Craft Bars (any success stories in smaller population areas?)

Coasters Downtown Draught House in Elizabeth City, NC.
They usually have 20 beers on tap at all times. There are a few of the craft standards, but for the most part they have a nice selection on tap that includes options from Bell's, Southern Tier, Terrapin, and Founders to name a few.
Each Wednesday night they feature a brewery with around 3 of their offerings, and with each pint you get a free glass from the brewery. $5 a beer and free glass is a good deal.

This place is a beer oasis in the desert of options in Eastern NC.

 

Thai me up/Melvin brewing in jackson hole wyoming. 20 taps all craft. 10-13 house brews the rest rotate with various craft brews.
Wu Tang
Diversify your hops

 

Elwood's Pub in Rural Ridge PA. In the hills far north of Pittsburgh, great music, food and atmosphere with 14 all-craft beer selections. I especially like that they feature local start-up brewers like Grist House, Helltown, Hop Farm and All Saints along with Victory, Troegs, Yards, etc.

 

Pizza Boy (Al's of Hampden) is in the middle of nowhere. That place kicks ass!

 

I would take a wild guess that more than half of the places in small towns across Washington and Oregon fit this description.

 

Depends on definition of small.

Ashley's in Ann Arbor is excellent, let alone many other places and the 4 or 5 breweries there.

In Gainesvile we have Swamp Head and a new brewery called First Magnitude, plus Alligator brewing. The Top has a fantastic beer selection, and we have two chain beer bars:Brass Tap and World of Beer; along with a German pub with 40 taps and 500 bottles, plus a small private craft beer bar with 40 taps and plenty of bottles next door to that.

 

How far away from a major city do you consider to be outskirts?

Cloverleaf Tavern in Caldwell NJ. Nice local atmosphere, good selection, good rotation, good programs to keep you coming back

 

Ortmanns Red Iron Tavern in Woodstock, IL.

 

I loved this place (From Norfolk Virginia and had good friend who lived in EC) Will definitely go back when I go home to visit.

 

Ebenezers is in a pretty remote area.

 

The Eddy and Saxapahaw Market in Saxapahaw, between Greensboro and Chapel Hill, are real jewels. There's also The Haw River Ballroom. All are located- along with apartments, condos- in the old Jordan Mill building sitting on the Haw River. This is a fantastic area with good food and drink. Draws from across Piedmont North Carolina. It is a tiny town and a pleasure to visit.

 

Hard to think of anyplace better or more remote than Ebenezers. On the outskirts of a small Maine town, in the woods, down a dirt road. Of course in the winter there is a busy snowmobile trail that goes by Here is a news story...

http://www.boston.com/travel/explorene/maine/articles/2010/01/17/nowhere_like_here_for_beer/

 

I would argue any of the craft bars/bottle shops that have popped up in Kentucky, particularly in Louisville and Lexington. While not "small" cities in terms of population (at least not for Louisville - 28th largest city in the U.S., depending on whose demographic data you use and whether it covers the entire city/county metro government scheme), they are nonetheless right in the heart of bourbon country. Bourbon typically runs the show around these parts, so to see some of our craft bars making "Best beer bar in the Region/US"-type lists is quite a nice success story when most of the publicity is usually focused on which of our bourbon bars has been recently voted best in the U.S./World. Here's to you: Holy Grale & The Beer Trappe.

 

Big T Food & Spirits in Lawton Mi.
46 handles of quality craft and 250 + bottles with to go prices that will rival any big city bottle shop.
Lawton doesn't even have a stop light.

 

The Nook in Huntsville AL.
Not sure how you would designate the size of it, our metro area has a population of 417,593 but that's just anything within a thirty minute drive or so. They have about 35 different beers on tap and over 450 varieties of beer in general.

 

I think Callicoon Brewing Co., in the western Catskills of NY, would fit the bill. They only have two of their own beers out of their 14 taps. The rest are usually from the likes of Southern Tier, Victory, or other local brewers.

They are going on their second year, now, and seem to be picking up steam as a pretty cool local hang-out. It definitely has that small-town vibe.

http://callicoonbrewing.com/

 

Natty Greene's in North Attleboro, MA. Outside both Providence and Boston, unbelievably surprised the couple times i've been there and it's definitely a little off the beaten path.

 

My local, Palate in Milford MI with 32 taps will celebrate their second anniversary Sept 4. The list is crazy good. Located in a small village of 6000 about 45 mi. from Detroit.

 

It depends on what small is. I know everyone on the east coast would think Columbia, MO is small and isolated. At 113,000 people and 2 hours from KC and STL. But we have numerous great craft beer bars.

 

OK I am officially jealous.
This sounds like an incredible place.
Although it is probably best it is so far away from me.

 

Natty Greene's? Is it named after Nathanael Greene of Rhode Island and American (Quaker at that) general sent south by George Washington to confound the British? Seems A-B InBev should seek legal action against that name just as it has against Natty Greene's here in namesake Greensboro. If so, this looks like a good legal point for the name being common parlance in more than one locale.

 

http://northeasttaproom.com/ in Reading, PA (definitely not a "big city). No BCM since the early 1980's!

 

Pretty much in the middle of nowhere when I visited about a decade ago while staying outside Woodstock, NY -
The Country Inn, Krumville, NY (click on "Map" for further proof).

 

That describes the majority of bars in Vermont.

EDIT: In my area (SEPA) Spinnerstown Hotel comes to mind... http://www.spinnerstownhotel.com/

 

Eh, not so much. There's plenty of BCM joints and not all Vermonter's like Phish. Plenty of 4x4 boys.

 

I grew up in VT, parents still live there...[and yeah, I don't like Phish or downhill ski/snowboard]. VT probably has the strongest buy local sentiment that I've seen anywhere (it's almost annoying), which extends to their beer too.

 

I think the perception of quality bars/brewpubs being only in big cities is based on
A) more buzz because of bigger numbers of people frequenting those places;
2) more people means more income means more return of investment means more probability of a successful business;
III) in many states beer laws have only recently changed to make breweries in smaller population areas viable.

To answer the OP's question, in Ohio:
Jackie O's in Athens
Weasel Boy in Zanesville
JAFB in Wooster
...all have some pretty good beers.

 

Can you provide some sort of subjective idea of what you consider a big city, a medium or smaller city and how far away
from one of these a town needs to be for consideration as a small town/rural area. I'm not trying to be snarky or anything, just get a handle on exactly you are looking for because one person's idea of a medium city may be anothers' idea of a big city and another person's idea of a medium city may be someone's idea of a small town or rural area. And IMO people who live in or near big cities do have a tendency to think everything else is small.

 

Brick N' Brew has become a saving grace for trips back to my otherwise craft-beer-dry hometown of Napoleon, OH - population about 9,000. Food is pretty good too.

Also, the small brewery in the town just south (Holgate, population about 1,100) is expanding and coming into Napoleon.

 

Even the dive bars in Washington/Oregon have at least 2 IPA's to choose from...

 

Brewer's Union Local 180 in Oakridge, OR (pop. ~3,000) is a brewery/public house in the woods 50 miles from Eugene, OR. They are an exclusively cask ale brewery, but they also feature four rotating "Co2" craft beer guest taps, a rotating cider tap, and rotating mead tap for those who don't like cask.

 

And Manny's Pale Ale. Always amazes me. Middle of nowhere or in the thick of things. There it is.

 

I would add House of 1000 Beers in New Kensington, PA. 24 Taps and a great bottle shop. Last time I was there (in April) they had Sweet Repute and Curieux on tap. Also Spring House Lil' Gruesome.

 

Haha, yes they have an account with basically every liquor license in WA it seems.

 

The Silver Dollar Café & Saloon in Collinsville, OK. It truly is a podunk town, but the beer selection is pretty good. About 15 craft beers on tap. Kin Folks in Manitou Springs CO used to be pretty good. Haven't been there in 5 years