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Friday Night Beer Blog: Self-Service Reboot Edition [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2023-10-27  

Greetings, beer lovers! Happy Friday, and once again (even though it’s been an age, not that anyone noticed), ‘tis chingchongchinaman as your guest FNBB blogger for tonight, with esquimaux taking another well-earned evening off from FNBB. The starting point for tonight’s FNBB is Tapped Social House, just outside the STL city limits, in Maplewood, as self the loser checked out the place for the first time recently, with colleagues from work, for happy hour. The idea behind Tapped Social House is that:

* You get a wristband with some sort of sensor that you tap (get it?) to a touch screen connected to various kegs of beer, in this case, about 40 different varieties.

* You can add as much or as little beer to your glass as you wish, and the exact amount that you fill is noted on the wristband in terms of ounces, with varying costs per different beer. You then pay at the end of the night for the total amount of beer that you’ve obtained over the course of the evening.

Being a loser, it took me six years to find the place, as the original version of the establishment, known then simply as Tapped, opened in 2017, as noted by George Mahe in St. Louis Magazine back in June 2017. An earlier St. Louis Magazine write-up, by Sarah Kloepple in April 2017, elaborated more on the concept, by the original owners, Lindsay Reel and her husband Ryan Reel:

“A few years ago, Lindsay visited the Wine Institute of New Orleans, where a self-pour setup was available for wines. The pair realized nothing like this was available in St. Louis.”

However, the original version lasted just shy of 5 years, per this May 2022 article in Sauce Magazine by Iain Shaw. Presumably the pandemic hurt business, to state the blindingly obvious inference. But fast forward just about another year, to two articles:

* Iain Shaw, Sauce Magazine, March 3, 2023

* Abby Wuellner, St. Louis Magazine, April 13, 2023

The new owner, Reggie Trankle, did tweak a few of the non-beer taps to feature cocktails, besides wines in the remaining taps, along with the selection of 40 beers. Another change to the business model from the previous owners is as follows:

“Tapped Social House won’t feature the Charity of the Week model that its predecessor followed, where all tips were donated to a different charity each week. Under the new restaurant’s business model, tips will supplement employee wages, but Trankle said he is keen to work with charities to help them host events or raise funds in other ways.”

It only occurred to me later, indulging my slightly cynical side, that having the self-service taps obviated the need for bartenders, and thus required smaller staff, and thus reduced expenses. The explanation from the 2017 article by Kloepple gave this reasoning from Ryan Reel:

"It's all about developing that social atmosphere. We wanted to cut down on the floor staff because of all the movement going on in the restaurant. We wanted to leave more space for the actual customers."

That there certainly was, much space, as our party had arrived at a bit of a slow time, on a weekday. Things did pick up later. And, to think about it again, the computer maintenance to keep the taps active and working is its own expense. No free lunch (or beer), after all.

Of course, everyone here is asking by now, if not earlier: “OK, loser 3CM, where’s the good stuff? Where’s the beer info?” Well, a link to Tapped’s current, or at least reasonably current, offerings is here. Going by my general philosophy of trying out different beers that I haven’t had before (or at least don’t remember having), I sampled about 26 of the 40 selections. I avoided the obvious mass-market names on the list, as well as one subset for nominally political reasons (even though those beers might well be good in of themselves, their owner aside). Using ~2 ounces per sample as a close-enough estimate, that’s 52 ounces, or a bit over 3 full beers. As Trankle noted in the April 2023 article by Wuellner:

“You can sample many beers affordably, and you’re not stuck trying pints that you may not like."

So even if Missouri is well behind the country in too many things, not to mention self the loser’s general slowness in finding this place, better late than never, to check this place out.

Tonight didn’t feature a return to Tapped for more, or to see if anything has changed since the last visit. Instead, tonight’s featured beer chez 3CM is a Divided Sky Rye IPA, from 4Hands Brewing Company, another STL-based craft beer outfit. This is a very fine, hearty IPA that goes well with dinner, where I didn’t notice any overt “rye”-like feel (i.e. rye bread), simply a really good, solid dinner beer.

With that, time to turn it over to you folks. What brew or other beverage are you imbibing tonight? Anyone brewing their own? Any tales from elsewhere of comparable establishments like Tapped Social House? Inquiring minds, etc..

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