Bar #? World of Beer (Deceased)

Logo by World of Beer

One rule I've tried to follow for this blog is that the official revues for the bars aren't during special events. This includes, fill-in-the-blank crawls, holidays and specialty parties. I don't want to give a bar any extra help or detriment that can come with having crazy crowds, extra staff or specialty foods. Mass produced food and plastered people hopping in for 10 minutes don't always make a bar seem better. So, this week World of Beer is not bar #31.

Radeeka Lou, "I feel like a bug floating helplessly towards a bug zapper."

I got a Facebook message a couple days ago from the general manager, Shawn Freeman, of World of Beer Lakewood offering me tickets to his big opening. Of course, I was thrilled and decided to bring my beer blogger buddy Johnny to come.  This was primarily because he's been talking about WoB for the last 6 months. Our night started with lots of waiting in the rain. First he showed up early and I showed up late. Luckily for him, they let him in. Unluckily for me he didn't tell me.  I then waited out in the rain, while he couldn't hear his phone ring.

Once I finally entered the bar it was a picture drinking perfection. The bar was crowded but not enough for anybody to feel uncomfortable and I was able to quickly get a seat at the bar. All the seating was comfortable. The band, Erica Blinn, sounded good. There were TVs set so that you could see them wherever you were at, even if you were in the band.

There were two giant coolers loaded with 500 different types of bottled beer:  one for domestic and one for imported.  They were separated by 50 draft taps. I picked my first beer because I liked how the tap looked. It turned out to be Revolution Brewing's Bottom Up Wit. It was probably the best wheat beer I've had. It had enough bitter taste to let you know that it's a wheat and there was a slight taste of lemon to make it very drinkable. I got a sample shot to give it a test drive then bought the full class.

Shawn Freeman came by a couple times during the night to see how it was going. He even waited on customers on occasion. It wasn't needed, as they had a huge staff preventing almost any wait for service. The service was always excellent both prompt and knowledgable.

When the next band, Rob Duskey and the Rounders, came on they gave me a shout out. It turns out he is a big fan of the blog. Luckily, he was pretty good, so that I can tell you all to go check him out next time he's playing.

I went with three beer shots next. Johnny told me I needed to try New Holland's Dragon's Milk, an over all great stout for anyone that likes them. I also picked whichever random draft was five drafts to the left and the right. Otter Creek's Russian Imperial Stout and Oskar Blues' G'Night were both good enough beers that at around 10% alcohol. 

It was around now that both my wife's (Kelly) friend Caroline and I got texts from Kelly telling us we were both at the World of Beer. We then noticed that Johnny was sitting in between us.

World of Beer does not have a kitchen but it does have a menu full of menus of other restaurants that will deliver to the bar.

I finished off my evening with a Magners Irish Cider because I needed something that was the opposite of what I had just drank. If you like ciders you'll like this.

I got to meet the bands at the end of the night while I was talking to another of Every Bar in Lakewood's big fans, Thor Platter. They'll all be playing at the Brother's Lounge in a couple weeks.

Unlike my previous encounters with the the chain bars of Lakewood World of Beer was able to prove good customer service isn't just for the locally owned bars. They have a huge beer selection and supply. I was very happy with the service and really had nothing to complain about. However, this was a private opening night where they knew almost the exact number of customers they would have and the maximum amount of time they could be there. I'll give them a little time to make sure that they always have enough staff to keep up on their larger crowds and that they keep their beers in stock. I look forward to watching the World of Beer impress me again.

Read the official blog for WoB, Bar #42 here: http://everybarinlakewood.blogspot.com/2013/06/bar-42-world-of-beer.html

14701 Detroit Ave.

lakewood@wobusa.com

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Erica Blinn