You’ll have to excuse the lack of “news” postings around here lately but it’s tough to keep current with beer news when I have limited Internet access and am on the road for “work” in a different town in a different New England state each week. That being said, I found myself in the Three Needs Brewery & Pub in downtown Burlington, Vermont this afternoon with a pint of their Chocolate Thunder Porter (on nitro) in front of me. Before long, I had struck up a conversation with the Three Needs brewer (Jon… Sorry about that; excuse the moment of post-porter haze) and the barkeep (Monique) and had a full-fledged beer conversation going.
The Three Needs beer itself was pretty run of the mill (the Porter was quite interesting but the rest were not much to write home about) but the bar itself was one of the most fun I had been to in awhile. Small & intimate — everyone there seemed to know one another — the pub was decorated in a great eclectic mix of old tin beer signs andSimpsons memorabilia. And I cannot tell you the last time I was at a bar which was blasting They Might Be Giants Flood all the way up to eleven!
So, getting to the point – I know Stonch brought up the same question a couple of months ago (sorry, I couldn’t find the link), but I want to re-invigerate the question, What makes a favorite watering hole: The beer list (be it a brew pub where to beer is made on site) or the atmosphere (where they crank up the TMBG)? Or is it some combination of the two (as was the case with Three Needs)? Discuss (in the comments)!