There are two directions I would go. If I opened this in my current city (Portland), I would almost certainly attempt to be a British Ale specialist, as no one does that anymore. I would focus on cask ales and ciders and have ONE IPA and ONE pale yellow ale on CO2, along with a guest cider or two on CO2, but the focus would be on cask/nitro. I wouldn't import hops, but would focus on using "cheap" hops and making modern English style ales, as well as one typical 2017 IPA.
That place would go like this:
House yeast would be WLP002 or WLP007
1. Ordinary Bitter (~3.5% and dry-hopped)
2. Golden Bitter (~4.2% and more malt-balanced)
3. Pale Ale (~5.5% and balanced, moderately dry-hopped)
4. Strong Ale (~6.5% ~14 SRM ~50 IBUs and hoppy)
5. Typical Northwestern IPA (on cask and CO2 draft)
6. Porter (~5.5%, on cask and nitro)
7. Local Cider on cask
8. Local cider on keg
If I was doing this literally anywhere but Portland, I would go for a more varied taplist and would probably use WLP007:
1. English Golden/Summer Ale ~4% abv and 25 IBUs (might call it blonde ale or extra pale ale, and it would blend goldings with cascade and be dry-hopped) ALWAYS AVAILABLE ON CASK!
2. Red Ale ~6% abv and 38 IBUs (80% US pale ale malt, ~12% crystal malts 10% Munich or Vienna, moderate dose of fruity whirlpool/hopback hops like Citra)
3. Flagship IPA ~6.5% abv and 65 IBUs, 90% US pale ale malt, 5% carahell, and 5% wheat malt, hops depending on availability, but ideally Nelson Sauvin, Simcoe, and Chinook or Mosaic, Simcoe, and Chinook)
4. Porter (always on nitro) ~6% abv and 40 IBUs (US pale ale malt, melanoidin malt, UK extra dark and dark crystal, pale chocolate malt, and midnight wheat/blackprinz/carafa, malt-forward with small amount of Willamette or similar late in the boil).
5. Rotating IPA: (always something different, like Rye IPA, Black IPA, or Session IPA).
6. Seasonal Ale: Regular rotating seasonal ales (Summer Belgian Ale - possibly just the English Golden Ale fermented with a different yeast and not dry-hopped, Fall American Brown Ale, Winter American Strong Ale - maybe a bulked up version of the Red Ale, Spring Pale Ale - probably a 35 IBU "single hop" beer brewed with a similar base as the Flagship IPA, but at a lower gravity.[/li][/list]
7. Experimental Beer: something different, brewed in a pilot system OR one of the standard beers with something extra (e.g., coffee porter, Dry-Hopped Red, etc), or where leftover seasonals get poured till they are done.
8. Extra Nitro Tap (Porter will always be available on nitro and off, and another beer will be rotate on nitro)
9. Extra Cask Ale (EGA will always be on cask and regular, but another beer will also be served on cask - the cask ales will be kept in a different fridge at a warmer temperature than the other beers, but will have a CO2 mechanism purging any air out of the firkins).
