Are you really happy to see a place like this open up around here? Stoked to get a growler fill, maybe have some ribs? Than you can easily round this up to four stars.
On the other hand, are you someone who tries every BBQ joint around, or will gladly drive half an hour to check out a cool beer spot? Then you can probably round this down to two stars. It really depends what you're looking for.
It's actually tough to give this place a middling grade, and even tougher to encourage people to think twice ever after that. They're the nicest people, they're open to customer feedback, the prices are not for the most part horrible, and they're really proud to be here, and really happy to have the success they're having. And make no mistake, they're very successful already. We came in on a Friday night and the place was packed wall to wall. Even inside, I think we got the only table available.
So what's going on here? It's a good sized space on the corner of a strip mall setup right on the highway. There's a big supermarket next door, huge parking lot, plenty of other businesses. So the whole town knows this joint is here, and judging by appearances, it seems like everybody was here Friday night. One of the manager guys stopped by our table and said they are blowing 6 or 7 half-barrels (full kegs) a day. That's insane. I have no way of verifying that, but he said they fill tons of growlers every day, to go with all the pints they pour, and they had to send one of the bartenders out to different distributors last week, hustling for kegs, just because they wouldn't have been able to keep up if they only waited for deliveries. Damn.
They have 25 taps, a couple of which are cider. And they do fill those growlers, we watched several go out the door. They aren't pouring geeky stuff or imported stuff, and only a few high-ABV beers. But, man, they pour every local brewery they can get their hands on, and they have multiple bartenders scrambling just to keep glasses full.
There's a big patio out front, and they keep the light flowing inside. They have two long walls of floor to ceiling windows, and they arrange the furniture well so the place doesn't feel weighted down. There are a few flat screens showing the game, and they stained a bunch of plywood planks themselves to give the place a cool shack feel. Seats about 100 or so, split evenly between the patio and the inside. Kitchen in back, bar along one of the outer walls. It still looks brand new, but it's so packed that it feels like it could have been here a while.
They have flat screens up on two walls, listing all the beers on tap. They have so many that you're better off either walking right over to the bar to be able to make out the letters, or just calling it up on your phone. They change so fast they don't even try to print tap lists.
The BBQ menu is one little 5x7 card, almost seems like an afterthought, but they're kinda known for their 'cue, so it's funny how understated it is. It's pretty much ribs and sides, though I might have forgotten about a brisket or some other entrée. The ribs were not quite tender, but the dry rub was pretty good. Mild spice to it. The bbq sauce comes out in a squeeze bottle; tastes like treetop apple juice and a few other spices. It's also OK. The baked beans have at least half a dozen different types of beans in 'em, all different colors and sizes. Never seen anything like that. They tasted OK; had some chunks of bacon in there, too, which was nice. The cole slaw left at least ¼" of sauce at the bottom of the dish, but it had pretty good seasoning and wasn't just chopped cabbage.
The smoked cheese was kind of a disaster, but it didn't seem like they usually make it the way it came out Friday night. There's a bed of toasted cashews, which are nice and herby (visible chopped leaves clinging to the nuts), and then little diced cubes of white cheese on top. The cheese seemed like they might have just run out of what they usually use, and run over to the supermarket next door real quick. And it didn't seem smoky so much as...air dried. They listened sympathetically, though, and took it off the bill.
Ribs (with two sides included) and two beers were about $36 after tax. Pretty good price. You can definitely do well with a few beers here--they're absolutely pouring non-stop. Most of the bartenders and servers seem pretty new to the beer business, so it's not such a great place to ask detailed questions, but the beers are there, pouring through a clean system, and the prices are fair. read more