A weekly look at the draft selection in beer-friendly bars across the country.
Turning beer-fueled trips through Belgium and Amsterdam into the inspiration behind owning a bar may sound like a lot of guys' dreams. But for Aaron Porter and Chuck Stilphen, the dream came true in December of 2007 when they opened the Trappist in Oakland, Calif., attempting to bring that Belgian feel and Belgian brews to the Bay Area.
"We went to Belgium and Amsterdam for beer festivals," says co-owner Chuck Stilphen, recalling those trips he took with Porter. Upon their return, they would lament that there was "no good place to drink beer around here where we lived."
The Trappist combats that problem. The idea was "modeled around beers we like," so it's no surprise that their primary focus is on Belgian beers. But realizing that California is no small player in the world of making great beer either, they also stock plenty of brews from their home state as well.
Origins aside, one thing is always consistent: "Small brewers stuff," Stilphen says. "No InBev or even giant Belgian brewers."
See the Trappist's draft selection as of Tuesday after the jump. ...
A weekly look at the draft selection in beer-friendly bars across the country.
Hoboken, N.J. spends a lot of time in the shadow of New York City. For many people, Hoboken is best recognized as "the last place your frat brother who was planning on going to business school" resided. But though many of its residents travel across the Hudson for work, Mike Farley, manager of Hoboken's the Mile Square, believes people shouldn't have to travel into the Big Apple to find a good beer.
"We have 30 taps," says Farley, speaking with pride about Hoboken's largest tap selection. "And we rotate about 17 of them constantly with all craft beer." He admits they have to keep on some of the standards -- Miller Lite, Guinness, Stella -- Hoboken is still a somewhat conservative place compared to, say, Brooklyn. But Farley believes their selection stands up to even some of the best bars in New York.
"Last month, we had 11 different Octoberfests," Farley points out. "People are already coming in asking for Christmas beers."
See the yesterday's complete draft list after the jump. ...
A weekly look at the draft selection in beer-friendly bars across the country.
Ben Volen, general manager of the Distillery, agrees: Savannah, Ga., is a very traditional city. "For a long time there was nothing on at any of the bars besides Bud draft, Miller draft, Yuengling had just come into town ... Corona in a bottle," Volen reflects. So when the Distillery opened around this time last year, the idea of a craft beer-centric bar was certainly a change of pace.
Volen had attended school in New York when the craft beer trend was gaining momentum. Upon returning south, he brought his love of New York brewers like Brooklyn and Captain Lawrence back to Georgia, looked at the burgeoning beer scene in nearby Atlanta and constructed a plan for his bar.
Savannah reacted appreciatively. "We've been welcomed with open arms," Volen says. "We've completely changed this town and how they look at beer." Since their opening, according to Volen, most restaurants now carry at least a couple of craft brews.
Read more about the Distillery and see yesterday's entire draft list after the jump.
A weekly look at the draft selection in beer-friendly bars across the country.
Kentucky might be better known for its whiskey distilleries than its beer prowess, but like most cities with more than a million people in its metropolitan area, Louisville has seen growth in its specialty and craft-beer market over the past few years due to the average American's increased awareness of the variety of beer available.
Louisville's beer scene is "getting better," says James Donald Gunnoe, co-owner of one of the reasons that scene has gotten better: the small beer outpost known as The Nachbar. "There are about five microbreweries in town and I think there's room for more."
About two and a half years ago, Gunnoe and his wife, Heather Burks, opened Nachbar with the intention of creating a "place we'd want to go to ourselves." Working from faith in their own tastes and desires, they focused on stocking the beers they drank and loved, attempting to offer the beer at prices they knew people could afford. Gunnoe puts it best when he states, "We cater to ourselves, and from there we're just really fortunate that people appreciate what we like."
Read more about Nachbar and see this past weekend's draft list after the jump...
A weekly look at the draft selection in beer-friendly bars across the country.
Laying claim to land in both Missouri and Kansas, Kansas City might conjure up thoughts of boring grasslands or Midwestern conservatism. But with nearly a half million residents in the Missouri side's city limits alone (making it the Show Me State's largest city), Kansas City is certainly more metropolis than cornfield. And at Grinders, patrons can expect a less-than-conservative draft selection and some not-so-Midwestern fare.
Just under five years ago, Grinders opened with the plan to offer residents of KC a restaurant/bar with an East coast flair. Both owners were from Pennsylvania (one from Philadelphia, one from Pittsburgh) and they planned to serve up cheesesteaks and New York-style pizza.
"We wanted a place that would be friendly to everybody that came in," says owner Anton Kotar. "No class barriers." Even money wasn't an obstacle: "If we could just make it break even, we'd be happy."
Kotar and his partner had never run a restaurant. "He's an artist by trade and I'm a contractor," Kotar admits, retelling the story of their troublesome first few months. But from the brink of going out of business, they turned Grinders into one of Kansas City's most popular destinations.
Read more about Grinders and see the current draft list after the jump...
A weekly look at the draft selection in beer-friendly bars across the country.
Finding two English-speaking cities more different than Dublin and Albuquerque, N.M., would be a pretty tough task. So some four years ago, when Two Fools Tavern opened its doors proclaiming to be "Albuquerque's only authentic Irish Pub," one can assume it was an ambitious undertaking.
"There was a need for it," says Russell Reid, general manager of Two Fools Tavern, explaining why they tried to bring a touch of Emerald Isle to the American Southwest. The gamble (if you can call opening an Irish pub a "gamble") has paid off: "We've been very successful."
Part of that success comes from having a solid beer selection, including nineteen draft lines. "We have Irish and English beers that are staples of what you'd need in a pub and then have a rounded balance."
Included in that balance are a number of American craft products. Via Full Sail, the bar has two exclusive Two Fools selections: a pale ale and a house cider. They're also proud to provide the beers in Sierra Nevada's Imperial series on tap, as well as other unique brews from around the country (particularly Colorado).
Reid knows his customers appreciate the additional selections: "Albuquerque is a great beer market. A lot of people don't realize that. It's much more of a beer town than other spirits." Still, despite continuing to evolve the draft list, Two Fools always keeps the Irish pub standbys. As Reid reminds us, "We're the largest seller of Guinness in the state."
Check out the current draft list at Two Fools Tavern after the jump.
A weekly look at the draft selection in beer-friendly bars across the country.
Central Virginia may not sound like the place to find a great beer bar. And as home of the University of Virginia, where thrifty college students are more apt to ask for inexpensive macrobrews, Charlottesville, Va., would seem to have two strikes against it for beer connoisseurs. Maybe that explains why Beer Run has stood out, earning national praise during the less than 2 years it's been open.
"The concept was originally just doing a bottle shop," says co-owner John Woodriff. But financial concerns led them to selling draft beer, which "opened a can of worms."
State laws required Beer Run to add food service and things quickly snowballed. "We were up early in the morning to make fresh bread for our sandwiches, so we morphed into an espresso bar and coffee shop," explains Woodriff. "Things got kinda wild."
Take a peek at the 14 beers Beer Run currently has on draft after the jump.
A weekly look at the draft selection in beer-friendly bars across the country.
The San Diego area has so many great breweries -- AleSmith, Green Flash, Port, just to pull a few off a list in alphabetical order -- that it certainly needs its fair share of great beer bars to showcase the local SoCal talent. They've got the goods. Perennial powerhouse Hamilton's Tavern always keeps a mighty draft list. Significant start-ups like Toronado's recent San Diego location offers tons of taps. Even Stone Brewery gets in on the action, featuring not only their own brews but favorites from around California and beyond.
Today, however, O'Brien's Pub gets the nod for a trend worth supporting: draft beer archives! Not only do they offer up their own "On Tap" link via their website, but patrons can also view a complete list of every brew they've ever had on draft ... or at least for the past few years. "It's everything we've ever posted on the website," says owner Tom Nickel, "but the site only dates back to 2007." Still, two years of beers is the kind of comprehensive compiling that What's On Tap nerds can get behind!
After the jump, a reprint of the most current draft list off their website.
A weekly look at the draft selection at beer-friendly bars across the country.
For years now, Philadelphia has been making its case as the best beer drinking city in America. And I have to admit, as a former Philadelphian, I'm certainly biased. However, I'd also have to agree: Philly's really been on the cutting edge with beer for quite some time.
Case in point is a bar like Race Street Cafe: Not the most recognized beer bar in all of Philadelphia (that would probably be Monk's) or the one with the most extensive selection (which is perhaps Eulogy), but a bar that I constantly reference in conversation. Why? Well, it's indicative of a larger attitude towards beer that Philadelphia bars embrace.
Tucked away on what is more or less a side street near an I-95 on-ramp in the shadow of the Ben Franklin Bridge, the Race Street Cafe isn't drawing any people in with location. Instead, they pride themselves on having a truly "hand-selected" draft list. At 15 taps, it's an efficient size, and there's not a Budweiser or Heineken in the bunch. Every time you step into Race Street, you know you'll be presented with a carefully selected variety of drafts, specifically picked by the staff themselves and lovingly hand-printed in chalk on the blackboard.
Sometimes less is more, and knowing that every draft was chosen with care makes a somewhat more limited list that much more appealing because you know anything you try will be excellent. It's a trend that's been growing in bars across the Philadelphia area and the nation as a whole, but not many bars I've been to do it as well as Race Street.
Let's take a look at what is on draft today at the Race Street Cafe in Philadelphia...
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