Putting 40 beers on draft and need help

What kind of food do you serve? Your beer list should be heavy on beers that complement the cuisine. You are lucky in that you have great local options for every kind of beer imaginable, and people like to drink local beer. But it would be wise to gear your beer list towards the food if food is the main focus of your establishment.

 

Arrogant Bastard, maybe the Oaked version. I'd also put some of the Stone IPAs, whether they're the usuals or the limiteds (Enjoy By, Ruinten.) Some Bruery beers, some common and 1 or 2 limited. Also, some Alesmith, maybe their Speedway and their amber. In addition I'd also throw some Russian River sours and IPAs. Have some usuals like Sam Adams Boston Lager & Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. SN Torpedo and Kellerwiess are also great for the summer time. I'm not sure what else is available in CA, but a diverse menu with some limiteds and some classic brews would bring more people in. Lastly, I'd gauge the sales and adjust accordingly to the sales (ie. if IPAs sell better than stouts, then maybe add more pale ales or ipas.)

Just my two cents, I don't own anything, but as a beer drinker that has a pretty diverse pallet and loves IPAs and stouts and anything in between, I'd like to have some choice rather than having IPAs and Pale ales thrown in my face.

 

I'm a bit old school, but is 40 taps a bit overkill ? You'll need some very good beer minded staff to keep them in good clean order and fresh. Not to mention good sales to turn them over.

 

i think the best way to draw a crowd is with a bunch of local favorites as well as a few surprises (I.E things they wouldn't normally expect to be tapped in their area) that will always have people coming back. and like others said beers that will follow nicely with meals for sure. 40 is a nice number too, that definitely leaves room for a lot of variety. i'd say def go for russian river, boneyard beer co, the bruery, firestone walker etc have the typical 8% ABV and under but make room for the big boys too (11% and up) any special stuff you can get your hands on from your distro i suppose.

 

What kind of restaurant?

If it's not a beer bar, I don't forsee this ending with super fresh beer coming out of those taps consistantly.

 

I'm not going to formulate a list because there are way too many variables at play. I don't know costs, potential profits, availability, etc...but I would think you would need to have things like Sam Adams Boston Lager and seasonal, 1-2 Leinenkugel Brews (one seasonal), Budweiser, Bud Lite, Miller Lite, maybe Coors, a hefeweizen or two (I usually see Franziskaner), a few rotating seasonal brews from good local breweries, a couple American stouts/porters, a handful of IPAs/DIPAs/APAs both local and national, and a few good Belgian/German imports (not sure the expense on these, but try to get a Lindemann's Framboise or something similar, and, if Belgian imports are too much, try for some Ommegang or Allagash beers if they are available in SC). Also a couple German beers (bocks, dopplebocks, at least one hefeweizen). Also I'd highly recommend scouting the competition and see what if being offered around your area, talk to people on the street and see if they have good recommendations. Hell, consider going to the best beer store in the area and talking to the manager/owner to see if they can suggest cheap, popular, great tasting beers that are trending.

 

Bruery, Stone, Sierra Nevada, Ballast Point, Green Flash, Alesmith, Firestone Walker, Lagunitas, Russian River, North Coast, Sam Adams, Widmer, New Belgium, and then the obligatory Bud/Miller/Coors/Pabst offerings for the people that want that.

 

I'm sure you have forgotten more about the restaurant business than I know, but why would you invest in the equipment for 40 taps before you know what to put on them?

 

Get into the local beer community and learn about the beers rather than trying to capitalize on a trend. People will see right through your bullshit.

 

The craft consumer in me says:
-Dedicate 20 taps to the best craft stuff California has to offer (don't go all out IPA's, which would be easy to do. Remember the lovely pilsners and porters your state has available).
-Dedicate 10 taps to kick ass craft beer from across the US (again, don't forget about the sessionable styles)
-Dedicate 10 taps to kick ass craft beer from overseas (Belgium, England, Germany, etc.)

The business man in me says:
-Make sure you have Bud light, Bud Heavy, Miller Light, Miller High Life, Stella, Heineken, Guinness, Bass, New Castle, Corona, Rolling Rock, Labatt
-Dedicate some taps to fake craft beer like Blue Moon, Shock Top, etc.
-Dedicate some taps to "big name" craft stuff like Sierra Nevada, Brooklyn, Dogfish Head, Sam Adams, etc.
-Dedicate a handful of taps to some awesome local stuff (which you have PLENTY of)
-Dedicate one or two taps to some rare, super geeky stuff
-Dedicate one tap to cider

PS: You may be asking the wrong crowd this question. Many of us have had lousy experiences with places that have so many taps. Frequently places that flex their muscles on how many taps they have, often have dirty tap lines and crappy beers. I can't speak for everyone, but I know that I would much prefer a bar with eight awesome taps that are well maintained than a place with 40 that includes "Stella" in the "lager style" listing.

 

My two cents... depends what kind of beer drinker you're trying to reach.

If you want to reach the average/casual beer drinker who likes to dabble in trying other beer beyond BMC, then cover as many styles as you can with solid representations of style...such as beers that are easily found on the shelves of stores that care about their beer selection. This way a new convert can find a beer in stores that you turned them onto. Then they return to your restaurant to be turned onto that next beer...cycle repeats and it's good for you in the long run.

If you're trying to reach beer geeks, it's important to first understand what matters to them before you even think about what beers to serve. Understand proper temperature, glassware, and disclosing pour sizes/costs. Freshness and clean tap lines are also very important.

It's easy to get sucked in the quantity before quality approach to tap offerings. I see it plaguing places who just try to dive into it while not understanding there are different types of beer drinkers that look for different things. You can satisfy both groups of course, but you can also alienate both.

 

I wouldn't dedicate any taps to BMC, available in bottles or cans only. With the variety in SC you can do killer taps. I would have Shock Top and or Purple Haze, Cider for the ladies/guys who might like a beer, but are not big beer drinkers. Providence has a good layout IMO, except the BMC stuff on tap. I'd have special taps for seasonals or special taps, as well.

 

Rotating taps work well and with 40 taps you can always have a handful choices for different styles. If you break the 40 taps up into say 5 sections you can have for example 8 IPAs, 8 porter/stouts, 8 lagers, 8 fruit beers and or ciders, and say 8 dedicated to more special taps seasonal beers high gravity stuff what ever. If I had any other advice it would be that 40 is a little much. 20 would be alot more managable. Also it would probably be a good idea to buy half barrles and quarter barrels until you know what you sell more of and when.

 

This is my concern here. 40 taps is a lot, even for a beer bar, and you need to have staff with the proper knowledge to keep it maintained and keep a good products on tap. Beer nerds can be a fickle bunch, and once a place falls below par (bad pours, old kegs, poorly curated taplist, etc.) they'll move on

 

The Pub here in town contracts out to have their taps cleaned properly, problem solved. With a great tap list it could very well turn out to be a great beer bar and resturauant.

 

Here's a tap list for a place in Rhode Island that is right on the beach. By many beeradvocate standards, this tap list blows. Of course, we're all still beer lovers so I am sure many of us would "make do" with this. Heck, I'll knock back Long Trail Ale and/or Harpoon IPA all day at a beach bar during a vacation day. However, this is not a place that will be known for good beer amongst the beer nerds. In fact, if someone on beeradvocate asked me a good place to grab a beer in RI, I would never advise them to go to this place. So the main question is, do you want the beer nerd dollar or just the casual beer fan dollar? If you want to be known for good beer amongst the beer nerds, then you may want to avoid a list like this:

Sam Adams Boston Lager
Sam Adams Seasona
lWoodchuck Cider
Harpoon IPA
Harpoon UFO White Ale
Blue Moon
Newcastle Brown Ale
Bass Ale
Newport Storm
Newport Storm Blueberry
Magic Hat # 9
Loose Cannon IPA
Budweiser
Bud Light
Longtrail Ale
Miller Lite
Boddingtons
Guinness Stout
Smithwick’s
Sierra Nevada

 

I think I would start with less taps that are well picked with a mind toward expanding if the demand is there. 15-20 would be a great start and could represent a pretty vast array of styles. I also second the fact that it depends on the food they will be paired with as to what to put on those taps.

 

i don't think this will be difficult at all, the craft beer scene in cali is pretty insane. people will flock to the spots that have an impressive tap list, so you gotta put up the local gems that people want to have on draft and any limited kegs you can get a hold of

 

i've been to places in jersey that have 80+ taps and some places that have about 10. new york has a ton of variety too, point being i don't think the number of taps is going to compromise anything. 40 is a solid number, and with the insane distro that cali gets in terms of different breweries i'm sure he wont have a problem consistently rotating them, the popular local gems will go quick because its what people want, the limited stuff probably will too price pending, and if its different then what other spots have to offer thats a huge plus too