Beer

The forum for ranting, raving, complaining and praising
AWvsCBsteeeerike3
"I could totally eat a pig butt, if smoked correctly!"
Posts: 27270
Joined: August 5 08, 11:24 am
Location: Thinking of the Children

Re: Beer

Post by AWvsCBsteeeerike3 »

quick question: what's the difference between a taproom, brewpub, and craft brewery?

AWvsCBsteeeerike3
"I could totally eat a pig butt, if smoked correctly!"
Posts: 27270
Joined: August 5 08, 11:24 am
Location: Thinking of the Children

Re: Beer

Post by AWvsCBsteeeerike3 »

33anda3rd wrote:Awful. I want to fight every neckless bearded inked flannel shirt in that place. Just people talking about beer. Oh, you had that beer, I had that beer too I traded this beer for it, but have you had this beer? Because I had this beer and still have some in my house that's like 2 years old that my friend brought me and oh you didn't go to Dark Lord Day last year my god I'd never miss it it's the best you stand in line for hours for two bottles of beer it's the best. Oooohhhh lemme nose this glass and talk out my ass about which hops I detect and.....
These type of people are everywhere, not just the beer scene. And, yes, they are annoying.

They need a name, something like 'won uppers', because holy [expletive] it's like anything you say to them, they have done that but only done it better and have to let you know they know more, have seen more, and in general just are better. I feel like this is a typical conversation:

Person A: What up
Won Upper: Living my best life !!!1! you?
A: Me too. Just hit the jackpot for a cool $45M
WU: Cool. You're going to have to pay taxes on it. I just [insert bull [expletive] story here] and now have more money than I'll ever need and it's tax free.

[expletive] off.

User avatar
Swirls
gone fission
Posts: 8308
Joined: December 11 07, 4:15 pm
Location: South Korea

Re: Beer

Post by Swirls »

AWvsCBsteeeerike3 wrote:quick question: what's the difference between a taproom, brewpub, and craft brewery?
At least here in MN, my understanding is that the difference is in terms of food availability.

One does not have a kitchen, and is therefore unable to serve food other than frozen pizzas out of a little pizza maker/toaster oven. These are usually the ones with food trucks parked outside or have a whole pile of takeout menus where food can be delivered there (tap room).

One has a kitchen and is able to serve food, and therefore doesn't have food trucks or takeout menus (brewpub).

My confusion is the difference between a tap room and a craft brewery. I think it's just that the brewery isn't allowed to sell beer - only brew and bottle it. It is then transferred to the tap room (which may be in the same building or next door or something) where it can be sold.

The above descriptions may need to be flip flopped (meaning a brewpub can't serve food and taproom can). Or they could be completely incorrect entirely and mean something totally different. Honestly you should probably just wait for 33 to chime in since he knows about 1000000% more about beer and spirits than I will ever dream of knowing. So just disregard what I said - he's an expert and does this for a living, I'm just a schmuck that likes to drink. :)

AWvsCBsteeeerike3
"I could totally eat a pig butt, if smoked correctly!"
Posts: 27270
Joined: August 5 08, 11:24 am
Location: Thinking of the Children

Re: Beer

Post by AWvsCBsteeeerike3 »

Ha.

User avatar
lukethedrifter
darjeeling sipping elite
Posts: 37434
Joined: October 17 06, 11:19 am
Location: Huis Clos

Re: Beer

Post by lukethedrifter »

I started going to craft/micro breweries back when all the chicks were dogs and most of the dudes were engineers or something.

User avatar
33anda3rd
Replies Authoritatively
Posts: 8418
Joined: April 7 13, 9:45 am
Location: Chicago, IL

Re: Beer

Post by 33anda3rd »

Freed Roger wrote:How many? I do not have a guess?
One, Small Bar #2. Small Bar #1, one of Chicago's greatest craft beer bars, closed 4-5 years ago because, surrounded by rapid gentrification, a Target, a bunch of [expletive] sports bars, the owner was like "[expletive] it" and closed the mothership, which was everyone's favorite craft beer and soccer bar. Quenchers, at Fullerton/Western, was not too far from my place on Logan Blvd, an easy 15 minute walk or so. It was one of the OG craft beer bars in Chicago and probably Chicago's second most-loved craft beer bars. It closed, the owner tried--I mean, TRIED--to sell the business and no one wanted to buy one of Chicago's most beloved craft beer bars in this environment of taprooms opening all around it. So it's closed, and being rehabbed, and will be a dentist's office if I recall correctly. The Paramount Room in the West Loop is gone swallowed up by that neighborhood going from being fishmongers and meatpackers 20 years ago to corporate restaurant groups, the Google offices, the Ace Hotel, the Hoxton Hotel, the SoHo House, and the tiny little Paramount Room with it's wagyu burgers and craft beer list is a memory. There's a hipster cocktail spot there now with [expletive] food and it will close in short order I'm sure.
Freed Roger wrote:Thirsty Monk in Asheville is my ideal for a tap room. They brew a few of their own, so they are not likely to sell out to distributor picking 2/3 the taps even if they could in an area with so many breweries (my theory, I don't know for sure) . Though they do have a location at a fancy mall sort of place - which gave me something to do while my wife looked around the shops.
Super unique environment. Almost no such thing as a craft beer bar because it's a city where the brewpubs and taprooms beat the craft beer bars to the market. I love drinking in taprooms in Asheville (the Funkatorium is my fave) and they are an outlier, since they are probably like 30% of the local economy.
Freed Roger wrote:Trying to put my finger on what is lacking in these tap rooms....Maybe its that distributor influence. they have 30-40 beers on tap (or more. here's an RFID band, pour your own!).
But it inevitably boils down to only a few that I am interested in drinking. Which is same # as if I went to a good bar/restaurant with 7 Taps. A 3 out of 7 is a helluva a lot less headache than 4 out of 40. Plus I get decent food, don't pour my own, and the soundsystem oversaturation of big screens isn't frying me.
BOOM! What's the buyer into at that bar, and what are the neckbearded regulars there into swilling a lot of? That's what you'll get. Go to Bangers & Lace in Chicago, 30-some handles, and you'll get lots of IPA, IIPA, DIPA, RIS, Milk Stout, and like one pils, one cider, one sour, maybe one dark lager. Go to Moonlighter here with 20 handles and 12-14 of them are sour/light/food-friendly. That's right up my alley but not everyone's. Go to Hopleaf and they have seemingly every beer ever made, which is great, but they buy everything to meet every taste, there's no demonstration of a curatorial hand. And I'd bet a lot of their bottle/can options are nearing or past 90* days and not being served very fresh because they house so much stock and can't possibly go through every option in 90 days.

*To digress here a bit......

Most beers have a date code on them somewhere. Sometimes it's stamped on the outside of the box, sometimes it's on the actual can/bottle or the label. Most cans it's on the bottom. Some of them are pretty arcane, there are some guys who have stuff on the web showing you how to read them for different breweries. A lot of times it's YYDDD with the Ds being the day of the year. So a can packaged today would read 19071--The year is '19 and it's the 71st day of the year. Beer wants to be consumed fresh. The closer you are to that packaged-on date, the better the beer will be. If that date is more than 90 days ago and you're in a place that's serious about beer, you should send it back, and they should totally get it. When I was running a beer bar, every keg and case that came in was checked for the date. If it was approaching or over 90 days, it was sent back. Once a year or so Breakthru would try to sell me a deal where I'd buy 2 half-barrels of Deschutes to get one free, the only time I bought the deal it arrived and was 95 days old and I sent it back then chewed out the rep for selling me stale beer.

Usually you'll get a slight taste like wet paper or wet cardboard if the beer is noticeably old/stale/oxidized. I've had this happen a couple times, usually at a place where I'm like "oh, wow, they have this thing in a bottle that you don't see very often" usually a weird thing like a Schlenkerla Rauchbier or something, and because Hopleaf (it's always been Hopleaf) likely sells very little of it, the beer is like 5 months or more removed from the fermenter and doesn't taste great. This is part of the downfall of some craft beer bars too: having ALL the beer means you're not selling it quickly enough and sometimes you are serving an inferior, not a superior, product.

User avatar
Jocephus
99% conan clips
Posts: 63640
Joined: April 18 06, 5:14 pm

Re: Beer

Post by Jocephus »


Freed Roger
Seeking a Zubaz seamstress
Posts: 26227
Joined: September 4 07, 1:48 pm
Location: St. Louis

Re: Beer

Post by Freed Roger »

I don't see these obnoxious beer snobs so much in St. Louis area. Maybe because I don't get out enough to notice the crowd much. When I do I Spend more time catching up with my wife and friends. People seem pretty happy and cool from what I see. Nice mix. We tend to be older than the avg person there, which makes me feel good -millenials etc support it.

Another factor is the StL area craft beer scene is still settling in. More breweries than I have time for. It always seems positive.

Maybe urban Chicago has a lot more jackasses.

User avatar
33anda3rd
Replies Authoritatively
Posts: 8418
Joined: April 7 13, 9:45 am
Location: Chicago, IL

Re: Beer

Post by 33anda3rd »

Freed Roger wrote:Maybe urban Chicago has a lot more jackasses.
By raw numbers, sure.

We didn't peak in the 1800s so a lot of people live here.

Image

User avatar
lukethedrifter
darjeeling sipping elite
Posts: 37434
Joined: October 17 06, 11:19 am
Location: Huis Clos

Re: Beer

Post by lukethedrifter »

33anda3rd wrote:
Freed Roger wrote:Maybe urban Chicago has a lot more jackasses.
By raw numbers, sure.

We didn't peak in the 1800s so a lot of people live here.

Image

No. But you peaked.

Post Reply