I'd say all the clamor is for American beers.
Hundreds of micros in a tri-state area huh? Care to tell where are you considering starting this bar?

 

I seriously doubt he really is in China. For one he says Tri-State (do they have states in China) and two he says they have hundreds of micro-breweries which doesn't sound like China at all.

To answer his question, it really depends on the quality level of the breweries local to you. For instance an all local bar where I live would fail, but in PNW or west coast I am sure it would work in certain places.

 

I like the concept, but totally depends on the product available. We have one of those in town that just started up, but so far the selection has been very underwhelming to me. I'd also worry about the concept growing stale unless you are frequently able to get rare and one-off releases from these places. Could work well in theory though.

 

As others said, the potential success would depend greatly on exactly where you plan to open. Firstly of course is the region. There are plenty of areas that are called, the tri-state area. Certain areas would work better than others, depending basically on the beer culturebof the area. Secondly would be finding exactly the right neighborhood to open in. Even here near Boston, a pretty big beer city, even not counting competition, there are places where this could work, and less than a mile away, it would fail miserably.

 

I live in new york... specifically on long island with a craft bar litterally 3 minutes away called taps and barrell... they have 52 taps of craft beer only.... no big beer co..... only craft... they have a lot of local stuff on tap as well...

I personallt think its a really good idea but you would have to have other stuff as well... if you opened it up in manhattan you might have a chance with a all tri state craft bar but no where else...

It is also gonna be a challange to get these breweries to allocate beer to you.. all of them....

But I'd say do some research and give it a shot...

 

One of my locals pretty much does this, mostly Washington beers, with some Oregon and California brews on occasion. It all depends on the quality of the breweries near you, if you've got good local brewers, it'll work. How does the "buy local" ethos go over in your area? Around here, it's a big deal, you often see folks passing over beers from the larger craft breweries to buy something from a smaller, more local brewer.

 

I dont see anywhere offering a diverse and good enough product to be successful unless you live in southern california.

 

Opening an all-local craft beer bar might be like opening an all InBev product beer bar - you'll lose the Miller and Coors drinkers. So, unless as others have said you're in a densely populated area or in Cali or the PNW that has a shitload of educated beer drinkers, it doesn't matter where you are - you need to have a few of the go-to craft beers available for newbies. People trust what they've heard of and if you're just getting started in craft beer, you tend to want to try something you've seen everywhere like SA Boston Lager or SNPA, or advertised [do I dare say Blue Moon?]. Obviously you need to have enough good local beers to feature them but you also need some go-tos.

 

There are many successful brewpubs in this country, and not only do they offer all-local beers, they offer only beers brewed on premises. I don't see why an all-local craft beer bar couldn't do well. It would be nice if you could get kegs from nearby brewpubs and other stuff that is usually only available where it's made or in a limited area.

 

-Hundreds probably includes nanobreweries...

 

This place does all Michigan beers and has been rated in the top 100 beer bars according to Draft Magazine.

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/27371/view=beerfly

 

http://sdbrewproject.com/

 

I beg to differ. Philadelphia's craft beer scene is better than NYC. No contest. There's a reason brewers like Russian River, Hill Farmstead, and Lawson's distribute to PA (specifically the Philly area) and not NY. Hill and Lawson even drive within a few miles of NYC to get to Philly, but they don't stop there.

 

And two bars that only do just what the OP asked, craft beers from PA/DE/NJ only: Standard Tap & Johnny Brenda's (though, owned by same people).

 

Make sure the small brewers you want to work with are on-board with getting you kegs on time, that they will be able to keep up with supply and not have you tapped out for weeks.

 

None of those are local microbreweries. I don't have the numbers but I'd say there are definitely more local breweries in ny/nj/ct than Philly.

 

I'm not sure this is a great idea. I know a lot of the reason I go to craft brewery bars is to get beers that aren't available to me anywhere else. If I can head to the local brewery and pick it up or the local bottle shop why am I heading to the bar?

That being said if you do decide to go with it here are some things I think would be important.

#1 is going to be your relationship with the local brewers/breweries and distributors. The one advantage you will have being only local is that you can have relationships that others from across the country can't.
You are going to have to get the best stuff from the local breweries. Especially stuff that isn't bottled.

#2 see if you can do collaborative brews with them. Example from here in California is Churchill's in San Marcos. They do Churchill's Finest Hour and Finest Sour with local breweries and make events that generate huge pub for the Pub.

#3 try to create events. As listed above they generate a lot of hype. Try beer pairing dinners with a brewery and bring in guest chefs to create dishes to pair with the different beers.

 

AHEM. We have one in northern California.

http://www.heritagepublichousesr.com/

 

At least three of them certainly are as they are in the city proper, two are located within walking distance from the bar. Most are from the PA/NJ 'burbs.
I agree the definition of local can certainly vary. I believe all of their beers come from within 50 miles (except the Harrisburg offerings). Considering the direct drive from north to south Philly is about 26 miles, and takes an hour an a half, their definition of local seems reasonable.