If you had a brewery...what would your tap lineup be?

[Bulin's Milker Bucket Brews]

I figure most brewery tap rooms/brew pubs I've been to have 6-8 "house" beers on draught. If you were running one, what would your beer menu look like?

Personally, I'd have to give a nod to my Bohemian ancestors. I'd do 4 Czech style and 4 American style beers as regulars with a couple rotating "limited release" taps.

For the Czech beers I'd do a Pale Lager around 3.2% abv, Dirty Bohemian(or whatever I called it on the handle) my twist on a "Budvar" type beer, a Czech Amber around 5.5% abv and of course Shady Bohemian rounding it out. I'd keep all of then between 20-30 ibu's mainly just to have good continuity in the line.

For the American beers, I'd do a light lager(gotta pay the bills, right?), a pilsner, an amber lager(Shore Leave Cali Common), and of course a token IPA(everybody's got one).

Probably sounds like pretty heavy on the yellow and fizzy, but that's what sells in this area.

 

[Bubba Wade]

Belgian Pale Ale, Belgian Farmhouse Ale, Belgian Dark Strong Ale.

A dry hopped APA for the hop lovers, a nitro stout, and a dry blond ale.

And cider. Dry, not sweet.

Root beer for the DD's.

 

[Donoroto]

Two IPAs, bright and hoppy, lower and higher ABVs. A dark something, stout or porter. An American lager (PBR?) and a British ale (like Bass). A hefeweitzen if I could find a good one (Haven't so far). A sour, and a fruity something, probably both rotating along with two more also rotating, one of which might be a seltzer.

More realistic, a 5-tap keezer at home: Session ale, higher gravity ale, hefeweitzen, IPA (Wayner's?) and 'beer of the month'.

 

[Megary]

Great question.

The practical side of me would say, “whatever keeps the business flush with cash!” Daddy needs new toys. Sell my soul and cater to the “in crowd”. Of course, if I had to do that, there is no possible way that I could own a brewery.

The F*** It side of me would load up with all my favs, American Stout, IPA, Saison, Porter/Brown, Pils, English Pale, Cream Ale, and probably another Stout, because it’s my brewery, there’s the door if you don’t like it. Nothing “pumpkin” would ever dishonor the taps.

Realistically, it would be a mix of both sides.

 

[Sunfire96]

My imaginary brewery would have zero hazy/juicy IPAs, I know that much maybe I'll call it West Coast Snobs

I would probably keep a blonde/cream ale, standard IPA, session IPA or pale, brown ale or porter, and dark lager on standard (@Bulin's Milker Bucket Brews I'll cut you a check for my Shady Boh sales ). Other than that, constant rotation of wheats, sours, saison/farmhouse, various lagers that aren't "light" except for an IPL, and probably lots of one hop or two hop beers. I'm a big fan of brewing for the season, so probably a big Wassail type holiday beer, pumpkin/gourd harvest ale in the fall (sorry @Megary ), oktoberfest brewed in the spring to serve in early fall, etc.

Boddingtons and Guinness dry Stout on nitro year round (gotta be able to do Black and Tans )

Fried pickles on the menu is a must

 

[Bubba Wade]

Great question.

The practical side of me would say, “whatever keeps the business flush with cash!” Daddy needs new toys. Sell my soul and cater to the “in crowd”. Of course, if I had to do that, there is no possible way that I could own a brewery.

The F*** It side of me would load up with all my favs, American Stout, IPA, Saison, Porter/Brown, Pils, English Pale, Cream Ale, and probably another Stout, because it’s my brewery, there’s the door if you don’t like it. Nothing “pumpkin” would ever dishonor the taps.

Realistically, it would be a mix of both sides.

Pumpkin has no place in beer unless you’re a Pilgrim and do not have access to Barley!

 

[Sunfire96]

Pumpkin has no place in beer unless you’re a Pilgrim and do not have access to Barley!

I've heard that myth debunked a few times now. I read that the brewer at Colonial Williamsburg (whose job is to research brewing methods of the time) said that pumpkins would not have been used as fermentable sugars in beer. But it does pop up again from reputable sources as being true, so I'm not sure I used to live in Williamsburg and know that those historical researchers/reenacters do not mess around with false info

Some of us like the taste of pumpkin and squash! I'm not here for pumpkin spice beer, but actual pumpkin I'm into!

 

[SabreSteve]

If I'm catering to my tastes and not trying to satisfy the market then there would be zero IPAs.
I would definitely need to have a Hefeweizen and I probably would want another wheat beer too, probably with either cherry or blueberry. Definitely need a nitro stout and I'm gonna want a Dopplebock and triplebock. Then probably a nice Helles and Kolsch since I kinda inadvertently went with a German theme here...

 

[Bubba Wade]

I've heard that myth debunked a few times now. I read that the brewer at Colonial Williamsburg (whose job is to research brewing methods of the time) said that pumpkins would not have been used as fermentable sugars in beer. But it does pop up again from reputable sources as being true, so I'm not sure I used to live in Williamsburg and know that those historical researchers/reenacters do not mess around with false info

Some of us like the taste of pumpkin and squash! I'm not here for pumpkin spice beer, but actually pumpkin I'm into!

I was never certain whether the pumpkin beer story and the Pilgrims was true. They certainly didn’t have access to barley the first couple of years. I’m guessing that they did ferment some type of cider as some wild fruit would have been available.

 

[Josh Hughes]

A british bitter
Irish Stout
Dunkel
Pale lager
APA
IPA
Some sort of seasonal

to cover the bases.

 

[HighVoltageMan!]

When you go pro, you have to shallow your pride and ego. It's not about what you want, it's about what keeps you profitable and afloat. The best thing you can do is keep it simple and focus on the absolute highest quality beer you can brew.

That being said, it's easy said then done. An IPA is an absolute, but don't paint yourself into a corner. The IPA is an evolutionary beast, so brew a beer and call it "Evolution" so you can change it on the fly depending on the hops and public mood.

You'll need a dark beer and a light beer. Most brewers who start up realize they need a a light beer to satisfy the people who accompany the "craft beer" people. An American lager is the best fit, but hard to pull off. A solid cream ale works too.

Opening a brewery is a bitch, quite frankly. I been involved in one and it's cured me of any fantasies.

 

[Donoroto]

Opening a brewery is a bitch, quite frankly.

If it is a business, there is a lot of work and not a lot of fun. Brewing is one of the more trivial tasks, the rest of the business isn't trivial at all. And you can't spend all day drinking.

 

[Bubba Wade]

If it is a business, there is a lot of work and not a lot of fun. Brewing is one of the more trivial tasks, the rest of the business isn't trivial at all. And you can't spend all day drinking.

Yes, and you can make the best beers in the country and be out of business and broke in three months.

 

[Josh Hughes]

I’ve thought for a while a good method would be to open a restaurant with “pub” food. Brew 1 beer and have the usuals and some famous ones on tap. Get them to drink that 1 beer probably a pale lager/cream ale, something easy drinking. Then maybe add a second and then a third.

 

[Marz]

I’ve thought for a while a good method would be to open a restaurant with “pub” food. Brew 1 beer and have the usuals and some famous ones on tap. Get them to drink that 1 beer probably a pale lager/cream ale, something easy drinking. Then maybe add a second and then a third.

I dig that idea, keep it simple rather than going all out.

Also gotta make it a little exciting for people too, not just be another pub. Maybe offer a flight of lets say 6 beers, 3 are craft and 3 are tap. Then tell the customer if they can figure out which 3 are popular brands and not your brew, then they get that flight for free haha.

 

[Over The Cliff Brewing]

This is a great question. If only this was 20 years ago. At this point brewing is fun and exciting. If I have to make a living doing it, then it's not fun. It is however, a great feeling when people complement your creations.

2 NEIPAS
1 STOUT
1 LAGER
1 HEFEWEIZEN
1 west coast ipa for Sunfire96

 

[GFHomebrew]

However I went about it knowing the vibe of where I live it'd have to have some local ingredience in it with the metafore drink local made local from ingreedience sourced from the region I live in. So plenty of pineapple ginger strawberries so I'd have to brew either IPA / Saison style brew and or copy terella and do a macadamia flavoured beer to really excite the locals.
Honey would naturally find it's way in too.

One thing I def wouldn't doo I try and copy the big guys light mass lager
I want people to have the "craft experience"
But knowing me there s going to be a Pilsner or helles style beer on tap.
A ginger beer. Aka ginger Ninger
If I can perfect my passion fruit saison (seasonal)
Copy @Vallka s idea on the Mango NEIPA theme maybe fermented with Kviek (hornindal or Framgarden).
If I were to go on the dark side knowing Aussies and pubs round here only dark beer is Guinness and you gotta look for it.
So if I were to do a stout it would be a milk stout /sweet stout with coffee Chocolate theme.
Introduce bonkers stout or even an oated nautical style stout.
ANYHOW I'll get back to my day job now enough Crazy thoughts lol!

 

[Hawkbox]

Yeah I've had a few people do the whole "You should go pro!" line, no thanks. I made my computer hobby my career and now I largely hate computers. I don't want to do that with beer.

For taps I'm thinking
Kolsch/Pilsner (whichever I feel like)
Berliner Weisse
IPA of whatever style is popular
Red
Stout
Light lager to pay the bills

 

[HighVoltageMan!]

Light lager to pay the bills

I recently talk with a manager of a brewery north of me. He said they keep a light beer on tap for the people who are with the craft beer people. He said he can sell more craft beer to the craft crowd when the people with them are willing to stay. When they drop the lighter beers, they risk losing sales on other beers.

 

[Hawkbox]

That tracks with my experience, there are some breweries that my friends love and I'm meh on so with everything being a slushy milkshake whatever and me just wanting an IPA or even a Kolsch I lose interest and don't want to stick around.