Beer Bar Re-Birth

The American Beer Bar is making a come back in a big way and it's a really good thing

And not just for the beer.

I just returned from a night of amazing beer celebrating the one year anniversary of my favorite local beer bar, which is appropriately named: The Local Beer Bar. It's a welcoming space with tables made of street signs, rotating skateboard shaped blackboard menus, and a crew of servers who are quirky, friendly, and most importantly, knowledgeable about beer. One of the local breweries, Mad River Brewery, crafted a special beer in honor of everyone's local beer bar.

The Local's (as the locals call it) arrival in our Northern California community was critical for the beer scene. Here, behind the Redwood Curtain, it is often difficult to get diversity in, anything really. The owner of The Local has clearly worked very hard to develop relationships with distributors to bring us brews from all over the country and the globe. 28 taps and three coolers, the place is full to the brim with beers of various styles, IBU, and creators. Sometimes it feels like a little slice of heaven right here in my own back yard.

And since The Local opened a year ago a few more beer bars have opened up that are equally unique, interesting, and devoted to providing our area with fantastic beer. And it isn't just here.

Draft magazine puts out a list of America's best beer bars each year; for a long time most small town folks read these articles and added beer diversity legends like Belmont Station in Portland, Toronado in San Francisco, Sheffield's in Chicago, or the friendly neighborhood "beer-city" pubs like Portland's Saraveza or Ashville's Thirsty Monk, to their beer road trip bucket lists. However, the American Beer Bar is making a come back in a big way, for folks in cities large and small, known for beer and known for anything but. You can check out some specific examples in Southern Oregon small towns in my article from the Oregon Beer Growler's December issue.

As the craft brewing industry changes the landscape of beer in the U.S. and the taste buds and expectations of consumers, demand is growing for specialty and craft brews. The more people try, the more they want to try. And while that is exciting for the brewers in the industry, it's also overwhelming. Many small breweries are doing everything they can to keep up with local/regional demand and pressure to brew more styles and keep diversity flowing. This is where beer bars can fill in the gaps, supporting both nearby breweries and offering the customers variety.

Beer bars are as American as, well, brewing beer. Back in the days before prohibition most towns had taverns and pubs that focused on the refreshing and friendly beverage. Watering holes devoted themselves to kegs of beer and ample patrons. They were often glue for communities and space for planning revolutions, inventions, and innovations as a nation declared and defined itself.

It's nice to have them back. Not just because of all the great beer.

The American social scene is changing rapidly from one where great minds meet to match wits and devise plans to a new scene of tweets, posts, and pics. Walk into a restaurant, a bookstore, a coffee shop, a community park, a lobby, a waiting room, a bar-even a brewery's tap room, and odds are you'll find people sitting together, not talking to each other, but staring into their device. I've even been known to take my laptop to Mad River Brewing to do some work because it's frankly a pleasant space to work in.

I have never seen people sucked into their phone, tablet, laptop, or Star Trek-like Communicator at a beer bar. Sure someone might check their email or take a pic and send a tweet, but in a beer bar people stop and become human again. Next, they notice the other humans around them. They interact with verbal exchanges, sharing swigs, and arms around shoulders. Something about the local, neighborhood beer bar specifically encourages human interaction. I think it's a combination of the bubbles, flavor, and hand crafted quality. Bubbles make people bubbly. Flavor ignites and seasons conversation. And consuming something that is a creative force inspires thought, desire, and more creativity.

This mural is painted on the wall of The Local Beer Bar excellently demonstrating this point:

Further beer bars extend the economic reach of the brewing industry providing more outlets to purchase beer and more jobs within the industry. Beer bars increase consumers knowledge of beer and help them identify and explore their own taste. Beer bars offer venues for tastings, workshops, pairings, and fundraisers. Beer bars offer space for people loyal to specific brands to come together and for people who can't decide what to love to fit in.

Whatever beer you like, wherever you tend to like to drink beer, give beer bars, pubs, and taverns a chance to take you on a new beer adventure in your own backyard.

Your local beer bar has a stool waiting for just you.