If you sit at the bar at Garth’s Brew Bar, you’ll feel soft felt lining the underside of the bar. Owner Garth Beyer put that felt there to muffle noise bouncing up from the concrete floor, so it’s easier to have a conversation.
That wasn’t Beyer’s idea. That was yours.
Before he opened the Monroe Street bar in 2019, he surveyed over 200 people about what they’d like to see in a craft beer bar, and reduced noise was high on the list. And now, seven years later, he’s going back to the people to find out what they think of Madison’s beer scene.
“I thought it was time to reignite the Madison community about what beer ought to be,” Beyer said over a pint recently. “Especially post-pandemic, everybody got really reserved, and brewers weren’t reaching out to the community to ask what they wanted. They were brewing what they needed to brew to be able to survive.”
In the last few weeks, over 350 people responded to a new, detailed survey Beyer created, answering specific questions about everything from what kind of beers they want to see to what they like (or don’t like) in a bar.
In addition to giving him some tips on how he can improve his own namesake bar, he hopes the survey can be a resource for other bars, craft brewers, and even imbibers to work together to make the kind of local beer scene they want.
Here are a few takeaways that Beyer gleaned from the results, which you can see for yourself here.
More Vintage Styles
Madison drinkers want to see more classic beer varieties such as Extra Special Bitters and pilsners on the tap list. “I think in Madison we got into the notion of ‘Let’s just make some hazy variants, and produce more of what’s selling.’ But Madison’s been speaking up that they want more things like ESBs. I think of bars like Vintage that are able to knock it out of the park having a slew of different classic beers.”
Bring Back Craft Beer Week
Beer drinkers responded that they want to see some sort of beer festival in Madison that’s not as massive as Great Taste of the Midwest, but bigger than a local brewery’s in-house event. Madison had a citywide Craft Beer Week for years, but that ended with the COVID-19 pandemic. “Folks are really missing that,” Beyer said.
Keep It Down!
The noise complaints that Beyer heard when he installed the felt in 2018 haven’t gone away. “I'd say this (concern) is probably even deeper now, post pandemic. People finally feel like going out isn't just going out and being rambunctious. It's going out and having meaningful conversations, and (noisy environments) hurt a lot of folks.”
No More Hazy IPAs! (Maybe.)
The ubiquitous brew ranked high on the list of beers that drinkers think are overdone – but also pretty high on the list of beers that drinkers want to see more of. “Everybody loves them, but everybody loves hating on them as well. People are having this internal conundrum with themselves.”
More Lighter Beers
Beyer said lagers, pilsners, and other lighter beers are in big demand right now – but not just the average lawnmower beers. “I think this is a direct reflection of the demand that's happening not just nationally but locally as well. They're wanting more variety. I think Working Draft is a great example of somebody who's taken a lager and then created multiple variations of it. What's the Italian pils? What's the French pilsner? What's the Czech style?”
