LEO/LHB: We Tappa Keg at BJ's & The BBC Tap Room

[Robin Garr]

LEO's Eats with Louisville HotBytes
(BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse; BBC Tap Room)

Inquire about the American Pale Ale (aka "APA") at Louisville's BBC Tap Room, and you'll get a virtual education in this classic American beer style: Made with Special Pale, Caramunich, Flaked Barley, and Special B malts and bittered with Centennial and Willamette hops, it's a rich, copper colored ale with a full-bodied bitter hops flavor supported by generous amounts of malt.

Ask the same question about the APA at the new BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse in Oxmoor, and you may hear something like what a friendly server told me: "It's a light beer. Well, one of our lighter beers." She paused, then grinned conspiratorially. "They train us not to tell people it's 'bitter'."

That pretty much spells out the difference between these two joints for me. BJ's, a 30-year-old Southern California chain, has recently broken out of the West and Southwest with new locations east of the Mississippi in Ohio, Florida, and now in Kentucky with the launch of a large and very well capitalized brewhouse at Oxmoor Center.

BBC, a small and entirely local operation, makes keg and bottled beer for Louisville's Bluegrass Brewing Co., and offers the beers on draft in a tiny tap room in front of the brewing operation at Clay and Main streets.

Despite a certain hilarity among Louisville locavores who discovered that BJ's house-brand beers are trucked over from its brewing facility in Reno, Nev., in fairness I've found the company's beers good, tasty examples of craft brewing, made in close compliance with American craft-beer standards. Indeed, in contrast with the server's script, the BJ "Piranha" Pale Ale is a pretty good example of the genre, made with two-row Pale, Crystal and Wheat malts, and hopped up with American Chinook and Cascade hops to 45 International Bittering Units ... and that's a lot.

Indeed, BJ's beers are so carefully representative of standard craft brews that an aspiring beer judge could do worse than taste through BJ's lineup, repeatedly, as a good way to learn to recognize beer styles.

BBC Tap Room brewer Dave Pierce knows a thing or two about craft brewing himself, having been a pioneer in the microbrewery and brewpub movement - in Louisville and nationally - for some 20 years.

We've recently checked out the beers and, as applicable, the goodies at both tap rooms.

Full reports in LEO and on LouisvilleHotBytes.

BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse
7900 Shelbyville Road
326-3850
National Website: http://www.bjsrestaurants.com
Robin Garr’s rating: Food: 78 points. Beer: 84 points

BBC Tap Room
636 E. Main St.
584-2739
http://www.bluegrassbrew.com
Robin Garr’s rating: Food: Unrated (no food service). Beer: 95 points

Has anyone tried the deep dish pizza at BJ's? I regularly crave a good Chicago-style deep dish pizza and was wondering if it is comparable. Windy City is on my to do list as well.

Mark,

I detailed my experience with their deep dish in another thread on the forum. I think even when cooked thoroughly it scores a FAIL when compared with chicago style pizza.

Even though BBC has no food service they will let you bring in outside food.
It's not uncommon to see an Oak St. Pizza delivered over there.

[Robin Garr]

Even though BBC has no food service they will let you bring in outside food.
It's not uncommon to see an Oak St. Pizza delivered over there.

Did you click through to read the full story, Matthew? I explain that in detail. Hey, "Beer is Food," right?

I think it was a fair review, though you must have gotten much better service than I did when I was there. Aside from a total lack of knowledge about their beer, which you documented well, they managed to mess up 3 of our 4 orders.

"Time did not permit, but I strongly recommend, adding the region’s third serious tap room to your list..."

Maybe I'm nomenclaturally challenged, but do Cumberland Brews and the other BBC locations not have tap rooms, or are they not serious? Just curious.

[Robin Garr]

"Time did not permit, but I strongly recommend, adding the region’s third serious tap room to your list..."

Maybe I'm nomenclaturally challenged, but do Cumberland Brews and the other BBC locations not have tap rooms, or are they not serious? Just curious.

That's a tough call, and to be honest, one that I thought about mre in the aftermath than when I wrote it. They are all certainly brewpubs, and I respect that. To me, however, a "tap room" is a more specific term, one that clearly fits BBC Tap and NABC, and in a somewhat faux manner, BJ's: They specialize in craft beers, and their primary function is to pour the company's own beer on draft. I can see a subtle difference here with Cumberland, BBC St. Matthews and others - they just don't have a "taproom" feel to me, even though they are definitely brewpubs. Bottom line, though, no slight was intended. I've positively reviewed BBC St. Matthews recently, and I love Comberland and will give them a little love before long.

I enjoyed the article and coincidentally discovered and read it after returning from a little tour of my own of BJ's, the BBC Taproom and Richo's in New Albany this afternoon. I suspect my dining partner will have more to say about his experience when time permits so I will keep my remarks brief. I enjoyed all three places in different ways and it was a great way to spend a Wednesday afternoon.

This line in the review struck me:

Four small hand-formed burgers, cooked well-done and sadly well past the juicy stage, were dressed with dabs of sautéed onions and smeared with store-bought ketchup and mustard, mounted on appetizing, tender and slightly sweet buns that remind me of Mom’s dinner rolls, accompanied with thick-sliced pickles, sliced plum tomatoes and chopped lettuce.

Doesn't every restaurant* in Louisville that uses ketchup, use store-bought ketchup?


* with the possible exception of Oakroom and 610.

[Robin Garr]

Doesn't every restaurant* in Louisville that uses ketchup, use store-bought ketchup?

* with the possible exception of Oakroom and 610.

Yeah, good point. I was trying to convey that it looked like they just squirted what looked like cheap grocery-store stuff right on the bun and that there was no Grey Poupon action going on here, but you're right, I could have said it better.

Doesn't every restaurant* in Louisville that uses ketchup, use store-bought ketchup?

* with the possible exception of Oakroom and 610.

Yeah, good point. I was trying to convey that it looked like they just squirted what looked like cheap grocery-store stuff right on the bun and that there was no Grey Poupon action going on here, but you're right, I could have said it better.

got it. makes sense.

Richard is being coy ... for it was I, the Publican, who accompanied him to BJ's yesterday afternoon. We had a good time, indeed, and he is to be commended for being the responsible one ... driving, that is.

I'll keep it brief. I had the "California Burger" and it was fine. The pizzas being served looked fine, too. I opted for the beer sampler and tasted nothing that veered away from the middle of the stylistic target; no flaws, but at the same time, nothing memorable that might urge me to rush back over and have another. All are clean and technically competent. As Robin (I believe) has already noted, the BJ's beers would be suitable calibration for their respective style categories.

We visited BBC Shelbyville Road, then BBC Main & Clay, and then ended back at Rich O's. At the original BBC, I had a Bitter. At Main & Clay, a soon-to-be-released (I think) Dunkel Weizen. At my own place, an NABC Mt Lee ("steam" beer). Adjusting for style, each had more character, more depth, and a discernable soul. The problem with BJ's beers is that there was no soul to any of them ... and, not unexpectedly, that's the trouble with chains in general. Idiosyncracies are what make masterpieces real, not "mass-productive" perfection. All that does is prove the proficiency of the assembly line. I see no reason why that should impress me.

I may still try to make the off-line on the 23rd if the schedule permits. I'd like to try the pizza.

Meanwhile, it's off to St. Louis for the Schlafly Repeal of Prohibition fest this Saturday. Huzzah!

"Time did not permit, but I strongly recommend, adding the region’s third serious tap room to your list..."

Maybe I'm nomenclaturally challenged, but do Cumberland Brews and the other BBC locations not have tap rooms, or are they not serious? Just curious.

We chose the term "Tap Room" to designate no-food like the breweries in Europe. The name usually means pack a picnic and come enjoy our beer. On my first trip to Germany I spent a long afternoon in the Mahr's Brewery Tap Room in Bamberg Germany with Roger Baylor. I noticed people carrying in food and Roger explained the concept to me. But true, in this country Tap Room IMHO can be a brewery, a multi-tap, brewpub, etc.

Thanks for the memories. It's such a glorious concept ... and reminds me of the beer gardens with the tables reserved for people eating food bought inside the garden, and others for those who brought their own.

On a related note, to me "brewhouse" should be used at a place where brewing is being done on premise. After all, a brewhouse is just that. I don;t appreciate the BJ's way of using the term. Is it really a "pizzeria" if all of the pizzas are arriving frozen from somewhere else (the central pizza kitchen?) and reheated?