STAFF REVIEW

I heard a lot about Barley's & Hop's before I went there so I started to make a picture in my mind as to what the place would look like before I even arrived there. I've been to numerous bars so I expected a typical bar, tucked away in the corner of some strip mall — but this place is pretty different. Imagine a national chain cafe, like a Panera Bread or a Caribou Coffee, but instead of coffee they have a thousand bottles of beer, and I mean brands not quantity.

This place is unlike any bar I've ever been to, when you step through the door you're greeted by a wall of beer coolers to the left, to the right shelves upon shelves of beers and cafe' style seating in between. Making your way towards the back corner, painted on the wall you'll see a large map which highlights all of the world's beer regions; this map anchors a most coveted spot of leather sofas and easy chairs in front of their flat screen TV.

So the deal here is that you pick out what you want from the coolers and take it up to the cashier and they'll either bag it up for you or hand you a glass and an open bottle then you sit down and enjoy your beer. Seems simple enough right? But there are so many beers to choose from it's a little hard to decide, and if your looking for a specific brand or type of beer the staff is very good at helping you find what you need.

When paying for your beer your going to see a pink elephant — this is OK — it's just a tap tower. Well not JUST a tap tower, it's a Tremens tap tower topped with a pink elephant, it's the only one like it in the USA. Tremens Delerium was voted best beer in the world so it's quite an honor to have the only one in this country.

This place lacks a bar feel, like I said I've been to a lot of bars, lacking a bar feel is a good thing in this case. They've managed to provide a place where people can sit and enjoy great beer in a cafe' style setting without the bad dive like image of a typical bar. Who knows perhaps they'll start a national chain and every strip mall will have one in the near future, they even have a great name!