Opening an all-local craft beer bar

That's what bottles are for. But the claim is also not true in principle--brewpubs often sell only their own beer and they don't "lose" the BMC crowd. This idea sounds like taking the brewpub concept and pushing it to the next level. And there are plenty of brewpubs that are successful--even while offering mediocre beer. I actually like the hook of all-local bar. If it's combined with a locavore kitchen, it may well be a winner, especially in a large metro area (Boston, Greater NYC, DC, Chicago, Philadelphia, etc.) or another area with high concentration of educated or high-tech population (e.g., NC Research Triangle, Austin). But the key is how good the local breweries are and how far you're willing to extend the idea of "local". Cincinnati has a number of local breweries, but I don't see this concept working there because most of the breweries are just too generic, unless "local" extends to most of Ohio and parts of Indiana and Kentucky (and the local population is too conservative, generally, to be receptive to such a "liberal" concept, but that's a different thread).

 

Got to love New-Yorkers--never a shortage of chutzpa and NYC imperialism. But... there's more than one "tri-state area" and Philadelphia is actually close to one (PA/MD/DE), although I doubt the UDe population can carry such a bar concept on its own (especially since there are no local MD breweries to carry along with DFH and all the PA ones), as rural PA and MD won't help. NYC "tri-state" is just a slice of "New York metro" and is large enough to be a separate state. No one refers to Boston as "tri-state" although suburbs extend into NH and RI and the area is smaller than NYC "tri-state".

 

There are a couple of bars in Philly that go local-only 90+% of the time, and they do quite well. No reason you can't make it work.

 

as to the original question, a 100% local tap list, our local World of Beer franchise (Denver) has done this as an event, like a tap take-over, but they don't limit themselves by doing it every day. Beer bars in the lower east side like Top Hops (I assume you are in NYC because of the "tri-state area" reference) feature and emphasize local beers but don't offer them exclusively. Somewhere in this range is wat I'd recommend I think...don't want to preclude yourself from the Pliny buzz, or Hopslam, or any of the other usual suspects, when you can get them. Hardest part is getting distributors to get you some of their precious allocations of stuff like this, all of which is subject to a hotly contested per-existing allocation, before you open your doors and shoulder your way into the marketplace.

 

In Columbus there is a growler shop that fills growlers with best of the local stuff in Ohio. Some breweries so small still they don't have distro so the owner has to go pick up the kegs himself for the shop. pretty cool.

 

Not all states allow that.

 

sucks to be those states

 

Plus, Wiki forgot the "Tri-State" of WA/OR/ID.

 

And the OP has not come back and this was his/her first and only post. troll?

 

The biggest hurdle is that your beer selection may end up being worse in overall quality than your competitors. I can't think of any beer bars around me that are exclusively MN beers, but the trends of localizing and the popularity of sustainable practices has definitely put more pressure on bar owners to carry a multitude of mediocre beers at the expense of trading them in where maybe excellent out of state breweries might have previously been.

And while that does seem to be working still, for the time being, but I don't know how well that will play out in the long run of converting drinkers to craft, if they one day realize how many times they have spent $5-$7 for meh beer. So I would say that you first have to judge the area that you want to open and see if it has a strong enough trend toward local and sustainable, to float the business almost exclusively based on that, because when you start to choose your beers by distance and not quality first, because in most states that would mean that you are going to end up pouring some mediocre beers just because they are local. In a state like CA, you could have a 100% rotating tap bar and pour exclusively CA brewed beers and not pour a single dud, but most states aren't like that and you would have to first (as objectively as possible) determine the over all quality of the breweries that exist in the radius that you are going to set up.

Also, I don't know how much the "local" trend is also based on a state itself. What I always hear in these discussions is that it supports businesses that employ people in the state and that pay taxes into the state. So while you may want to delineate the selection based on a tristate, you loose that aspect of the rational for staying local. While I am sure that you may want this because you probably see better breweries in one of the neighboring states from where you want to open, it is just going to appear more like a random line in the sand to your customers. For instance, if somebody opened a bar in MN and then made a big deal about only pouring beers made in MN, WI, IA, SD and ND, all because they are bordering states, I am sure that it would leave a lot of customers wondering what the point was.

 

While I like the idea of an "all-local brews" bar, I think it would be limiting your selections over the long run. I know there is no shortage of breweries to provide good quality beer in the tri-state area, but there is so much good beer being made all over the USA (and elsewhere) at your disposal in NYC. For instance, I would miss Sierra Nevada's "Celebration" at Christmas and Dogfish Head's "Festina Peche" in the Spring if I only had three states (NY, NJ, and CT) from which to draw upon.

How about revising the concept to include 1/2 locals and 1/2 from everywhere else? Being known for having a good local selection would be a good half step in the direction you mentioned. Also, I would keep in mind your proposed location as it will also dictate in some of what you serve and your kitchen will do the same thing.

If you are looking for an interesting location for a craft beer-oriented venue, I might suggest the lower end of the Flatiron District, along 5th Ave, just west of Gramercy Park.

Good luck with the project.

 

Philadelphia has Standard Tap on N 2nd serving only local brews from our tri state area. Been there I bet 10 to 15 years and going strong. Longevity for at least 10 years of serving only locals is a testiment to our thriving beer scene here in the tri state area.

 

Reading my mind

 

That's a good record. I will bookmark that for a visit, but let someone else drive home as I will try everything.

 

Haha the OP, join date Fri., hasn't come back to his own thread, never let anyone know which tri state area he was asking us about, and never replied to any of the direct questions and comments made his/her direction. He basically asked folks to hijack it.

 

Given this info I now can say with complete assurance that the area you plan to open in may or may not be a great spot, the folks in the area all hate craft beers or it is actually their favorite beers, the local beers you plan to feature may be great or they may suck, and the competition you may run up against are weak, and ripe for competition to overtake them, or well entrenched and formidable. Hope this helps.

 

I think we've seen some good debate and suggestions on this thread (little hijacks about Tri State area chest thumping aside). If he's a troll I'd say BA could use more trolls like him.