Frequenting the Alibi Room
Monday, April 13th, 2009 | Beer
I’ve never really had a frequent haunt, the kind of place that I could walk to and visit frequently. The closest thing to a local watering hole I have is Big Ridge in Surrey, which is a fifteen minute drive for me. Granted, there is Dublin Crossing, a fun fake Irish pub within walking distance, but it isn’t a place I want to latch onto.
Lately, I’ve found myself going to the Alibi Room almost once a week. I am lucky (or unlucky, depending on your impressions of the neighbourhood) to work only a block away, making it quite a convenient place for a pint after work. Even if the Alibi Room wasn’t so conveniently located for me, I would still make an effort to get there once in a while. They have the best beer selection in the lower mainland and are the only place you can get many of the local craft beers they serve. They have 19 rotating taps as well as three beer machines pumping out cask conditioned ales, which also change on a weekly basis. Notwithstanding, their food is very good and reasonably priced.
The great Alibi Room beer menu, updated weekly
The Alibi Room is really the one stop shop for beer in the entire Metro Vancouver area. It saddens me that there are no similar places. Why I wonder, do none exist when the Alibi Room’s success (it is always busy) clearly indicates an existing demand? Maybe Erik and I should open up a place of our own?
Cheers,
Chris
6 Comments to Frequenting the Alibi Room
I would venture that the reason why there are so very few other places like the Alibi Room is that the majority of pub owners don’t want to work as hard as Nigel. They will take the macrobrewery incentives to carry their swill, which the majority of people guzzle, and they will profit handsomely from it. So why break a sweat?
It’s the same reason we don’t have many Brewery Creeks. When it comes to business, people here aren’t willing to take a lot of risk; they follow trends.
That is a good point. I would have thought not knowing any better or a lack of people demanding quality might be the key reasons, but I think you are onto something.
Most pubs exist to turn a profit – and as it turns out, serving cheap beer is the fastest way to please most customers, this makes for a simple and profitable business. However, as the popularity of cask ales and quality craft beer increases, pub owners and entrepreneurs will begin to see a new business opportunity and will hopefully start to expand their beer offering and launch new ventures.
I imagine that entrepreneurs and pub owners will begin to get a little more exited about launching beer focused establishments once cask ale is proven to be a trend and not a fad. The speed at which a cask is emptied at The Whip on Sundays or DIX on Thursdays is a great indicator to the business community that quality beer is not a fad in Vancouver. There are many other great indicators that show cask ale is not a fad, hopefully soon pub owners and restaurateurs will open their eyes to this great new business opportunity.
If any of you have access to interest free, risk free capital I am all in for bringing cask ale to the Fraser Valley.
I am down for the interest free loan that has no strings attached. We would have the best bar ever.
Bringing a truly good pub to the Fraser Valley would be awesome! I too live a walk to Dublin Crossing, but would rather drive to say Big Ridge or elsewhere to enjoy some great brew. Just found the blog and am loving it, keep up the great work.
Cheers Brian, glad you like the blog. We’ll see what we can do about that pub, but don’t hold your breath because it might take us a few years!
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April 15, 2009