Bartender of the Week

This week's featured barman is Grumpy's Pub co-owner David Fenstermaker. After working for five years at the previous bar to occupy the location, the Century Irish Pub, Dave and a group of friends decided to try their hands at running the place. They bought out the previous owner and rechristened the bar Grumpy's, but getting started wasn't as simple as changing the coasters.

“When we bought this place, the only thing holding it up was habit,” Dave says. “This place was plagued by problems.”

A major issue was the frequent noise complaints made by the neighbors. Dave set about fixing that by adding sound-dampening insulation to the walls, lowering the volume of his musical acts, and talking to the neighbors to reach an understanding.

He also remodeled the bar's interior, adding pool tables, dart boards, and other forms of entertainment.

“We try to make it a fun place to be,” he says. “You can come in and not spend a lot of money.”

One feature Dave is particularly proud of his draft tables, which are just what they sound like: tables with working taps, where drinkers can draw their own beers. Dave says there are currently three such tables in the commonwealth, two of which are at Grumpy's.

But if your drink is Guinness, you'll want to order at the bar. Dave takes great pride in the fact that Grumpy's is one of the few places still serving it the traditional way. Of course Dave always pours one off before serving the first, but Grumpy's also stores its Guinness at room temperature, and keeps its lines short and clean.

Probably the biggest point of pride at Grumpy's is the seemingly endless parade of top-tier musical acts it hosts. In order to find good local bands, Dave relies on recommendations from staff and from the bands themselves, as well as getting out to see shows in other venues as often as he can.

Grumpy's hosts an eclectic mix of sounds, with the only common denominator being quality. On any given night, Dave says, “It may not be you cup of tea, but you will not see a bad band in this bar.”

That insistence on good music, along with the bar's general atmosphere, make Grumpy's one of the few truly local establishments in an industry and a community usually tied to the summer trade. Dave says his clientele is a mixture of working-class people, students and staff from WHOI and MBL, and a general assortment of residents of the Falmouth area. On any given night, he estimates the average age at 40, but says that can veer wildly, dipping as low as 22, or rising as high as 60, depending on the band.

“We're probably the only bar in town that's busier in the off-season,” he says, not without a certain amount of satisfaction. “It's like Grumpy's. Everything's backwards here.”