Most drafts in one neighborhood?

In an informal "bragging rights" contest, I'm going to appeal to the readers here:

I'm looking for the neighborhood in North America with the highest concentration of different taps in a short distance--say, staggering or pubcrawling distance.

Distance/size: Call it 1/4 mile by 1/2 mile or thereabouts, not six miles of one roadway or "Manhattan".

We are looking for the biggest reasonably consistent *variety of drafts*. Quality or diversity is not the issue, only quantity. Duplication of popular drafts (Guinness, Miller, Bass, etc.) permitted between establishments, but don't count towards the final total. Brewpubs or micro outlets/"tied houses" count as well. We don't happen to be looking for bottles or retail outlets, but if someone can make a convincing case that the bar with 50 taps and 550 bottles impacts the whole neighborhood, I'm willing to listen.

My assumption is that the winner will be a neighborhood that hosts both: 1) one of the big taphouses of the nation and 2) a hell of a lot of competition surrounding it.

Opening nomination: Fells Point, Baltimore. Home to Max's Taphouse (averages 65 or so drafts at any given moment, plus two beer engines), two "brewpub" outlets serving eight to 12 exclusive beers each (Wharf Rat and DuClaw Brewing), and several bars with 10-25 taps each. A fair guess--to be confirmed with a clipboard later this week--is that the neighborhood is pouring around 125 different beers on tap at any given moment, and that number *could* be as high as 150.

Another possibility: The 7th St. NW/MCI Center neighborhood of Washington, DC, home to RFD Washington (the tap version of the Brickskeller, 50+ taps), District Chop House brewpub, Gordon Biersch brewpub, and a variety of other bars--though I doubt the total would extend well over 100, depending on how one defines "the neighborhood".

The knowledgeable beer geeks I have spoken to seem to think that the winner will either be Fells Point or some neighborhood in Portland, Oregon.

Nominations?

Reply to
Alexander D. Mitchell IV
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A mega-tap establishment like The Yard House in Long Beach would qualify. Scott K. can chime in with a more exact count, but I recall something like 250 taps (a few of the more popular, such as Guinness and Budweiser, are duplicate). I don't know if the also do bottles, or if there's anything else nearby that could add to the total.

Reply to
Joel

Alexander D. Mitchell IV ( snipped-for-privacy@bcpl.net) wrote: : In an informal "bragging rights" contest, I'm going to appeal to the readers : here: : : I'm looking for the neighborhood in North America with the highest : concentration of different taps in a short distance--say, staggering or : pubcrawling distance. : : Nominations? :

Newport Beach, CA. Goat Hill Tavern has about 120 taps and there's a Yard's right across the street with about 50 more.

I'd be amazed also if someone doesn't nominate the "East Market" area pf Philadephia. When I moved 8 years ago it was growing pretty steadily. What ever happened to Chris from Khyber Pass and that whole "Beer Philadelphia" crew??

Reply to
Bill Benzel

Well downtown Denver near Blake street has got Falling Rock maybe 50+ taps, Sandlot, Breckenridge, Wynkoop, Brasserie Rouge, Flying Dog, and the Denver Chop House + numerous smallish bars all within the range you describe. Great for variety, don't know about the actual count unless you factor in the GABF in the nearby Civic Center ;-)

_Randal

Reply to
Randal

Downtown Bellevue, WA might come close. The Taphouse Grill has 160 taps; the Rock Bottom next door has its usual range, something like six or seven house-brewed beers. If keep range to within, say, a half-mile, there's another sports bar not far away that has something like 15 taps.

Seattle's Fremont neighborhood has several multi-tap pubs within an easy walk of each other; one has 45 taps, another 30, and so on, and there's a brewpub there, too. I don't know if their combined tap-beer count is more than Baltimore's Fells Point, though. Might be pretty close.

Reply to
dgs

This is my new 'hood, so I'm still couting. Yard House has an enormous amount of taps, with actually a good portion of them devoted to pretty good beers. There's a good-not-great Rock Bottom up the street, and a handful of other downtown pubs have several taps, some of which actually included decent beers.

-Steve

Reply to
STEPHEN JACKSON

Costa Mesa, actually. And Yard House has something in the neighborhood of a couple hundred taps. Or did you mean 50 more than Goat Hill?

-Steve

Reply to
STEPHEN JACKSON

East market should definitely be looked at. There is a place called Ludwig's that has more than 34 taps, including 6 hacker pschoor including (weisenbock), 6 paulander, and 4 schneider including (aventius weisenbock). The place is surrounded by other ethnic bars which all serve their own unique beers plus nodding head brewery not to far down the street. Someone with more experience drinking down there could probably give you more info. You could probably find another 30 bars within a 1/2 mile of radius.

Reply to
Bill

STEPHEN JACKSON ( snipped-for-privacy@verizon.net.no.spam) wrote: : : This is my new 'hood, so I'm still couting. Yard House has an enormous : amount of taps, with actually a good portion of them devoted to pretty good : beers. There's a good-not-great Rock Bottom up the street, and a handful of : other downtown pubs have several taps, some of which actually included : decent beers. :

Also check out Belmont Brewing, right on the beach in Belmont Shores and a fair BJs down on 2nd. St. which is a neat area for food and drink.

There's a decent bottle selection at a little place called Wine Country up near the Airport in an industrial park -- I think it's on N. Redondo and, of course, you're only nalf an hour or so from High Time Liquores down in Costa Mesa.

That's a great new 'hood to explore -- enjoy it.

Reply to
Bill Benzel

I meant 50 more than Goat Hill.

Reply to
Bill Benzel

Both fine places, but not really close to downtown, and not a lot of taps at either.

Hi Times, of course, I know about and was there many times when I lived in OC. Wasn't aware of Wine Country; I'll have to check it out (and thanks for the recommendation). So far, I've been doing the bottle shopping at Morry's of Naples.

Definitely am so far.

-Steve

Reply to
Steve Jackson

"STEPHEN JACKSON" wrote in news:sLU7e.1753$c93.97@trnddc08:

Asshole. Why bring him up?

They admit to 180 different beers on 250 taps. Do the math...

I think this has fallen off a bit (in a good way)...Used to be MGD was Right There. Now they seem to have to go 'Round a Bit to find It.

FWIW, the beer menu is not up-to-the-second. It behooves you to walk around the bar to spend some time looking closely at tap handles.

They, generally, do not. I think they have the odd Chimay and such (Duvel?) in bottles, but they amount to no more than

4 or 6 total.

Blue Cafe? Murphy's?

The Yard House is improving in this area. Their picks are getting better and better.

Pine St. Rock Bottom doesn't suck but not great. The Cask Night (Tuesday or Thursday?) is a Good Thing. The food isn't bad and the service isn't bad neither too.

And it *is* within easy walking distance of the Yahrd Haus. Also yump on the Red Bus Thing and you can bag the BBC - easily one of my favorite brewpubs. Not great anything, except maybe the view. But the service, food, and view are all north of good.

Like wot?

Sntt Kay

Reply to
Scott Kaczorowski

"STEPHEN JACKSON" wrote in news:9MU7e.1762$c93.1046@trnddc08:

GHT has sucked, and sucked hard for decades. NO IDEA how they stay in business.

Er, wait, I think I do: They sell boatloads of Bud (and Spaten) and have a roofless room for smokers. And then there's the Dom and Dogs...

Biiiiiiiiiiiiiiig deal. 120 taps...OK. 115 are stale and if you say so, they look at you like you're crazed.

Fuck that place. I'd rather go to The Helm...

Scott

Reply to
Scott Kaczorowski

Scott Kaczorowski (use_me@your_mom.com) wrote: : : GHT has sucked, and sucked hard for decades. NO IDEA how : they stay in business. : : Er, wait, I think I do: They sell boatloads of Bud (and : Spaten) and have a roofless room for smokers. And then : there's the Dom and Dogs... : : Biiiiiiiiiiiiiiig deal. 120 taps...OK. 115 are stale and if : you say so, they look at you like you're crazed. : : Fuck that place. I'd rather go to The Helm... : :

I agree 100% but the original thread was about the number of taps, period! Nothing asked about beer quality, food, ambience, etc.

So, I counted up some tap handles.

Hell, GHT even charges for peanuts -- I've been there twice in 10 years.

Reply to
Bill Benzel

snipped-for-privacy@netaxs.com (Bill Benzel) wrote in news:Fxc9e.1529$ snipped-for-privacy@monger.newsread.com:

Heh! I think I've been there 3 or 4 times in the last 10 years. GHT is a local bar that pretends to be a world-class tap-house. Yes. No.

Bill - I didn't mean to discount your point (which I think is that with Goat Hill Tavern literally across the street from Yard House, we might just have a neighborhood tap-count winner at circa 400). Only that when I see the words "Henry and Harry's Goat Hill Tavern" I simply *have* to repsond negatively.

God that place sucks. The staff sucks, the clientele sucks, it's got that sophmoric let's-just-nail-weird-shit-to-the- ceiling/wall decor, the food sucks, ... It's not even cheap. Err...I guess it's fine for what it is. But a destination for beer geeks it is not.

Scott

Reply to
Scott Kaczorowski

Anyone place that has 100 or so taps I would have to wonder about quality. Do they clean the lines enough? Are the beers drank quickly enough?

Reply to
dxyzc

Haven't had a chance to hit either yet. There's Smooth's (stupid name, OK ambience for a sports bar, across from King's) which last time I was in had a couple decent beers out of probably about a dozen taps. Being a sports bar, it is heavy on the Budmilloors stuff.

Yes. Especially the Long Beach one, for whatever reason. Moreso than Irvine or Costa Mesa, the other two I have visited relatively recently.

Exactly. And, frankly, my days of needing to constantly be blown off my feet are gone. I'm happy with good, especially if it's a decent enough place to hang out at. So far, the RB here fits. The fact that it's a 3 1/2 block walk doesn't hurt.

Mentioend above, both from you and me. Still need to do some exploring, especially now that I'm actually moved in and shit.

-Steve

Reply to
Steve Jackson

This is indeed an interesting discussion. I'm of the opinion that I'd much rather raid a neighborhood with 100 taps than one bar with 120 (thus Fells Point--last week I did a complete inventory of 40 bars and came up with 103 beers on draft, with 64 at one place; another inventory called for tomorrow.....)

Critical mass in the Northeast seems to be on the order of 50 taps. Max's Taphouse in Baltimore's Fells Point averages 65 taps (5 of the 70 empty at any given moment), which ties with the late/lamented Last Chance Saloon in Columbia, Md. No one in Fells Point--or even elsewhere in Baltimore--even tries to touch this. The next-closest contender is probably around 25 taps in Olney, Md. (Olney Ale House) or RFD in D.C. (35 or so). Indeed, I have to reach as far as Warren, Michigan to come up with that many tap handles (40 or so, all brewed on site, at Dragonmead Brewery--make of that what you will).

In the case of Max's, I have gone in literally hunting for "expired" taps or beer past its prime; the best I can do is ones where even the worst of the bar staff will give me a heads-up that "it's.... er..... been here a while......", but everyone in the place knows I'm a professional beer critic.

There is NO F***ING WAY I would sample beers indiscriminately from a bar with 120 taps. Not unless, say, that bar was set up at the Great American Beer Festival, or even a high-traffic beer snob region.

So, perhaps, I should ask about quality? Can I expect better from a high-turnover neighborhood with 125 taps than I can from a neighborhood that tries too hard to offer 250 taps all the time?

Reply to
Alexander D. Mitchell IV

I don't see why not. Besides, how do you sample discriminately at such a place? The only way to know if they take care of their beer or not is to try it. I really don't see the difference in that regard with a place that has 5 taps.

Yeah, it's tougher to move enough beer on some of the lower-traffic taps to keep it fresh. But that's the case at every last bar in the world.

In other words, smaller is no guarantee of better, and some large-scale places do do a decent job of keeping things in good shape. Some do a lousy job. Some of the most awful, beat-up beer I've had has come from places with a number of taps I could count on one hand.

I don't understand what the neighborhood has to do with it. Each individual business is going to handle their beer differently, and you could have one place that serves pristine beer while the place across the street serves piss from kegs that have been sitting there for six months and is pushed through lines that haven't been cleaned in 12.

-Steve

Reply to
Steve Jackson

Oh, aye. I could name three places within a couple miles of where I sit that qualify. Luckily, most of the taps they have aren't worth visiting in the first place. We finally got a good beer bar in town last November. They have something like 30 taps, and so far have a turnover good enough to keep the beer in good shape. It does take somebody who *wants* to serve good beer in good condition (which we have her).

Reply to
Joel

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