The recent thread entitled “Why Craft Beer Needs a New Generation of Beer Bars” got me wondering: where do most BAs go to drink beer when they leave the house? In the past I used to frequent local craft beer bars. I got to know the folks working there (e.g., bartenders) and I enjoyed the variety of craft/imported beers from various breweries. Then Covid hit with the associated shutdown. After the shutdown ended and I started venturing out to drink beer for some reason I gravitated to going to local craft brewery taprooms as opposed to craft beer bars. Maybe this is due to the plethora of high-quality craft breweries that have opened near me over the past decade? Also, more craft breweries have opened satellite taprooms where beer is not brewed there but they serve the beers of that craft brewery. Anyway, lots of high-quality craft brewed beers to choose from. How about you? Where do you go to drink beer on-premise? Cheers!
For me it's mostly restaurants that happen to have a tap list I like. Some (like Bull & Bush) brew their own beers. Others (like Walter's 303 Pizza) just happen to have a curated list. I still hit up a few taprooms, too, but most days I look at the food options first. Food trucks and/or adjacent restaurants are a huge bonus for taprooms, too.
There are some pretty good taprooms here (Bosque, Truth or Consequences}, so I usually gravitate toward them if I'm not drinking at home. Now, if La Cumbre wanted to open a taproom here, I wouldn't object.
Restaurants that have bars.You arent going to get the best tap lists but theres usually a few decent options.
As I've stopped chasing novelty, I find myself going out more and more for food or experience. Might not have the greatest selection, but there's almost always something that will go nicely with the meal.
I think this is the aspect that the article fails to grapple with. At least in Denver, and I'm sure many other places, you can hit up any number of restaurants with great tap lists. That didn't used to be the case - a "beer bar" like Falling Rock was where you would go for great beer on tap (and middling food). Sure taprooms have had an effect, but I'm not sure that's the biggest one.
I’m pretty much 50-50 between beer bars and brewery tap rooms. In my immediate walkable, bike or public transit area there are countless options, which helps. I’m an at least once a week regular at one brewery and one beer bar. I definitely drink more beer at breweries and bars than at home.
Some of the posts in this thread brings up an interesting question: when is a business a restaurant with a bar or a craft beer bar that serves good food? There was a term used in the recent past (still used?) in the Philly area of a Gastropub. These businesses would offer a wide selection of craft beers but also provide quality food choices beyond just what most folks would associate with pub fare (e.g., more than just burgers/sandwiches). An example of a Gastropub is Standard Tap in Philadelphia. This place has excellent choices of craft beer and I personally appreciate that they always have a beer available on cask; today there are two beers on cask with one being Forest & Main No Kings which is branded as being an British Pale Ale which reads tasty: “FOREST AND MAIN NO KINGS [CASK] British Pale Ale. It pours a lovely fall wildflower honey color, and has that beautiful aromatic British ripe pear note, with some gentle oakey vanilla, a rustic herbal citrus marmalade, an appropriate bitterness. 4.8% ABV” https://standardtap.com/drink But they also have very good food choices, and an excellent chef. I think if I went there today in addition to ordering the above Forest & Main No Kings I would order as a meal the Grilled Duck Breast: “GRILLED DUCK BREAST mycopolitan wild mushrooms, dutch runner beans, sorrel” https://standardtap.com/food I am 99.99% sure my wife would order the Duck Breast since every time she sees it on a menu she orders it. So, is Standard Tap a Craft Beer Bar that serves good food (e.g., a Gastropub) or is it a restaurant that also has a bar? Hmm…. Cheers!
I voted for the craft beer bar, but the brewery taproom is a close runner up. I am fortunate to have several decent craft beer bars in this area. Two of them being Oscar’s Ale House, but having separate rotating tap lists viewable on their websites. This makes choosing which one to go to a little fun. As far as the food goes, many of both around here have that base covered as well.
Beer bars almost exclusively. On occasion I might go to a brewery taproom for a special release, but that's it. Breweries simply don't provide me with the range of different styles and quality I expect. Better ones will have a couple of beers I really like, but the rest I typically find "midlin." At a beer bar I can typically expect to find at least 4 or 5 beers I really want to drink (sometimes more), and usually the food and entertainment options are better as well.
John, not to get too nosey but... I took note of your above post "at least 4 or 5 beers I really want to drink". When you visit your local craft beer bars do you drink 4-5 beers (pints)? If you were in a 'less prolific' mood would going to a local craft brewery taproom to drink a couple of pints, that would be an insufficient place to go? Cheers!
Sometimes. I'm a big fan of taster trays, and that's often what I'll order if it's available. My days of drinking 4 or 5 pints are well in the past. That's never an option as far as I'm concerned. If a brewry happened to have that many different beers I wanted to try, then I'd have no problem going there. As you know, we're coming up on fresh hop season out here, and pretty soon several breweries will be offering a plethora of fh beers on tap. When that happens I make an exception to my general rule and will go to a brewery taproom. Last year I went to Ruse, Great Notion and Stormbreaker, all of which had between 5 and 8 different fh beers on tap.
I’m lucky, there are lots of good brewpubs with reasonable food, so I typically go to these. There aren’t that many restaurants with a great selection of various beers, so I don’t go to these as often . There is a large variability in the food quality at the brewpubs, but there has been a trend to open bigger brewpubs with better food, so it has been improving.
I love going to specific breweries to see the niche stuff you can only get there (like at Griffon & Sphynx) and have conversations with the actual brewers, but I mostly go to bottleshops and talk about the industry (like at The Blue Door).
I'm almost 100% brewery taprooms and slightly more than half of them have food or have rotating food trucks outside. I rarely have anything to eat as I'm only there for the beer, which is why I'll usually get tasters or half pours of anything new in my wheelhouse on site & get cans to go of anything else new in my wheelhouse for home consumption. If you've got great food, fine, but the reason I left the house (and especially if I've travelled out of town) is to taste your new brews.
Quick edit/revision: of all the breweries I go to, the ones that don't serve food or have food trucks outside also have no restrictions concerning people bringing in food off site for consumption on the premises.
...breweries / taprooms with food options... ...I rarely go to places that just have beer...that's why god made beer supermart emporiums ...
Jack, When I think of Standard Tap I always think beer first. When William opened he said it was a beer place that would have good food. Not been in a bit but back on the day I was there a good amount. The food was always very good as was the beer selection. Enjoy
