Thoughts on a bar serving tons of craft as well as macro?

If you have 28 taps of non-macro I would be very happy to come to your bar/restaurant. I would think that having some macro on tap could be a benefit in that I could come and bring along friends who prefer macro beer. We would all be happy there!

Cheers!

P.S. I regularly go to a local craft beer bar/restaurant which prints out there tap list of craft/imported beers. They also have Yuengling Lager on tap but they never publish this but the regulars who like this beer know it is available. I always thought: Why not just list Yuengling Lager in the tap list?

Cheers!

 

I can't imagine more than a very small handful of idealogues having a problem with that plan, but I will note that most committed macro drinkers seem perfectly willing to drink from the bottle or can and don't put much emphasis on draft beer. A well-stocked fridge full of bottles with bright red, blue, and silver labels may free up some tap lines.

 

As long as I'm not required to have one of everything, I'm cool with it.

The Belgians are a really nice touch, btw. Good luck!

 

My knowledge of restaurant management is minimal, but it seems to me that having a few macros is simply sensible, because that way all your customers will find something they like.

Best of luck in your new venture.

 

Seems smart to me. Depending on your audience, you could probably even drop the "better" beer options a little. It's a business after all. Keep your bottom line in mind.
I can't imagine people complaining because you have only 20 craft taps and 8 Belgian bottle options. At that point they're probably going to complain about anything.

 

Two local 40-tap independent taprooms around here usually have two or three taps of macro, and one of root-beer. I see lots of crafties come in with their non-craft friends and this works great. I'm thinking 8 out of 36 taps is overkill though. I wouldn't do more than three or four, but you can vary that depending on what folks ask for.

 

It depends on how you define Macro, though. I have a local bar, close enough to walk home from, nice place to watch a game and chit chat with the locals, etc- and if you asked me how many 'Craft' taps they have I'd say like 3 out of 14 (SN, SA and Local). But, out of the other 11 there's still variety (Devil's Backbone, Blue Moon, Guinness, stuff like that). So 8 doesn't necessarily have to be 8 different versions of Bud Light.

 

That's not a bad generalization, but I'm not sure it holds true everywhere. Especially PA- I've been in places in the Poconos where the Yuengling taps were the busiest ones in the place. (ETA: I guess those are technically craft, though )

But if the OP sees that those taps aren't being utilized properly he can always make adjustments.

 

Consider some cross-over beers in place of some of the macros. A quasi-macro like Blue Moon, or New Belgium's Fat Tire might be beers that can introduce some of the macro customers to craft beer and eventually get them drinking the good stuff. Or if you have a local brewery that brews a killer version of an AAL might work too, and being locally produced, some customers might order it to support the local economy.

 

Do you really need 8 macro taps? I think those drinkers would be happy to see a few of the big popular ones on draft, and you could maybe just have bottles or cans of the others that aren’t on draft. Get a 30 rack and sell it by the can, profit.

Guinness on draft would be good, and things like Stella and Heineken if you choose to sell them could be by the bottle. Sam Adams Boston Lager could be an in between go to too, or maybe Sam ‘76.

 

From day one as a home brewer, and then a professional brewer, I have always defended Budweiser. At the time it was the best selling beer in the world, and I always noted that to anyone that gave them crap that there was a reason for that. That's hard to argue with. People want it, and dammit, I've enjoyed Budweiser myself.

I have no problem with anyone selling mainstream beers. What I would have a problem with, especially these days, is if you didn't have any interesting beers but that doesn't seem to be a problem for you.

 

All money is green.

Ya might want to consider knocking off a couple of the macros for ciders.

 

As long as your food is good, I would come just for your selection of Belgian beer!

 

You need to do what is best for your business! If your mix makes sense for your market, then go with it. Based on what you said, I would frequent your place. If 80% of your market drinks mass, I would make sure you have the mass brews that they like. Given your number of taps, perhaps you should consider at least a half dozen.

 

Not only are they sometimes the busiest, there are areas in PA where if you don't have Yuengling Lager on tap you won't see a lot of customers.

 

Absolutely makes sense! Make the best decisions for your business. I love craft, but a good Old Style always has a place on my palate and in my fridge!

 

I think alot of your business model with which beers to stock has to with which part of PA your are opening this restaurant and the demographics of the community.

 

Cider and Hard seltzers, all the rage.

 

I haven't seen hard seltzers on draft, have you?