My Home Bar

Our Realtor/Friend thought I was crazy when I kept telling her I was hoping to find a house with a spare room or a decent location to build a home bar. I don't think she thought I was serious, but my SWMBO knew I wasn't joking around about the idea. We bought our house about 2 years ago and one of my first projects was re-doing the floors and adding lighting to the spare room downstairs.

My SWMBO is great - she's even helped me add on decor and furniture - and always loves it when I jump behind the bar and make her a fruity drink while I enjoy a fresh draft home brew from the kegerator.













Scored the bar and neon's from Craigslist for a smokin' deal. Recently added a pub table and two chairs in the corner where the Mac & Jack's poster is. Soon adding a small LCD TV so we can enjoy the game while BS'ing in the bar or before heading out to the hot tub (through the sliding door!)

Looks great!

I am very jealous of your Rainier neon, I have had my eye out for one of those for a long time

Looks great and just goes to show you don't need a TON of room for a bar. Whenever I work private events at houses I think "Ok, the bar would go there, the brewing would happen over there, and the music studio would be there."

Thanks for the compliments guys.

humann_brewing said:

I am very jealous of your Rainier neon, I have had my eye out for one of those for a long time

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If you haven't, you should watch the Seattle Craigslist listings - I've seen them from time to time. I lucked out and scored the whole set, bar and both neons for around 600. The bar alone new is well over $1,500 and it was in great shape and the neons were in excellent shape, very few hours on them and had usually go for upwards of $500. I've seen Rainier neons for around $200 (sometimes cheaper) on Craigslist.

Also wanted to add a few photos of my Hop Trellis that went up this summer. Please excuse the horrible paint condition on the house - we painted soon after these were taken (darn previous owners let the paint get horrible!)

That is awesome! Whats the weekly special on draft this week?

I'll tell you, I've seen big bars and small bars on here... Ridiculously complex to bare minimum.

But god bless our swmbo's for approving whatever bar setup we do get to have!!! I'm sure there's some obscure data correlation between men with bars who have happy marriages vs. pitiful barless shells of wimpering men who are abused/divorced/unhappy!!!

But I digress... Love your space, man! I've been trying to find some cheap Eagles/Flyers/Phils neon for years as well.

Man, this is beautiful. I love the finish on the bar. Looks like you went first class on the hop trellis too. What sort of exposure does it have? When is the best time to plant in your area?

Thanks guys.

jmansfield - it gets mostly an East, South/East exposure - so sees the sun most of the day in the summer. Being in the Seattle area I choose varieties that do well with moisture - in the summer it's not what everyone claims (yes it rains here but not every darn day) - this summer was the first year for them and hopefully they've established their root system and will be ready to kick butt next season. I planted them in pots for a while and brought them inside at night so they'd not run the risk of frost (although we don't get a deep frost/freeze like so much of the country does. I can't remember exactly when I transplanted them but believe it was sometime around May.

My parents/brother planted theirs in huge pots and had full sun exposure all summer and they produced a few ounces in their first season and grew like crazy.

mplutodh1 said:

Thanks guys.

jmansfield - it gets mostly an East, South/East exposure - so sees the sun most of the day in the summer. Being in the Seattle area I choose varieties that do well with moisture - in the summer it's not what everyone claims (yes it rains here but not every darn day) - this summer was the first year for them and hopefully they've established their root system and will be ready to kick butt next season. I planted them in pots for a while and brought them inside at night so they'd not run the risk of frost (although we don't get a deep frost/freeze like so much of the country does. I can't remember exactly when I transplanted them but believe it was sometime around May.

My parents/brother planted theirs in huge pots and had full sun exposure all summer and they produced a few ounces in their first season and grew like crazy.

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What type of hops are they? I live just south of you (redmond) and have been wanting to plant my own hops for a while now and with the moisture...well you know.

Tsuyako said:

What type of hops are they? I live just south of you (redmond) and have been wanting to plant my own hops for a while now and with the moisture...well you know.

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I ordered my Rhizomes through Mountain Home Brew - they're guide explained some of the varieties that do well or at least "ok" in our area.

I was looking for my instructions but they must be in my brewing binder which I don't have with me. I picked varieties that said they did OK in moist conditions and don't require dry/constant sun.

So I went with 2 Cascade, 1 Fuggle, 1 Willamette

Probably planted them too tight together - but for the most part can tell these guys apart based off their leaves.

Watch closely when Rhizomes go on sale. They were $4.99 a piece and went on sale in January - then arrived a few months later.