Everybody has a local pub… Like it or not, if you Drink or not, you have a “Local”. You may have never stepped foot in the place but just as everyone has a mother and a father you have a local pub. Ok, so let’s say you live in the middle of Saudi Arabia? What then? Well we just have to stretch the definition of what “local” means
I have one bar that is pretty close to me; not so close that I would walk but I can easily ride my bike to it. It will never rate as a Craft Beer bar on any scale of measure but the place serves a purpose and fills a niche. You have to stick with me here because I am attempting to make a very subtle point about doing what you do, the right way.
The Elk River Bar and Grill is about a mile from my house on Route 119. It’s a fairly new metal building with a large gravel parking lot, usually peppered with pick-up trucks and Harleys on any given day after 4pm. The place serves as a friendly watering hole to the many folks that do the jobs that need to be done. The place is clean, friendly and nothing fancy. They have a very decent touch-tunes jukebox and a few gaming machines. A nice feature is the outdoor deck that overlooks the Elk River. It can be a nice place to sit but it primarily serves as a place to smoke, so keep that in mind. The thing I really respect about the place is how well they do American Macro beer… You think I am kidding here but am not. They make no claims to being anything other than a watering hole. I don’t even think they go as far as Sam Adam’s BL. They do have PBR on tap though and I find it refreshing after a long bike ride.
You will get a cold American macro beer if you go there. All of the canned and bottled beer is stored in a large walk-in and then placed in large ice-filled Plexiglass beer troughs behind the bar. Buckets of ice are poured over the beer and obviously the troughs drain water continuously as the ice melts. The tap system seems well maintained and you always get your beer frosty cold in a frosty cold mug, just the way the macro brewer intended it to be and the way the customer expects it!
I find it amazing that a simple watering hole makes this effort to deliver a peak product. I cannot understand why we cannot transform this same respect given to a lesser worthy macro product (In my opinion) while at the same time many so-called beer bars do a half-assed job of storing and serving a premium priced, hand crafted product to the market sector they claim is their target. You can’t just claim to be a craft-beer bar; it’s not just what beer you serve, it’s how you serve it!
24 hours later, Beer snob Edit – I don’t like the way that last paragraph reads… It’s reality it’s not the product that is receiving the respect at the ERB&G it’s the customer! It’s all about the customer… I mean you can serve a twinkie on a silver platter, it’s still a twinkie but the customer might want it served that way……..
In a weird way, I kind of envy the guy who rolls into the Elk River Bar and Grill and really, really wants to drink a cold Bud because that guy is going to be taken care-of and they will exceed his expectations every time. I can hardly say the same about my experiences at many Charleston bars that sell craft-beer.