Closed: Mar 1, 2024. YES - good riddance. Red's Sunset Grill will be taking over. Same folks behind Back East and a few other local places. I hope they're smart enough not to cheat customers on the beer taps. We'll see when they open.
First visit: Jun 2019
What the title above says. In addition to a restaurant, this is a "self serve" beer place. Here's where technology overrides common sense. Basically once you open the tap, your "beer card" starts tallying. Similar to a self serve gas pump. Problem is, no (good) beer comes out perfect. So if you pour 12 ounces, you are likely to actually pour considerably more to fill the glass (at a much higher price). When you go to a regular bar, you'll note the bartender continues to pour the beer as the foam washes out. Then they'll rinse it down and continue to pour until you have a full glass. Not here... you are paying extra as that happens. The prices are set so that you are paying for a perfect pour. Fine if the beer comes out that way. But it doesn't - and it never will. So a normal $5 beer will cost you close to double that for a full glass. An absolute guaranteed ripoff. And most people are not former bartenders, so it only goes downhill from there.
What a tragedy really, as Beasts and Brews on paper looked to be the best new concept we've seen in some time. Their beer selection is outstanding! Close to 100 beers, mostly local to Colorado and in all styles. We had visions of going weekly here, presuming a good rotation of beers. That won't happen.
The concept is very confusing from the beginning and even the help staff seems to not know what exactly to do. But basically it works like this: You walk in, and you can order from the menu right away (in effect it's a Quick Service Restaurant). They then ask if you want to drink beer. If so, they then give you a card, similar to a hotel card. Then you take the card to various card readers, and once it accepts, you can start pouring - and the meter runs continuously until you turn the spout off. When you see your beer is at $6 and it's only half full with half foam - it will be at that point you will remember this review!
Everything about the concept is not relaxing or intuitive. Going to this restaurant requires that you have knowledge of how everything works. It's unnerving. Now that we know, it's still overwhelming. And I won't even get into the weird tipping process. Or the fact the tap stops working randomly for a "sobriety check" (I put my wife's beer on the same card, so it seemed I was on beer #3 verse #2). The beer taps are all over the place, with informative computer screens. This is great, but it's not a museum, but rather a place to get a drink - so once again it's not what a dining experience should be.
As for the food, we don't have the same complaints as the others. Interestingly enough I had the Cubano and my wife had the Fried Chicken sandwich (the opposite of someone else). It was good - not great. The food alone though would not have kept us away, as we were anxious to try other things on the menu. We won't now.
It would be very easy to fix this place. Have sit down service, and someone to pour your beer - at a fixed price! Once that happens, we'll be back. Otherwise we'll see you with the closed sign coming out. We were there for a Friday lunch and it was empty. We know why. But do the owners get it?
Don't let technology overwhelm a great idea! Find the balance. 1 star until then.
6/21/19 (new entry)
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