[morticaixavier]

I was back east for a while over the holidays and I got to stop in at the decendant of my old home away from home and the place where I learned what good beer was.

The Three Needs is not a brewery anymore, just a decent tap room with great ambiance, but I did find evidence that a) I really did spend as much time as I remember there, b) I really was that young once, and c) we all seemed pretty happy there



middle picture on the right (the less effed up looking fellow) is yours truly. If you look close at the picture on the left you'll see Glenn Walter, one candidate for the creator of the Black IPA and owner of the joint and in the picture on the right is JT, the brewer at the time. I think about that time a lot. I would be waiting at the door come 4:00 PM most days and they would have to unlock to let me out many a night.

I don't think I could keep that pace up today. At least not without some serious training first.

Let's here about your third places. Do/did you have a hangout, a living room away from home? a beer alma mater?

[euge]

Wow no actually though someplace right now would be nice! But that is pretty cool. They say you can never go home again and I find it to be true- without discounting any fond memories and anecdotes.

I recognized the pic right away tho. Must've been some good times.

[HoosierBrew]

 I've had a couple great "beer alma maters" over the years but I have to give the nod to the Broad Ripple Brew Pub in Indy. It is the first brewpub in Indiana (1990), opened by an Englishman from Yorkshire. So it's a British pub in the real sense, not like an '"Irish" pub that has a cardboard shamrock on the door and serves BMC. I can't imagine a better atmosphere to drink beer and throw darts in. Not surprisingly, their core taps are all British styles and damn good. Their ESB won a gold @ GABF back in 1991 and is still one of the best, most balanced examples of bitter you'll ever try. I drank enough of it and their other styles to float a ship in my younger years. If and when the bubble bursts on some of the mediocre breweries and brewpubs, this place will be there going strong.



 

[howlinghound]

More than a dozen years ago and before I really appreciated craft beer, and in the middle of wine country, I found Third Street Aleworks in Santa Rosa, CA.  Good food, local hangout, place to meet friends and unwind and interesting beers.

[69franx]

For me, the place that really put craft beer in my focus was the "Buckeye Beer Engine" in Lakewood,OH. I did not ge to spend too many nights there, as I moved away shortly after they opened, but its still a favorite spot to visit whenever I head towards home. It was the first place I had ever been to that really utilized their tap system for great beers. I had been to plenty of places with 20-100 taps, but even those still pretty much carried the standards in BMC. The first time I entered the Beer Engine, it was in April and they were doing an IPA month. 27 taps, with about 15 different IPAs. I told the manager that I was not much of an IPA fan, and he walked me through 4-5 different ones in one evening and I have have been in love with IPAs ever since. The 27 taps rotate any time one blows, so the chalkboard is constantly updating and paper copies of draft list are obsolete by mid afternoon usually. And their house beers, Buckeye Brewing, were always flavorful and priced for friendly consumption. If draft was not your choice, they had hundreds of specialty bottles available, most from breweries I had never even heard of. To any of you in the Cleveland area that have checked out the Beer Engine, what are you waiting for?

[howlinghound]

Was hoping to see more suggestions from around the country.

One place that I would visit any time I was in the DC area was the Brickskeller - with over 500 bottled beers and a ten page 'menu' of beers listed by country.

Apparently, this place has changed ownership and I haven't had a chance to stop in for many years.  Anyone try the new establishment which sounds like an improved (food-wise) and maintained beer list plus a new tap system?

http://www.alestreetnews.com/features/506-bier-baron-replaces-dcs-brickskeller.html

[Joe Sr.]

I spent way too much time in the corner bar from before I shoulda been until around when I got married.  Those were some good times, but I can't say I miss it.  They did not have craft beer (at least not back in the day), but they had plenty of Old Style. Beck's if you were feeling rich.  This was a true neighborhood bar with a clannish crowd.  If you didn't know people it could be uncomfortable.  I understand that it's changed a bit, depending on the time of day you go (happy hour crowd is probably still the exact same people) as the local university moves slowly southward.  I have not been in years.  Hit the winning square on the Super Bowl there one year, back around 1995 or so.  That was fun.