In late 1978 Jimmy Carter signed into law a bill that repealed a Prohibition-era ban on homebrewing (for some reason after the 21st amendment ended prohibition, Congress legalized home wine making, but god forbid making your own beer...). This act legitimized the hobby of the homebrewing and set the wheels in motion that created the craft beer market as we know it today. (Craft breweries sold approximately 11.5 million barrels of beer in 2011, though that may sound like a lot, this only a 5.7% share of the beer market. This is an increase of approximately 1.4 million barrels over 2010 and a jump from approximately 5% market share. Thanks Brewers Association for these stats!)
I'll talk about the three main areas of craft breweries, Microbreweries, Brewpubs, and Regional Craft Breweries, in separate posts, as I could probably ramble on about each of them for far too long.
In the first one I'll talk a bit about brewpubs, I won't go into a full review about every brewpub I've been to, as that would really take to long...
Brewpubs
- A restaurant-brewery that sells 25% or more of its beer on site.
I don't ask a lot from brewpubs. If you bill yourself as a brewpub, I don't expect four star food, I don't expect white linen tablecloths, I don't expect rented tux like ties. I do expect that you try with your beers. I understand having "classic" style craft beers so that the non-adventurous beer drinker can order something and not be completely overwhelmed. (Think Crop Circle Wheat and Old Glory American Pale Ale at The Great Dane. Disclaimer: I will mention The Great Dane quite a bit in this blog, deal with it, it's awesome.) I do expect that you have a couple "out-there" beers. (ex: Tri-pepper Pilsner at the Dane) To me that shows that you want to push yourself and believe that you can create unique beers that taste good. I also ask that your food doesn't suck. All I need is something decent to eat, as unless it's 11:00 PM, half the reason I am in your establishment is because I'm hungry. I would prefer if you used your beer in some of your dishes, as this shows me that not only do you care about your beer enough to think it can be used while cooking, but you care enough about your food to integrate your beer into it.
So let's sum that up. Give me at least the option of a couple out-there beers and have decent food. (I should add on one more thing, make sure your staff knows your beer. They may not need to like it, but make sure they can tell you about it and help someone pick out a beer. I've nearly gone crazy a couple of times listening to a server stumble their way through that conversation.)
The little things that have added to brewpub experiences...
- Booklets with information about each beer at the table. The more detail the better. At the Rogue Public House in Portland (not technically a brewpub) the booklet was a large binder with information ranging from ingredients to food pairings. Extremely thorough to say the least.
- Schedule of future beers on schedule. What better way to get me to come back than to give a beer an interesting name and then tell me when I can come back and get it.
- Theme. This one is hard to describe, but I think you might know what I'm trying to say without stumbling through it. The Great Dane in downtown Madison has the old building thing going on. Hardwood floors, wood chairs, wood booths, brick walls, etc. Even the tiny staircase to the basement fits. Titletown in Green Bay is in a train station. You shouldn't try to be a sports bar (but please do have a TV or two tuned to sports), so don't decorate everything to look like Applebee's.
Today's run: No run... Rest day
Today's beer: Unfortunately I didn't have a full beer today, I split a couple of 19 North beers with friends at my pseudo-niece's baby shower, but I'll skip a beer entry today
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