Helping You Find the 'Chef's Specials' of What's on Tap

Come along with me on this scene:

You are tired from a long day/week when you get home from work. You have resisted the siren song of your couch, singing to you to crash on the cushions and end your night’s journey before it began. You have made it out and you are at the bar.

You order your adult beverage of choice.  

The same reliable drink you get when watching a ballgame, at a barbecue, a concert or just your reward for helping a buddy move. It has almost become a Pavlovian response for you whenever you are asked the glorious phrase "What can I get for you?" by a bartender to blurt out this drink, and tonight is no different.

As you finish and place the empty glass on the bar, you see it. You may have gazed past it a few times already tonight, without even noticing, but this time it catches your sights and you are intrigued. Others may not notice it or it may not have the same effect on them, but it has got you right where it wants you.

Curious. Adventurous. Thirsty-us. (Sorry, I got lost in the pattern) At first you might resist its advances. This courtship might take hours, even days, but it also can happen so fast that you know what you have to do instantly. So you give in. You know the risks but dream of the rewards and you have made your move.  

This encounter could be something you tell your kids about someday, or it might leave you with a foul taste in your mouth.

I do not come to you with a generic tale of romance sparked by an encounter at the bar, not another boy meets girl story: I am talking about the night you saw that shiny new tap handle behind the bar of a beer you have never tried.

The night you expanded your Miller Lite-shaped horizons and took a leap into the unknown. 

For me, seeking out something new to drink rarely is the primary goal for going out to the bar.  I frequent the local watering holes for the company of friends and people who might just become new friends, I go out for the atmosphere and the buzz in the air of people looking for a good time and a distraction from their everyday responsibilities. 

Let’s face facts though; The Bar is the chosen location to find these things in large part because of the alcohol. So while experiencing these things, why not enjoy a beverage that took some craftsmanship and expertise to create? 

There is nothing wrong with the Mega-Brews of the world, as I like to call them.  Miller, Budweiser, Coors and the like all have carved their place into the drinking worlds psyche with good reason.  They are the chicken parmesan on the Italian restaurant menu.  The old standbys that are so popular and ever present wherever you go because you know what you are getting and there is no risk involved. 

I enjoy a good chicken parm or a Miller Lite as much as the next guy, but I am infinitely more intrigued ordering a Chef’s Special than I am ordering off of the back page of the printed menu. 

With this column, I am touring the Bars of Toms River and looking for what each bar has to offer that is off the beaten path of booze. 

No one needs to tell you if the bar in question offers Budweiser, it is a pretty safe bet that the Mega-Brews are well represented anywhere you might go.  I am going to scout out the bars selection of smaller, lesser known specialty beers and give you my choice selections for what the Bar offers.

Perhaps I will even break some of you, my fine drinking partners, away from the Chicken Parm Factory beers, and shine a light on some brewing art.

The column is A Man Walks into a Bar and you can find it here regularly on Toms River Patch. Stay tuned tomorrow afternoon for the first selection.