If you been drinking craft beer for any length of time, you more than likely been to both a taproom and a brew pub. Both are great places to be. But, of course, they have their differences. They have their pluses and minuses. However, we will not going to focus mainly on the tap room and the brewpub as stand-alone entities. Does it matter to you if taprooms or brewpubs have beer gardens? Is it a necessity to add to the atmosphere or is it simply a waste of space? I know some of you may be thinking, who cares? As long as I get a beer, it doesn’t matter to me. But, here in the neighborhood, we are like Mr. Rogers. We want to talk about different things. Learn about different things. And have an enjoyable time while doing it.
Let’s began with understanding what a beer garden really is. By definition, a beer garden is simply an open-air space where beer and food are served. Now, that seems simple enough. Nevertheless, that there has been some disagreement on what really makes a beer garden. I know some people who believe that if is not dirt, trees, chairs and tables, is not a beer garden. I have some who believe that it must contain those items and serve food to be considered a beer garden. Have a couple more friends who believe that cigarette outside space, whether it’s dirt or concrete, as long as you have a beer, is a beer garden. Lady T and I, seem to lean more to their needing to be some seating area with tables and some type of scenic a compliment. It doesn’t necessarily have to be trees or plants. But, there needs to be something more than just chairs table and the empty space. I’m not always to keen on standing in the dirt either. The other thing I think that most people would agree to that really makes a beer garden successful is having music in some form of entertainment.
I did a poll asking whether you would more likely return to a brewery or brewpubs if it had a beer garden. 63 people voted and approximately 53% said that they would definitely revisit because of the beer garden. The other 47% range from it did not matter to more likely. We did hear from a couple of our Instagram followers. Mapbyte said he never felt a different. Ultimately, he’s therefore the beer and if they have good food, that’s a bonus. The ladies at girls pint out Sanford said that they agree with bitmap and do enjoy the more rustic feel that often times come at a taproom. There’s something about going into an industrial area with not much around defining a warehouse full of beer. She stated that if you take the food away, it helps keep the focus on beer.
Beer is Fundamental has visited a lot of breweries and taprooms and brew pubs as you probably already know. We’ve seen some awesome beer gardens and some places that I wouldn’t necessarily call of beer garden. Two of our favorite places with absolutely gorgeous beer gardens are Sierra Nevada right outside Ashville and Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens – Escondido. They are very, very nice. The BAY STREET BIERGARTEN in Charleston, South Carolina is nice. The Lowry Beer Garden in Denver is another one that we really enjoy. Banger’s in Austin, Texas is one that I believe should get high marks. I wouldn’t mind podcasting live from there. Maybe, we can make that happen if we go to Texas in June or July as planned.