FairbanksBrewinGirl's New Bar

Hi All, been lurking for a while but this is my first post. I'm FairbanksBrewinGirl's boyfriend, and i've caught the brewing bug!

Anyway, we recently picked up a kegerator for her beers (and the one she recently helped me to brew--ok, ok, she did all the hard work) and when we got it home it looked so small and lonely sitting down there at the far end of our living room that I decided that there was only one right thing to do... Build a bar.

So 5 days and a couple hundred dollars in materials later, i'm done, and i have to admit, it looks pretty sweet. I thought i'd post it for you all to see.

Its 8' long, and 42.5" tall at teh bar top. I made a 2x2 frame, faced it with bambroo flooring, and then covered the plywood/2x2 bartop in imitation slate vinyl tiles. I would have loved to have used real tile, but was worried that if I did, I may never be able to move the thing again ...

Underneath is BrewinGirl's kegerator hooked to the draft tower dispensing cold delicious Suzie Q Brewing Co. beers. I'm getting ready to build a tower chiller to keep the beer lines cold, but right now they are just insulated with pipe wraps.

Anyway, you guys come here for the beer pr0n, so without further adeiu, here are the pics:






Oh and one more thing, BrewinGirl is too humble to tell you, but her Imperial Chocolate Stout just won a blue ribbon at the Tanana Valley State Fair. W00t w00T. Go brewingirl, go!

Congrats on that blue ribbon, and that kick @$$ bar! Looks like a job well done.

that is one sweet bar. very nice!


and congrats on the ribbon!

Very Nice Bar and congrats brewingirl on the good beer

Damn, that is one killer of a bar. Very classy!!!!! The ribbon is also a great thing! Sounds like you guys have a brewing team.

That top looks like walnut rather than slate.
Looks good.

That is sweet!!

Awesome! Got pics of the backside?

ditto on the request for the backside. bar looks great!

and congrats on the blue ribbon.

DubbelDach said:

Awesome! Got pics of the backside?

Click to expand...

That's a little personal isn't it?

very nice!

honestly, I haven't finished the trim on back yet, but that's on tap for today so when I'm done I'll throw up some pics.

very nice work

Finished up some trim on the back today, here's a pic:


Still have some work to do finishing up the corners so they are presentable, but the back of the bar will remain largely unfinished, since we are just storing beer-gear back there, and no one important is allowed behind the bar

Two more kegs arrived today too....can't wait to put the pirate ale in them!

FairbanksBrewinNoob said:

Its 8' long, and 42.5" tall at teh bar top. I made a 2x2 frame, faced it with bambroo flooring, and then covered the plywood/2x2 bartop in imitation slate vinyl tiles.

Click to expand...

I'm still cinfused about this.
Where are the slate tiles on the bartop?

I don't see bamboo either.

If the back is to remain unfinished and for storage, why don't you turn the taps to face forward?

DubbelDach said:

Awesome! Got pics of the backside?

Click to expand...

The bars or Brewingirl???
JJ

orfy said:

I'm still cinfused about this.
Where are the slate tiles on the bartop?

I don't see bamboo either.

Click to expand...

The whole bar top is covered by 12" x 12" vinyl tiles, in a multi-colored slate-like finish. It's not as nice as real slate, but the weight is much more reasonable- important since we rent our home and will one day want to move this monstrosity.

The front and sides of the bar are covered by bamboo hardwood flooring in a "spice" finish, which is why they look darker than typical bamboo in the pics. Still bamboo though, which was a PITA to drill through...that stuff is strong.

We haven't decided how to finish the back yet...may install some premade cabinetry or sliding shelves, or just leave it unfinished, since my beer-gear fits as is. Or maybe we will finish it better when it's somewhere more permanent.

Anyway, I'm still impressed this came together at all...I have to confess my trust in HWMBO's carpentry skills was less than 100%

Very classy looking! +1 for turning the taps to the front. Since the back is for storage you could just throw a couple stools in front and pour pints from there instead of having to run to the back.

I made some tap handles for BrewinGirl's bar. The labels are replaceable, so when we switch out the kegs, we can change the label without changing the whole handle.



I was torn on which way to face the taps too, but eventually went with the back of the bar since its not hard to pour even from this side, and when we have people over its kind of fun to be able to have 3-4 of our friends sitting on stools on one side of the bar without one perso hogging the taps

BTW, has anyone here bought bar stools recently? Im not sure if its just because i live in Alaska and get raped on shipping charges, but ZOMG 4 bar stools should not cost more than the entire bar. Srsly.

Our bar stools finally arrived. Yay, we can sit at our bar!



Now all we need is a neon beer sign!

WOW, nice bar!

At some point this weekend, I'll try to post pics of the back of my bar. I built shelves in, laid that mesh squishy stuff down and added Ikea lights...

But, as you said, if you're renting you might not want to add the weight right now. But I'd love to give you ideas!

b-e-a-utiful. Not too complicated, but it looks fantastic. Great job.

The bar stools totally complete the look.

very classy look. Bravo

Let me get this straight...your GF taught you how to brew? And she has won 1st place ribbons for her beer?

...

...

Does she have a sister...or a clone?

I showed you my taphandles, right? When I did mine I was trying to figure out the same thing, then I realized I could just glue two of the wooden plaque things together and make it 2-sided:



Obviously you can't see the back, but you get the idea - I put identical labels on both sides.

Wow, nice work. I like the uncluttered design. This gives me an idea for the extra bamboo we'll have leftover after redoing our floors this spring...