Shakespeare once asked “what’s in name?” A few nights ago I drank beer in Bogota. No, not the one in Columbia but Bogota, New Jersey (You gotta problem wit dat?). The place is called Andy’s Corner Bar which isn’t on a corner and is owned by a guy named George. (By the way, in Jersey-speak, the town is pronounced “Bug-oat-a.”)
I found Andy’s on the Beeradvocate website under the “Beerfly” section. Beerfly is a very handy tool which lists and reviews breweries, beer bars and even beer stores, all having to meet a minimum standard before they even show up on the list. I was staying in nearby Fort Lee so I could not miss the opportunity. Andy’s might be the smallest, most unassuming craft beer bar that I have ever visited. The place is fundamentally a neighborhood bar, but one which features a large selection of great beer.
From the outside, Andy’s looks like the many working class bars that remind me of my blue collar beginnings in South Jersey; where I could look out of my front window and see the entrance to Mc Gettigan’s bar over on the next block or Freddy’s Oasis just up the street. Then there was the “Wonder Bar,” which was built to overhang, but was nearly falling into the bay. We would always quip that it’s a wonder that the bar hasn’t slipped into water by now. These places served nothing but the macro-swill of that era, like Schmidt’s, Bud or Schlitz.
Soon after I bellied up to the bar at Andy’s, I realized this was a pretty serious beer joint. There were two British-made Angram hand-pull pumps used for serving cask conditioned beer and around eight standard taps, all pouring regional microbrews. George was behind the bar, which was longer than deep. The short distances kept things very cozy and intimate. I would guess George to be in his middle fifties, a fairly hulking figure with a shaved head but also a very beer-savvy and friendly guy. He was quick to offer small samples of anything on tap, which is a huge plus and a great way to build the palates of a neophyte customer base or to let the persnickety beer geek “try before you buy”. George also had a list of 35 holiday/Christmas beers in bottles bringing the total to a hundred or so bottles, all in an unlit cooler and able to be sold “To Go”
Andy’s is not an unapproachable beer Mecca, like many renowned beer bars. With only a modest selection, it doesn’t instill the sheer “Shock and Awe” as a place with 200 taps and 300 bottles. Andy’s makes up for it by providing a well thought-out beer selection and a great place for conversation with other patrons or even George himself. I chatted away with Barry on one side of me; a DHL delivery guy who was just about to be caught-up in lay-offs (and also a native Jerseyan and a lifelong Colts fan???) and on the other side were two traditional Jewish men, dressed conservatively and donning yarmulkes, but very eager to drink and to talk about great beer. I sampled a few of the holiday seasonals and settled on the Smuttynose Winter Ale, which at 4.8% ABV, wasn’t going to leave me leg-less only after few. The beer’s spice was derived from the Belgian yeast and not by brute-force spice additions.
Hopefully, someday I won’t have to travel all the way to Bogota to have great beer and good conversation…
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Sounds exactly like the late Chiodo’s in Homestead, PA. Here’s this bar sitting in a mill town, working class as possible, and inside was a beer drinker’s nirvana. You’d fully expect nothing more than the basic “shot-and-a-beer” fare, Bud, Iron City, maybe Yuengling, but what you got was a dozen craft taps and a hundred different bottles. All priced reasonably in a comfortable, homey atmosphere. College kids, beer snobs, and local [former, the Homestead Works shut down for good in '86] steelworkers mixing without conflict. Think Mario’s Fishbowl, but with good beer and no gimicky glassware.
Old man Chiodo sold out a few years ago and has since passed. There’s a Walgreens there now. But man, it was a great bar. Someday, perhaps someday, WV will have something like this.