Freed Roger wrote:TBH, I rarely get a growler (the glass ones) but have enjoyed the ones I had. i.e. took back to a campground.
I can't finish one before it's flat. I'm not about to drink that much beer in one session. I'd rather have a bomber that's two beers and is gone or a 6-pack of 12oz cans/bottles.
With a few exceptions, I've found mega-tap rooms to be not that great of place to drink beer. A restaurant, or a brew pub (obviously)have more care involved in a beer selection
Global Tap, I had hard time finding a beer there. Sours - scratch. Goose Islands - scratch. then the Arms War- 10 different super high ABV. Then they don't have a descriptive list so I have to ask bartender a bunch of questions before finding a beer that isnt one of those above.
Tap houses are kind of joyless.
You, sir, are likely effed. The boom in taprooms is going to kill the craft beer bar. I sat on a panel discussion on this a couple years ago. It's bleak. I was talking to my friend Michael of Good Beer Hunting a few months ago (at a wine tasting of all things) and we were again discussing the way of the craft beer bar. He thinks in the future, since taprooms will kill craft beer bars but lack hospitality, that we'll all just drink beer at home. Or with food in a restaurant. Or just to pound in a sports bar. That's sad.
All beer is becoming joyless. Like all things that people geek out on, it becomes cold and gross when the nerds take over. Beer culture has become this snobby, nerdy, elitist BS thing. That thing that was fun got cool and then a bunch of people got into it because it was cool and now, like bourbon culture, it's at risk of being ruined. There's a great beer shop here called The Beer Temple, they opened an adjoining bar and it's awful. 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.....god just STFU and let's [expletive] about Trump or the Bulls for crissakes while we, heaven forbid,
drink and enjoy the goddamn [expletive] beer the way the brewer and our lord and savior John Hall intended.
Last month the Middlebrow taproom opened. There will be a Solemn Oath taproom across the street soon. There's a Revolution brewpub about 2/3 of a mile away. The Hopewell taproom is 1 mile north, and it's just 1/2 mile west of the upcoming Pipeworks taproom, which is just like 6-7 blocks west of the Maplewood taproom, conveniently located 1/2 mile south of the Metropolitan taproom. That Hopewell taproom that's 2/3 mile north of the Revolution brewpub? It is also about a mile south of the
other Revolution spot, the taproom, which is different than the brewpub because it serves no food. Hopewell does not serve food but there's pizza across the street at Dante's you can bring in, but if you really insist on pizza and beer in the same place, this is rough, you have to go like a 7-minute cab ride or take the Blue Line 3 stops to Piece brewpub where they have decent pizza and brew their own beer of course. Which is about 1 mile west of the Goose Island Clybourn brewpub, located practically across the street from the Off Color taproom, which opened recently because their brewery and bottle shop (located like 4 minutes from where this paragraph started) wasn't a good spot for a taproom. And so on.
But guess how many craft beer bars are left in my neighborhood.