nebuck
Active Member
From a design/aesthetic standpoint, what's your favorite brewery taproom and why?
I like SARA and de Garde. They're cozy and covered in cool old bottles and labels, with furniture crafted from old barrels, and if you look hard enough you can see the brewery itself through an open backdoor.
Also, Lagunitas has a great patio.
Cultivate Brewing in Berrien Springs, MI has one of my favorite tap rooms as it's an indoor / outdoor type setting, really comfortable and is absolutely beautiful in the Spring and Summer with the farm setting.
Been on my to do list for a while. How is the beer?
Add Priem to this list and it's pretty much identical for me.
Holy Mountain -- Super minimal, clean lines, neutral colors. Not for everyone but I love it.
Crux -- Love the wood interior, great outdoor space and an absolutely amazing view of the mountains.
Solera -- Stunning views of Mt. Hood from their backyard.
Bale Breaker -- You're surrounded by a working hop farm in the Yakima Valley.
Add Priem to this list and it's pretty much identical for me.
Was going to post the same thing! Dogs and outdoor games in between miles and miles of grapes and hops. It is absolutely lovely in the spring!
Cultivate Brewing in Berrien Springs, MI has one of my favorite tap rooms as it's an indoor / outdoor type setting, really comfortable and is absolutely beautiful in the Spring and Summer with the farm setting.
Was gonna mention Harpoon. That beer hall is really cool.Because we're strictly considering aesthetics, I'll say Harpoon Boston is up there just for the view in the men's restroom:
The rest is cool too. And the spent grain pretzels are awesome.
It is. And the new Backyard gives you a great view of the mountains!Kern River.
Location and building really embodies the image their branding projects.
I haven't been there post expansion though, so i can't say if the atmosphere is the same.
Some of the best ones I've been to:
Augustiner Keller, just a huge underground cellar. Very loud but cool place.
Garage Beer Co, tiny and cozy.
Maisel & Friends, can't find many pics to do it justice but this is the coolest taproom and brewhouse I've seen.
Bluejacket:
Spezial Brauerei Bamberg, nothing particularly special but the views and beer are awesome:
We stopped in on Friday afternoon just before opening, and I guess I just didn't fully anticipate how small the place would be in general. Saw they were working on an expansion which is great, but not sure I'd be back there with the current tap room setup.
Third Anniversary and Simcoe Galaxy (Third Anniversary was really good despite looking like broth and the Simcoe Galaxy was solidly in the mediocre range)
Tap list is a bit hard to make out, but was impressed with how many beers they had on draft. Although certainly had IPA burnout by the time we left (although the RIS was pretty tasty).
Couldn't tell if they were going for a bullet hole look with this wall.
Brewhouse looked pretty cramped, and I was surprised that they were moving the canning system out of the brewery while we were waiting outside for them to open. Appears that they are (temporarily?) storing it out in a rental truck outside of the brewery which I found interesting.
I'm glad we stopped to check the place out, and was pleased to see a different beer on at almost all the bars we hit in the city. Couple of hits, couple of duds, and the rest of the IPA / DIPA lineup was in the middle of the road territory for me.
Not sure but Other Half is definitely not it. Ugliest tap room I've been to.
Garage Beer Co, tiny and cozy.
If it weren't so damn smoky -- and a female colleague hadn't had her purse almost snatched there twice in one night -- I would agree!Délirium Café in Brussels
Yep totally agreed that it was one of the uglier tap rooms I've been, but they were working on the expansion when I was up there last week. Seems like the tap room was a secondary thought to getting the brewery finished.
Threes and Interboro are also doing a better job, taproom-wise.Though obviously the design has a bit to be desired, it's hard as hell to find a space in this area that won't cost a zillion bucks to rent. I'm sure a little shack under the BQE is expensive enough. I guess if you're putting all the money into the space itself and then the beer expenses, aesthetics can be secondary (when you're starting up).
Not justifying or defending, just thinking.
I'm admiring all these beautiful taprooms from my abode in the concrete jungle. Though bigger space equals more people and the most annoying ones seem to find their way near me.
Side note: Agree with your assessment of the beers. LIC and Greenpoint are doing really nice work here without an eleven hour ******** line... hope you got to try some of their stuff when you are here.
I liked Interboro's beers as much as, and in a few instances more than, Other Half. The taprooms aren't worth wasting our time comparing.Threes and Interboro are also doing a better job, taproom-wise.
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