OK first off let me say that I am venturing into uncharted terrritory for me.
my thought was having a refrigerated under counter table running under the bar
that has the kegs in them. my bar is 7 ft by 12ft long
and extra in the walk in
my thoughts are 4 different on tap, bottles everything else
am I limiting myself? do i just do a really large walking and run it all from there?
whats the 4 most popular tap?
I will chime in but keep in mind it may only be worth .02
I think only have 4 beers on tap is very limiting. Now of course being from the NW we are micro/craftman crazy. If I am our hanging with the boys, like tonight and go to a new spot I will try 2,3,4 different beers they have on tap and make a mental note of the best for the next time I drop in.
I for one only like the Bud/Coors stuff if it is really hot becsue it is a lighter beer and goes down easy.
I talked to a local place as I was concerned about the length of the lines and how far you could run them. They were running about 400 ft of line from cooler to tap. Big concern on this is keep the beer cold in the line so the first few ounces are not warm and keeping the lines cleaned.
In my floor plan I think our lines will be between 50-100 feet in length, the shorter the better as I like my beer cold, the colder the better. Suggested temp in the cooler is 38 degrees with serving temp of 40.
Best option is having taps on the walk-in wall so the lines are short and the beer is cold, not always an option however.
Hope this helps and again it may only be worth .02
Definitely go for as many options as you can manage and afford in terms of space, equipment and cost. If you don’t move that beer after it is tapped, then it will eventually stale and flat on you. No good having 12 beers if you have a “four beer” total sales volume.
I would have thought that the NW microbrews would be more discriminating about serving temps. If you get into the nitty gritty, serving temps for ales tend toward ‘cellar temps’ of 50F to 55F while lagers tend towards the colder temps of 38F to 45F depending on actual style of the beer. You can get as detailed and pecializeed in your beer service as you want . . . a dopplebock is served at a different temp from a pilsner or a heffewies or an India Pale Ale. Or you can gauge a good middling temp or two that best handles all of the ones you serve. Your distributor or the brewery should have info on all that.
what kind of place are you trying to be? You are not a bar, but a pizza joynt…
don’t get caught up in the frenzy of being all things to all people…4 drafts & a handful of 12 oz. bottles is fine…
you could create a promo called “Round the world in 80 beers” and tie in an 80 selection beer variety & pizza promo…go big time…stretch it out over a year…stamp their passport when they’ve sampled all 80 different beers & 80 different pizza…give the 1st winner a trip to some where fun, like a visit to the Sam Adams Brewery or Bass Ale - get an airline to co-sponsor the flight…
Just another note. If you have room to do more drafts, do it. Lots of people will just choose a draft beer rather then getting a bottle. In this particular case, having more options is better. I only keep about 18 different beers in bottles, and I’m cutting 3 or 4 from my inventory this month because we just don’t move enough of them.
Managing your beer and/or wine menu is not unlike managing your food menu. Position the high margin ones, analyze and re-evaluate selections. Have some special entries that could become regulars. It’s a little sub-system within the menu.