Michael Roper, the long-time publican of Hop Leaf, wrote to All About Beer sharing his thoughts on a recent column concerning beer bars. Hop Leaf, a Chicago institution, has long been the platinum standard when it comes to what a beer bar can be in terms of service, selection, ambiance, and commitment.
Since my 2018 comments about the challenges that “beer bars” were experiencing in the era of rapid growth of brewery tap rooms, other unanticipated consequences have arisen.
Local beer distributors have watched helplessly as up to a third of on premise beer sales have moved away from the three tier system and them. It is also true of package sales since tap rooms sell cans, growlers and/or crowlers direct to consumers. As a result of this, distributors have become shy about bringing in seasonal offerings, one-offs, specialty beers and often anything beyond a brewery’s flagship offerings into their warehouses, and thus, these beers are unavailable to craft beer focused bars.
This is especially true for out of town or legacy breweries like Sierra Nevada, New Belgium, Dogfish Head and others like them. For beer bars that thrive on offering specialty beers, it is a disaster, for us and our customers.
The risks involved
It gives customers even less incentive to come in when we can’t get the most interesting beers that many breweries make. However, I can understand that there is risk involved in bringing these beers to a marketplace so thoroughly saturated by tap rooms. No one wants to dump out of date code kegs.
Another casualty are imported beers. Importers take even more risk bringing niche imported beers that mostly attract connoisseurs. With nearly 10,000 domestic breweries and local tap rooms competing with them for a finite American audience, many Belgian, German, Austrian, British and breweries in emerging craft beer nations like Italy are cutting back on exports to America, if not pulling out of the market altogether.
Tariff issues
The chaotic tariff policies from the Trump administration don’t help. My bar, The Hopleaf, has a 33-year plus reputation of offering globally sourced, interesting beers. It is getting hard for us to live up to that reputation with so many importers and distributors stepping away from bringing these great beers to America and us.
More and more tap rooms are taking advantage of amended laws that loosen the distinction between tap rooms and taverns. Some of these relaxations in regulation came during the Covid 19 pandemic and have stuck. Many tap rooms are allowed to sell other brewery’s beers, wine, cider and cocktails. They have kitchens, table service and extended hours. They tend to be more liberal about allowing minors and children in.
They compete with traditional taverns in every way but have a financial advantage in that much of the beer they sell is not going through the three tier system and is far more profitable. Many taprooms are also located in areas zoned as industrial and are thus charged lower rents and/or property taxes than taverns on commercial streets. With their advantages, they often compete on a different playing field than do taverns. That is why so many beer focused taverns are closing or “re-concepting”.
Finding a path forward
The craft beer focused bars and taverns that have withstood the stampede of tap room competition and the pandemic era have often done so by diversifying their food and beverage programs beyond beer and beer friendly foods. However, all of us in the craft beer business and who sell alcoholic beverages in general do have some common challenges as well. Many young people don’t drink alcoholic beverages as frequently as prevails generations did…… or even at all. America’s demographic is aging.
Older people don’t drink as much either. Alcoholic beverages are being portrayed as being unhealthy in any quantity by public health authorities and many people are listening to that message. Those who do drink have many newer options in RTD cocktails, hard seltzers, wine in cans, and more.
We can’t forget that drinkable, smokable and edible cannabis is legal in many states now.
I think that the “beer bar” concept that arose in the 1980’s and 90’s introduced a generation to better beer, served properly. I’d like to think we still have a role in perpetuating the love of great beer. I plan on continuing to carry the torch for many years.
It’s My Round is a regular feature on All About Beer featuring personal essays relating to beer experiences and journeys. Learn more or inquire about submissions by emailing Info@allaboutbeer.com
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