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

"Joel" wrote in message
...

A mega-tap establishment like The Yard House in Long
Beach
would qualify. Scott K.

Asshole. Why bring him up?

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).

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.

I don't know if the also do bottles,

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.

or if
there's anything else nearby that could add to the total.

This is my new 'hood, so I'm still counting.

Blue Cafe? Murphy's?

Yard House has
an enormous amount of taps, with actually a good portion of
them devoted to pretty good beers.

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

There's a good-not-great
Rock Bottom up the street,

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.

and a handful of other downtown
pubs have several taps, some of which actually included
decent beers.

Like wot?


Sntt Kay

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

"Bill Benzel" wrote in message
...

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

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.

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


Scott

Scott Kaczorowski ) 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.
:
: **** 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.


--
Bill
AT DOT
reply to bbenzel adelphia net

(Bill Benzel) wrote in
:

Scott Kaczorowski ) 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.
:
: **** 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.

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

On 4/19/2005 1:31 PM, Scott Kaczorowski wrote:
"STEPHEN JACKSON" wrote in
news:9MU7e.1762$c93.1046@trnddc08:


"Bill Benzel" wrote in message
.. .


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


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.

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


Scott

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?

"Scott Kaczorowski" wrote in message
...

This is my new 'hood, so I'm still counting.

Blue Cafe? Murphy's?

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.


Yard House has
an enormous amount of taps, with actually a good portion of
them devoted to pretty good beers.

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

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


There's a good-not-great
Rock Bottom up the street,

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.

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.

and a handful of other downtown
pubs have several taps, some of which actually included
decent beers.

Like wot?

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

-Steve

wrote in message
...

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?

In Goat Hill's case, no ****ing way.

For the Yard House, they do seem to keep the beers in pretty good shape. Out
of probably a few hundred pints now over the years, I can probably count bad
ones on one hand. Beers that are a bit tired are more common, but for the
size of what they have, they do a good job.

That said, I still think somewhere around 20 taps is about the pratical
limit for a good quality multitap.

-Steve

Steve Jackson wrote:

"Scott Kaczorowski" wrote in message
...

[...]

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.

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.

That's been the best thing of the move we did just a smidge over a year
ago. A brewpub is a five-minute walk away, a kitschy bar with a couple
of decent beers on tap another five minutes max, and a great multitap
pub is maybe fifteen minutes walk the other way, twenty tops (after I've
been drinkin'), or I can just wait for a bus and chop it down to five
minutes.

Since we've moved in, a ****ING GOOD restaurant has relocated three
minutes' walk away, and has a couple of good beers on tap too. Bonus!

Living within walking distance of a worthwhile local rocks. As if
that's any big secret. Bonus: drink all you want with no worries about
drunk driving.
--
dgs

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?


That said, I still think somewhere around 20 taps is about the pratical
limit for a good quality multitap.

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?

"Alexander D. Mitchell IV" wrote
in :

Critical mass in the Northeast seems to be on the order of
50 taps.

I would hazard to say it's more like 10-20. Any more than that,
and you're trying to please everyone. Which is fine because
they're trying to make money, not please me. Depends on the
"neighborhood" of course, but 50...150...what's the diff? Check
yer market first.

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).

Uh, I make of it...that you're bragging. Which is good, IMO.

There is NO F***ING

Dude. You can say ****ING. "NO ****ING WAY." "**** you."
"You ****ing suck." "GOD that ****ING sucks!" "**** your
mother." "I ****ing hate it when the ****ing beer is no ****ing
good." Etc.

WAY I would sample beers
indiscriminately from a bar with 120 taps.

Why not? If you get, say, a bad beer at a high-tap bar, do you
excuse it or hammer it? Is that not a reflection on the bar and
not necessarily a reflection on the beer/brewer? It's well-
known that Anchor Steam can't make it further than 10 miles
(exaggeration for effect) from the brewery without going a bit
off. Would this not be part of a valid review of Anchor Steam?
As a professional, what kind of beers do you drink? Where? How
do you decide between a beer worth drinking and one that isn't
if you don't like said beverage (ie, if you perceive it's not in
good condition)?

I guess what I'm asking is: Do you only review "good" beers?

or even a high-traffic beer snob region.

I don't get your point. "High-traffic beer snob" is good or
bad?

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?

It does depend on the neighborhood. I will forever half-
remember my tour of Shiteland and Brocker Fiefdom.

A valid survey...I dunno. Were you to visit here, I would not
bother to take you to the crapholes.

Subjective.

Yep.


Scott

"Alexander D. Mitchell IV" wrote
in :

Critical mass in the Northeast seems to be on the order of
50 taps.

I would hazard to say it's more like 10-20. Any more than that,
and you're trying to please everyone. Which is fine because
they're trying to make money, not please me. Depends on the
"neighborhood" of course, but 50...150...what's the diff? Check
yer market first.

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).

Uh, I make of it...that you're bragging. Which is good, IMO.

There is NO F***ING

Dude. You can say ****ING. "NO ****ING WAY." "**** you."
"You ****ing suck." "GOD that ****ING sucks!" "**** your
mother." "I ****ing hate it when the ****ing beer is no ****ing
good." Etc.

WAY I would sample beers
indiscriminately from a bar with 120 taps.

Why not? If you get, say, a bad beer at a high-tap bar, do you
excuse it or hammer it? Is that not a reflection on the bar and
not necessarily a reflection on the beer/brewer? It's well-
known that Anchor Steam can't make it further than 10 miles
(exaggeration for effect) from the brewery without going a bit
off. Would this not be part of a valid review of Anchor Steam?
As a professional, what kind of beers do you drink? Where? How
do you decide between a beer worth drinking and one that isn't
if you don't like said beverage (ie, if you perceive it's not in
good condition)?

I guess what I'm asking is: Do you only review "good" beers?

or even a high-traffic beer snob region.

I don't get your point. "High-traffic beer snob" is good or
bad?

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?

It does depend on the neighborhood. I will forever half-
remember my tour of Shiteland and Brocker Fiefdom.

A valid survey...I dunno. Were you to visit here, I would not
bother to take you to the crapholes.

Subjective.

Yep.


Scott

"Alexander D. Mitchell IV" wrote in message
...

There is NO F***ING WAY I would sample beers indiscriminately from a bar
with 120 taps.

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.

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?

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
**** from kegs that have been sitting there for six months and is pushed
through lines that haven't been cleaned in 12.

-Steve

"Alexander D. Mitchell IV" wrote in message
...

There is NO F***ING WAY I would sample beers indiscriminately from a bar
with 120 taps.

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.

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?

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
**** from kegs that have been sitting there for six months and is pushed
through lines that haven't been cleaned in 12.

-Steve

Steve Jackson wrote:
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.

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).
--
Joel Plutchak "So you would say the beheadings are
excessive but not the dismemberment?"
- from a discussion of the movie "Sin City"

"Steve Jackson" wrote in
news:gwZ8e.33335$hB6.1729@trnddc06:

"Bill Benzel" wrote in message
...
There's a decent bottle selection at a little place

It ain't little. But mostly a wine warehouse. The beer
selection...I'm not sure it's little...Not huge, not tiny.

called
Wine Country up near the Airport in an industrial park --
I think it's on N. Redondo

Redondo Ave south of Spring (ie, south of the airport).

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

Wine Country does not suck. I'm feeling stupid...I did not
tell you about this place. They are nice people
(knowledgable to boot) and the prices are not suckful.

I admit to not having been there in a while, but they used to
specialize in Belguns (hot Belgians with fake blonde hair and
artificial D-cups). This is where I learned to avoid the
gimmick beers from Belgium (Mannekin Pis Wit, Cantillon
Mariage Vinegare, et al...)

They do multiple beer and wine tastings during the week.
Worth checking out.

(and thanks for the recommendation). So
far, I've been doing the bottle shopping at Morry's of
Naples.

Kevin is worth sucking up to. The next time he treats me
poorly will be the first time.

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

**** the both of you. "'hood" Jesus Cristo...In colors.

'Hood! Nice ****ing 'hood, dude! Show us your 'hood! My
'hood is better'n your 'hood!

Blood? Crip? What side do you come down on?

What the ****? Seriously. What the **** place does gansta
bullshit have in any forum other than
alt.crystal.deal.deal.deal?

And no, it hasn't entered the lexicon, just like "bitch-
slap" means "to hit a woman."

Definitely am so far.

So you like the new HOOD?

Great. That's just great...

....Where were you born again?



Ssbnfalhjuott