Has a bar you ever really like closed
and reopened as a different kind of bar? Did you secretly hope that you would hate the new bar. More importantly did it skew your
perspective of this bar to like it less? This week a brewery asked
me to try their new beer and return to the location of one of
favorite, but now deceased, bars. Bar #41 is the recently
resurrected McGinty's Pub.
First impressions: 1. Damn it, this
place looks really nice. 2. They have a lot of beer on tap. 3.
There are no females here. 4. This place looks like a bizarro
version of the Church Bar.
First, the place is a nice mixture of
classy and pub. There are leather couches, vintage light bulbs, a
black fabric pool table and everything else is pretty nice as well.
They've added a new row of taps giving
everyone a ridiculous amount of options. The 24 taps are separated
into groups of four including fruit beers, (at least four) IPAs,
eight Irish pub staples, four staples that for the most part don’t
change and the last four are always revolving. The general manager
Trent is still figuring out what he customers like, so the list will
keep getting better with age. If you come visit in the coming months
you'll be able to help craft which craft beers the pub will carry.
Recently a new brewery out of Elyria by
the name of Franklin Brewing Company contacted me on Facebook. We
have been posting back and forth. They have quickly found an initial
bar in Lakewood to carry their new brew. They also quickly found a
technology company to help them give people their new beer, Richard's
Pale Ale, for free. I partook of this opportunity only 1 week later
than I had planned, luckily they brought in another keg full of
potentially free beer. I was horrified that I would hate their beer.
If it sucked, I couldn't review differently. As much as I try to
give bars a good spin, I try to be as honest as possible. It turns
out, I did like it. I would have happily paid money for Franklin
Brewing Company's Richard's Pale Ale. It's got a nice color to it
and not too much or to little head. Richard's is a bit bitter but
good to most people that like pale ales. It's also fairly light and
very drinkable, a good summer choice. Franklin Brewing Company even makes its taps in its brewery.
Two weeks ago, my wife and I were
watching the History channel. A commercial for New Castle's new
Bombshell repeatedly came on talking us into wanting one. I gave
Johnny the mission to find them for a camp fire we were having that
night. After calling to the local stores he was basically told that
he was making stuff up. It turns out McGinty's Pub carries it. I of
course had to try this mysterious beer. It has an interesting mix of
flavor that appears to include butterscotch, honey, and almonds.
This allows it to be a better than average golden ale that keeps you
interested the entire glass but is light enough to allow for mass
consumption.
During the first hour of our stay in
McGinty's, the bar was full but women wouldn't show up till the
Indians game was most of the way over. The bar is age range is
basically 21-91 but mostly under 35. I'm not good at figuring out
peoples ages unless I simply take a poll of everyone. That's why I
usually don't bring it up but will probably add it in for the rest
later on.
The reference to bizarro Church Bar is
that a lot of the bar is the same but painted dark green. This includes the bar, 2/3rds of the taps, seating, fireplace except there
isn't a green Mr. T. That being said why would they get rid of all
the really nice furniture that was already there. It's a nice
looking comfortable bar, I want to go there and sit in their second
room and pretend it's my living room.
Here's quick story of McGinty's.
Around the turn of the millennia Mr. McGinty and his two sons opened
the bar. A couple years later the father wanted out and the sons were
busy with their own cool stuff. Some new people took over and kept
the name. In 2005, the owner of the Harry Buffalo bars bought it and
turned it into the Church Bar. The Church Bar did well but not Harry
Buffalo well. The Church Bar's owners approached Pat McGinty
(original owner and owner of Plank Road Tavern.) He and 3 others
bought it back and reopened McGinty's Pub.
McGinty's Pub has a great looking,
comfortable environment with a friendly staff and a lot of good beer
on staff. Trent the general manager is putting a lot of thought into
the beer selection and it shows. I didn't want to like this bar but
now I'm already looking forward to going back again soon. If you've
ever asked why does Lakewood need another Irish bar, go to bar #41
and you'll see it's because McGinty's Pub (2.0) wasn't there yet.
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| The new bartender's first professional pour ever! |
13751 Madison Ave.
216-712-7077
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