Spreading like wildfire!!
Here in Tampa Bay, the "beer bar" scene is popping up like crazy, being an employee at a local brewery and beer enthusiast who is well versed in both sides of the business I check them all out. Some I have been a little more intimately involved with, but mostly I to take notes in the hopes of having my own very geeky beer hall at some point in time..
As these outlets open throughout the Tampa metro area I notice that the biggest trend is to find a prime space, and location is everything of course... However it seems like the other main element is to right away start adding as many taps as they can handle, then follow it up with as many bottles as they can fit and build a bar with some seating. Throw the obligatory beers signs on the the walls from the distributors and viola' your done. Open the doors and start making money!
One thing most of them forget though is to bring the passion they have for beer with them, or worse some of them do not even have this passion which is where they are later in trouble even if the money keeps rolling in for a while but the "franchise deals" fizzle out.. So far in the area I have encountered one bar opened in the past 5 years that truly has the passion as well as a stellar selection for having as much as they do and funny thing is it's location is not ideal but people are still finding the place! There is a reason for this, they really care about their mission. I will fluff them later, after all that is my watering hole of choice but the rest just seem to come up short for comparison. Why? Well, want my opinion? Too bad if you don't here it is:
Taps- As fore mentioned, just because you have lots of them does not mean you will have a better selection in fact it usually just means more fluff. I hate seeing a bar with 40 taps but only 10 that are really quality beers that have been objectively hand selected, and this is what I have seen most of the time in these new bars. I could name them but I am not going to, this is not about that.. 7-10 taps always rotating, all the best of the best available, with a good turn over to me is all you need. Sure if you can have more with this level of devotion it is good to have the variety, but only so often do I see it. After all you still have bottles and besides if your staff is worthy of being behind the bar at one of the "best beer bars in *(choose your location)*" they should surely know how to guide the clientele to the right choice based on what they have as long as they have covered the right bases depending on the concept. Which brings me to staff..
Staff- Bar staff at a run of the mill "Bud, Miller, Coors bar" or "Liquor bar" need not know anything more than how to take an order, perhaps pour a drink, and be nice to people. Bartenders at these new beer bars need to be well versed in beer, and this is no easy task with the multitudes of styles, flavors, and selections available from all over the country and the world. Many owners feel like all they have to do is say "drink them and look in a book or on the computer" and they are done and while this might work for some of the staff who are more interested in the first place, most of these minimum wage employees who work mainly for tips have little care to spend time beyond what is spent in the building working to learn about the beers they are actually pouring. This past weekend, the wife and I went to one of these new establishments and they could not even locate the bottle she chose from the menu in the cooler that was in alphabetical order let alone tell us anything about the beer when we quizzed them to see if they knew or not, (it was an Aventinus, and she tried to serve it to us with a pint glass!) or even pour it. Now maybe I am being picky about that last part, but if you are to spend almost the same for a world class beer as you would for fine wine isn't presentation a little important? To me it is. In Europe I found this level of service was always the case, even with the local lager in a tavern that found itself in the middle of a small village. In a somewhat "upscale" establishment that is supposed to be the next beer "hot spot" I would think this bit of service would be called for.
Bottles- Speaking of bottles, with the ever growing availability here in the area and the country in general I can see stocking up on a good diverse selection. It doesn't however mean having everything that is possibly available! Many times I have seen these places stock a couple hundred and sell maybe 50 different varieties consistently. Many of the beers in the shadow of the main stream need to be hand sold and this goes back to staff. Sadly, so many of those will end up on the "Beer of the month/week/day" or discounted otherwise after one of the owners or managers starts to notice the floating debris, etc. in the bottle...Gross!
Bar and decor- Not really going to stick too much on this one, but they are almost all looking particularly similar these days, for more than one reason. A few stick out and these are among the older and more established in the area and it shows, even if the selection is not the cream of the crop any more. When I think about my favorite beer bars around the world, most become that way by first and foremost being comfortable, welcoming, and with a good selection of what I am looking for to drink. Sheik and trendy? Not for me nor for the most part as I have seen for the rest of the beer enthusiast crowds either, we can go to the stuffy ass martini bar when our wives and their girlfriends want a night out to get that. We care about the beer! The tables and chairs do not have to match, the lighting should be pleasant as should the music, and for the love of Pete, do not stick TV's in every single corner of the place. A sports bar can have a killer beer selection, but a beer bar should be about beer plain and simple!
In the end a lot of this is pure opinion, but I would like to note that it seems like this opinion is shared by a good selection of people. Any establishment with the proper licensing can have a better selection of beer and this is something I love to see, but by all means if a place aims to be a "beer bar" it should really show some focus and I guess the real reason I would bring it up would be the lack thereof at these newer places. Some will hopefully get it, others will not and I still wish them the best after all everyone starts somewhere. They can only get people wondering what else is out there and hopefully they will seek out the challenge to their palettes eventually and challenge the bar ownership, or find one of the places that are truly devoted to their mission.
Sorry for the rant, it happens!
Cheers!
As these outlets open throughout the Tampa metro area I notice that the biggest trend is to find a prime space, and location is everything of course... However it seems like the other main element is to right away start adding as many taps as they can handle, then follow it up with as many bottles as they can fit and build a bar with some seating. Throw the obligatory beers signs on the the walls from the distributors and viola' your done. Open the doors and start making money!
One thing most of them forget though is to bring the passion they have for beer with them, or worse some of them do not even have this passion which is where they are later in trouble even if the money keeps rolling in for a while but the "franchise deals" fizzle out.. So far in the area I have encountered one bar opened in the past 5 years that truly has the passion as well as a stellar selection for having as much as they do and funny thing is it's location is not ideal but people are still finding the place! There is a reason for this, they really care about their mission. I will fluff them later, after all that is my watering hole of choice but the rest just seem to come up short for comparison. Why? Well, want my opinion? Too bad if you don't here it is:
Taps- As fore mentioned, just because you have lots of them does not mean you will have a better selection in fact it usually just means more fluff. I hate seeing a bar with 40 taps but only 10 that are really quality beers that have been objectively hand selected, and this is what I have seen most of the time in these new bars. I could name them but I am not going to, this is not about that.. 7-10 taps always rotating, all the best of the best available, with a good turn over to me is all you need. Sure if you can have more with this level of devotion it is good to have the variety, but only so often do I see it. After all you still have bottles and besides if your staff is worthy of being behind the bar at one of the "best beer bars in *(choose your location)*" they should surely know how to guide the clientele to the right choice based on what they have as long as they have covered the right bases depending on the concept. Which brings me to staff..
Staff- Bar staff at a run of the mill "Bud, Miller, Coors bar" or "Liquor bar" need not know anything more than how to take an order, perhaps pour a drink, and be nice to people. Bartenders at these new beer bars need to be well versed in beer, and this is no easy task with the multitudes of styles, flavors, and selections available from all over the country and the world. Many owners feel like all they have to do is say "drink them and look in a book or on the computer" and they are done and while this might work for some of the staff who are more interested in the first place, most of these minimum wage employees who work mainly for tips have little care to spend time beyond what is spent in the building working to learn about the beers they are actually pouring. This past weekend, the wife and I went to one of these new establishments and they could not even locate the bottle she chose from the menu in the cooler that was in alphabetical order let alone tell us anything about the beer when we quizzed them to see if they knew or not, (it was an Aventinus, and she tried to serve it to us with a pint glass!) or even pour it. Now maybe I am being picky about that last part, but if you are to spend almost the same for a world class beer as you would for fine wine isn't presentation a little important? To me it is. In Europe I found this level of service was always the case, even with the local lager in a tavern that found itself in the middle of a small village. In a somewhat "upscale" establishment that is supposed to be the next beer "hot spot" I would think this bit of service would be called for.
Bottles- Speaking of bottles, with the ever growing availability here in the area and the country in general I can see stocking up on a good diverse selection. It doesn't however mean having everything that is possibly available! Many times I have seen these places stock a couple hundred and sell maybe 50 different varieties consistently. Many of the beers in the shadow of the main stream need to be hand sold and this goes back to staff. Sadly, so many of those will end up on the "Beer of the month/week/day" or discounted otherwise after one of the owners or managers starts to notice the floating debris, etc. in the bottle...Gross!
Bar and decor- Not really going to stick too much on this one, but they are almost all looking particularly similar these days, for more than one reason. A few stick out and these are among the older and more established in the area and it shows, even if the selection is not the cream of the crop any more. When I think about my favorite beer bars around the world, most become that way by first and foremost being comfortable, welcoming, and with a good selection of what I am looking for to drink. Sheik and trendy? Not for me nor for the most part as I have seen for the rest of the beer enthusiast crowds either, we can go to the stuffy ass martini bar when our wives and their girlfriends want a night out to get that. We care about the beer! The tables and chairs do not have to match, the lighting should be pleasant as should the music, and for the love of Pete, do not stick TV's in every single corner of the place. A sports bar can have a killer beer selection, but a beer bar should be about beer plain and simple!
In the end a lot of this is pure opinion, but I would like to note that it seems like this opinion is shared by a good selection of people. Any establishment with the proper licensing can have a better selection of beer and this is something I love to see, but by all means if a place aims to be a "beer bar" it should really show some focus and I guess the real reason I would bring it up would be the lack thereof at these newer places. Some will hopefully get it, others will not and I still wish them the best after all everyone starts somewhere. They can only get people wondering what else is out there and hopefully they will seek out the challenge to their palettes eventually and challenge the bar ownership, or find one of the places that are truly devoted to their mission.
Sorry for the rant, it happens!
Cheers!
posted by theworldofbeer.com at
23:43
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