The Session #34: Will Walk for Beer

This article is part of a monthly series called The Session.  This month’s topic is from Jim over at Two Parts Rye.  He asks that we “give a shout out to your favorite watering hole.”  And because that would be entirely too easy, “There is a catch.  This booze stuff has interesting side effects.  That means, you can’t get behind the wheel.  You gotta walk, take public transportation, or be a regular supporter of your favorite taxi company.”

So I took this as a challenge.  I live in a fairly metropolitan area, but walking to much of anything is quite a hike unless you live in one of the downtowns proper.

While there are a half dozen excellent spots within a 5-10 minute drive – it’s just not the same as walking up to the corner pub.

If you live in a city with good public transportation count yourself lucky.  I’m insanely jealous of places like D.C. and San Francisco.   The closest thing we have is some basic bus routes around town.

Fortunately there is a major upscale shopping center/outdoor mall within walking distance of my house.  Unfortunately it doesn’t contain any proper pubs and most of the restaurants are the franchise/chain type.  I’ve been to a few of them, but assumed that none had much in the way of good craft beer on offer.

The end of the mall area is about 2 miles from my front door.  Not an unreasonable distance on a nice night I guess.

So with all of this in mind I set out on a Caine-esque journey to wander the neighborhood in search of a proper beer.

I’m sad to say I didn’t find much.  I only managed to find 2 local micro handles.  The rest was standard BMC, Boston Lager, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Guinness, etc.  Which is disappointing for such a highly trafficked area.  The best selection of beer in the neighborhood appears to be on the kegerator in my garage.

What a sad state of affairs.  Someone should really do something about this.

I’m sure rent in this particular location is expensive but there are quite a few empty storefronts.  And with the beer scene exploding around here I doubt there would be much trouble doing enough business.

But if you (or I) build it, will they come?  I guess that’s the $64,000 question.  Maybe I should just have patience, grasshopper.

Tagged as: The Session