I've been pondering the very interesting phenomenon of dedicated brewery taps at beer bars lately and am curious to hear people's opinions! What do you think of a bar that has a tap dedicated to one specific brewery? Often this practice allows them to get special things from time to time, have you seen this pay off? And most importantly, check out the poll above. If you were frequenting a place, what brewery(s) would you want to see have dedicated taps there?
I know of several bar's in the Chicago land area and surrounding suburbs that always have something on from FFF, Bell's and Founders. It's pretty nice always knowing there's something there, but it does get tiresome when you've been back to that same bar and it's the same beer that was there last time. If they've got a good rotation then it's awesome. If it's always Pride and Joy or Alpha King then it get's a little boring since I like variety (both great beers though).
That's always been my experience... it can get tiring. But it shouldn't have to be! Bell's for example has 25+ beers released every year... you'd think that if not one thing was on more than twice a year you could have a new beer every 2-3 weeks (pending emptying of kegs of course)
Dedicated taps are even more appealing if they are from breweries who are more allusive with distribution (i.e. Jackie O's, Hoppin Frog, and Weasel Boy). However, dedicated taps probably also put you in the running for the crazy stuff from the big guys (especially Goose Island and Founders, which do a lot of one offs that are highly sought after).
My buddy's bar has tap lines dedicated to FFF, Bell's, and Sun King. It affords him the opportunity to get limited kegs and also to run weekly specials on some of the "main" beers from each brewery. I think it's a win/win, at least observing his business...keeps all the kegs fresher, keeps interesting kegs showing up, converts regular patrons on nights that might otherwise be slow(er) because their favorite brewery is on special...I'm OK with it.
Considering I am from around the Cleveland area it is very common to see most bars with a dedicated tap to GLBC. I would like to see more Jackie O's up here and FFF would be pretty awesome.
I don't mind dedicated taps if they are either: Amazing beers (Edmund Fitzgerald) Rotate fairly often (seasonals, etc) What I dislike are the taps that never change at all and are beers I'd not likely order at a bar (though from the bar's standpoint I can see why they're always there). I am thinking of Two-Hearted or Dortmunder. I'd love to see HF taps around, but they almost never send kegs anywhere other than competitions (and even then it's usually bottles). Jackie's would be cool as well - there'd be near guaranteed change and high turnaround. Fortunately this is something that may not be all that far off from occurring in Central OH.
So what if he did? I'm loving the fact that they are getting their name out there, slowly but surely. We've got another brewery opening up sometime in the near future, exact date, I'm not sure. It'll be called Y-City Brewing. I found this out from the owner of Winerak, who is friends with the brewer. I also may be working at Winerak in the near future as well.
Something to do with a stout that GI makes being distributed based on Matilda sales...maybe...something.
