The Taproom Experience

I've visited over 300 breweries and reviewed almost all of them here on BA. The one consistent thing that tends to cause a lower rating on the Vibe portion of the score is an industrial interior surrounding. It's just not cozy. However, on some of my reviews I've overlooked that negative characteristic if the beer was outstanding. Great beer always trumps everything else!

 

A good taproom needs:

- complimentary isinglass
- food for my cat
- breakaway beer glasses
- helicopter landing pad
- a jukebox with nothing but operas

 

Nobody has mentioned proper glassware. There are so many really good spots in NC that I would frequent more but I hate drinking out of plastic cups. I know it sounds snobbish but it really kills the vibe for me.

 

I like a laid back vibe, the local Pub has 38 taps I've had most of the beers at one time or another, and it bores me a bit. It's crowded and noisy on Fri and most weekends, so I just pass. My favorite bar is the Blackback Pub in Waterbury Vt, Lawsons and Hill Farmstead on tap , not a noisy bar, it's never really been all that crowded whenever I've stopped in. That's a place I can relax and blow the froth off a few. Across the street is Probation Pig you can get your Heady fix and some Lawson's , great food, but it gets a bit crowded, still great though.

 

Other than good beers (and a decent selection):

• decently comfortable seating in case I plan to spend some time enjoying the offerings
• multiple size pours - I might want to try your take on a style I am not a fan of or I may want to limit my total intake of high ABV offerings but want more than just a taste

These two really top the list. Having a couple gathering areas for groups and conversation, having other distractions be it games or TVs, and having live music would be nice at the next level.

 

Interesting and fun events. We vacation in a spot where their are 4 breweries we can visit. The 4th in terms of beer (still good) has great events and we show up there more than the other three combined.

 

A few good friends, comfortable seating, quiet enough to converse with said friends, an attractive clientele and a decent beer selection. Food is good but I don't mind drinking a few and going someplace else to eat. I don't like crowded noisy places with people stumbling around drunk and acting stupid. Yeah, I don't do many sports bars!

 

At least 40 taps so I have a variety of familiar and new beers to choose from, in my go-to styles of stout, porter, and hefeweizen. Since I drive to the taprooms and need to drive home safely, it's nice to have a taproom that isn't so crowded that they're looking for you to chug and run to make space for the next chugger. Good food is also appreciated. Also good to be able to check a phone app or monitors in the taproom showing the current tap offerings. Nice to have taptenders that actually know and talk craft beer - obvious when they're talking about plans to attend the same beerfests I'm planning to. Luckily we have five such taprooms in the area, with another opening next week. Only one is a brewery.

 

One price taps in round dollar amounts (adjust size for ABV, style,etc)
Good acoustics - some are huge rooms with hard surfaces on all sides which ends up being noisy and cold.
Food trucks in rotation and posted one the web site.
Plenty of help with quick pours - a cash only line is nice too.
Large rest rooms with plenty of plumbing.

 

As long as all the customers in the place don't have their faces buried in their cell phones, I'm groovin.

 

Why would you care?

 

I always love this, cause it allows the brewery to focus on the beer and good local food truck chefs to focus on the food.

 

Conversation and embracing good vibes with friends. Pains me to see people update their location only to sit and scroll and not enjoy the actual experience.

 

1. Great go-out-of-your-way-for-it beer.
2. Edible pub food, like crispy calamari, poutine, caesar salad, whatever.
3. Bikes, dogs, kids, in that order.
4. Old guys and young hipsters, beards and without beards.
5. Ladies who love good beer, and hockey.

 

I go to a bar/restaurant in Greensboro in the old Lindley Park neighborhood that always has great beer on tap - I never worry about what they are offering, I'll find something nice. I love the place because of the mix of people, the very good food, and the utter lack of pretension.

 

And then there's Haw River Farmhouse Ales, which is perfectly different, in downtown Saxapahaw!

 

I mostly go to brewery tap rooms or tasting rooms, not much into the bar thing. There is quite the gamut from bare bones to full-on pub style rooms, and most of them ate enjoyable. Food is a huge plus, whether it is a food truck (Allagash and the Portland industrial park corner comes to mind) or sit down and eat like Jacks Abby. I love Harpoon's bierhall with the blend of old world style and modern industrial. Sometimes I just want to taste beer, but sometimes I like the "destination" stay a while thing and I prefer a more well thought out, more complete setting.

It has to be clean, no matter what the situation. To me, it says a lot about the brewery if the serving area is disorganized and messy or dirty. If you cant keep the place where the public interface occurs tidy, what does that say about the brew house? Even if it is retail or growler fills with two ounce pours...that is the point of contact with the public and makes a statement good or bad.

Being in the food industry, tasting/ gathering/enetertainment areas within the brewery are very sketchy for me, especally when glassware comes in to play. While I love looking at the equipment personally, I don't really like the idea of people roaming about the production floor. In my opinion the two should be separate, but this is probably a personal pet peeve based on food safety being pounded into my head for 35 years. I suppose the risk is mostly manageable, but I have seen people above tanks with glasses in hand. I like how New Glarus did theirs, which obviously cost a fortune. You can see everything from the hallways through glass walls. I do enjoy Smuttynose, however. The tasting area in the corner by the fermenters is out of the main action area at least, and nobody wanders off...

Good people, both customers and staff. Nothing can ruin an experience faster than unreasonable customers, which in turn impacts the attitude of the servers. I dont know how the servers put up with some of the customers, honestly. I dont expect super perky from the hard working folks in these places, but polite will usually do the trick for me. Knowledge of the beers is a bonus.

 

As opposed to the suburbs?

Love their stuff- perfect amount of Haw River magic.

 

Nothing worse than going to a great beer joint with unknowledgable bar tenders. I great beer bar must be accompanied by employees who know and aren't afraid to speak about beer.

 

If I'm at a brewery tap room, then I like to feel like I am at a brewery. Views of brewing equipment and brewing staff doing their job as well as the smell of brewing in the air. A good example of this is Fat Heads tap house. I feel like I'm in the middle of a brewery when I drink there. A bad example of this would be Hoppin Frog's tap room. Their beer is good but the tap room looks and feels like a generic sandwich shop with no character. You wouldn't know beer was actually being brewed there if the place wasn't labeled a brewery.