Tasting room vs. resturant style tasting room.

Since I usually have family members along I prefer the tasting room (brewpub atmosphere really) with food since that makes it possible for everyone to have something either with or without beer and it also makes it possible for two families to get together for chance to get caught up while sharing a beer and a meal. Also with a wife willing to do the Designated Driver duties it gives a chance for more exploration of the beers. (I don't do samplers any more since I find they don't really make it possible to experience the full flavor profile of the beer and so I much prefer to have 2-3 full size portions chosen from those on offer. A meal helps with that since I also like to explore beer and food pairings.)

 

If my wife, who is not a BA, is joining me I prefer restaurant with great food and great beer. My objective is to enjoy a great night out with my wife. Its all about finding an environment that we will both enjoy.

If I'm flying solo, I prefer brewery tasting rooms, where I can not only enjoy good beer, but also socialize with other BA's.

 

By "tasting room" are you talking about a place where you get a few samples or a place where you can get full size pours. If you're getting full pours, it's gone past tasting room into tap room. A true tasting room, you just get your tastes, buy your beer, and go. Boneyard in Bend has this type of situation.

 

I visit a lot of breweries/brewpubs and interact with people in two different ways. I think that the social aspect has two different definitions regardless whether it is a place with food or if it is a taproom. First, the social interaction is defined by whether you go there with friends for drinking and/or a meal (I rarely interact with people who I don't know when eating a meal), or, second, if you go there to drink the beers, in which case I usually interact with other customers who I don't know. But both are social interactions.

So I really don't have a preference for which type of place I go to because it is really determined by whether it is meal time, or if it is the middle of the afternoon and I'm there just to try the beers.

 

I far prefer a bare bones taproom. Beer, maybe some popcorn or other snacks and a cozy/rustic atmosphere. Burial is a perfect example, or Hoof Hearted (Marengo).

I don't mind the bigger restaurant brewpubs, but they aren't as exciting to me.

 

if I am going to the place I also want food. i honestly think it's a little disappointing not to be able to spend time in a place because there is no food offered. However, I also think that some places I have been were just to small for anything else. It was just the beer and of those tiny little breweries, they were tremendous!

 

In NJ a brewery is not allowed to sell food so it's a moot point. If you want to sell any type of food you need both a brewpub and a full liquor license. Full liquor licenses in NJ are limited and can be very expensive. One in Montclair recently changed hand for a reported $1,000,000.

 

Full disclosure. I work at a brewpub.
I like them both personally, as they each serve their purpose, and present beer as something to experience in very different ways. The food component adds a lot to presenting that beer, and how it works with the food. I hear firsthand, and taste what is happening with the two right up front. And, that has been, for me. A wonderful experience. I like that these spaces are becoming more of a common factor with 'craft' beer. They should and do allow for some more creativity inside that very well traveled brewpub/bar food mode. For those 'educational' drinking purposes for the proselytizer in all of us. We are the front lines for getting people interested in drinking craft beer. Throw a (humanely raised / grass feed) burger in that initiates facehole and get them turned on by their having to wash it down with this beer that is pretty much, all under a month old.
Brewpubs are also quite a bit of a larger project and beast to manage due to all the operations and their layers of code and regulations.
But, tasting rooms are places where people can bring their dogs or do their office shit and/or just hang out. They can be a lot looser with their atmosphere since the food components health codes are out of the way, and the watering hole vibe they have is nice too.

 

This may sound odd, but most of the times I drink with friends and family it is not out in public but at one's house (or my house). So when I have some free time and decide to go out to a tasting room, brew pub etc. I am usually alone as others aren't available to meet me on the fly like that. I go in 100% of the time hoping to find interesting conversation with someone, but probably 50% of the time or more I leave with no conversations, just a beer or 2 to sample and head home. People are either in their own large groups, a date/married couple you don't want to interrupt or just the fact the seating arrangement isn't conducive to easy conversation. Usually the best chance for conversation I've found is when hardly anyone is there and the bartender/pourer has plenty of free time to chat with you and perhaps 1-2 other patrons at the bar. This way the bartender is the focal point and its easy to allow others to join in on the conversation that may have already started without feeling like you or someone else is butting in, but welcome. Just my experience. If the bar is too busy, then usually the only the person to the immediate right or left of you is your opportunity for conversation. Unless your a social butterfly and wander around the joint rubbing elbows. That's not me though.

 

Gimme a tasting room which abuts the brewery and is full of the smells and sights of brewing. If it has great fresh beer, a bartop, and an area that doesn't get too crowded for customers to drink that is enough for me. Stools and tables is a plus. A food truck is a plus. But I wouldn't mind any conditions if the beer is fine and fresh and there's an open space with a roof to enjoy it.

 

Breweries should focus on what they're good at.
Restaurants should focus on what they're good at.

And if the restaurant happens to be a truck right outside the brewery, more power to them.

 

In my experience I've always hated a restaurant style tasting room. I come here to drink your beer, not order apple bees quality food.

 

I prefer tasting rooms within the actual brewery. Some of my favorites have been Creature Comforts in Athens, La Cumbre in Albuquerque, Castle Island outside of Boston, and my favorite is Mystic which is also just outside of Boston. Mystic offers food from an Italian place up the street that delivers. La Cumbre had a food truck, not sure about the others.

I don't mind brewpubs, but in a majority I feel like the beer is not that great. If you look at the "top beers" some, but not many, are from brewpubs. The emphasis is on the food or it is too hard to do both well.

I know there are a few exceptions including Wicked Weed in Asheville and Town Hall in MNPLS and I'm sure many others.

 

I mostly prefer the bare bones "informal" tasting room that encourages social interaction. I do enjoy the "restaurant style" tasting room as well, but it depends on the quality and execution. I view Wicked Weed's tap room as a good example of a well executed "restaurant style" tap room that obviously has quality beer. But around my area there are some local breweries that seem to lose their identity with the brew pub; the brewing occurs behind the scenes, all floor space is dedicated to food service and the beer seems like an afterthought.

 

I prefer tasting room/patio with food truck option. I'd rather the place be beer oriented vs food.

 

I get the most enjoyment out of places that offer table service and food service. I'd rather order my drinks and have them served to me in a comfortable setting while being able to have food options. So I guess I vote taproom/brewpub.

Food trucks are a pain in the butt, but at least they provide food options at places with none. I have an "at least they have a food truck" attitude towards them. Long lines, slightly over priced food, have to go outside to get the food for everyone, the list goes on. But they are better than nothing!

 

Food trucks around here are not cheap. I guess they don't have to be but one would think with relatively low overhead compared to a restaurant they would be noticeably cheaper.

 

We don't like true table seating very much when we're not dining, so that wouldn't be our first choice for tasting beer. We do enjoy an informal place like When Pigs Fly because it is so open and there's a buzz - so places set up that way are better than really isolated tables where you feel like you are s'posed to sit with your hands folded or something - too formal for tasting beers.

A tasting room Ideally with a view to the brew house, with no food available is OK because you can at least wander around. If the tasting room is in the brewery, that's great, but it needs to be sort of isolated. I've spent 35 years in a GMP environment and it rubs off...yeah, it's cool to be in the brewery, but things like glasses and food and, well, the unwashed/unwitting masses, make it a little questionable to me. I like it but to me it always feels like I'm doing something wrong. Then again, there's nothing better than a taste right out of the brite tank...now that is QC... I just don't think the production floor is the right place for social gatherings...I'll be retired for 20 years before I can deprogram, and probably never will (brew day prep at my house is...interesting). I've seen breweries with bands playing on the floor, people roaming around with glassware/jewelry/what have you, employees/visitors eating over the tanks...I don't dig that. Tour and guide the peeps where you want 'em, s'plain stuff, drink elsewhere or isolate the tasting area like Smuttynose does in the corner. Mixed feelings on IN the brewery tastings, like overlooking the brewery.

Again, it is the social feeling of not being parked at a table rather then being in the brewery. To some extent, as much as stainless steel makes me go "Squirrel", you've seen one and you've seen them all. Unless I can get really up close and personal (and I have wandered off tour), I don't really need to see another grain mill or fermenter, so a view from the outside is fine. A little breeze of brewery exhaust fumes helps - ya gotta have ambiance... But a little, tiny, poorly thought out tasting room with people packed like Prince Albert in a can - that is pretty poor, too, and probably the least favorite we've experienced. Jostling about in a hot, sweaty place with high probability of beer spills and yelling to be heard in a loud, confined space just ain't high on the must do list.

But we like food, too, so that is always good. I think it makes a place feel like a destination for more than just tasting beer - cool with having food available. Grab a beer, hang around the food truck, socialize if ya wanna. We like food trucks (fond memories of tuna melts and omelette sandwiches during our college days. Some of them are amazing these days (thinking of the Japanese one and the pancake thingey that was the best thing we ate in Portland one day partly due some less prudent choices). Food trucks and beer- good....don't drink and drive...

We really like the beer hall style rooms though - thinking Harpoon and the new Jack's Abby type halls. Communal tables give you the option to be as social as you'd like to be with your neighbors. You can put the piss off leave me alone face on if you want, or just relax and be happy like most folks. Jack's Abby (and I am sure others) have great food. Harpoon has those totally awesome pretzels/dipping sauces and the space is just fantastic. Patios are good too, but parking lot picnic tables kinda suck at least a little. Not a fan. To me and the missus, that "hybrid" kind of vibe in the beer hall/biergarten setting just "feels right" in the context of beer - you have seating, you aren't chained to it, and you can just go with the flow.

 

From what I have heard, most are money pits for the owners