Neighborhood bars are wonderful things. Neighborhood bars that have the potential for delivering decent beer are exciting things. So, when I first heard about The Packard Taphouse my interest was piqued for two reasons. Firstly, I can quite easily walk here from my home. Yes, WALK! A concept mostly lost on most of the residents of the USA, but one that is spectacularly important when it comes to going out for a drink. Secondly, a bar with name that includes the word “Taphouse” is clearly one that demands my attention, at least initially.
I visited around 4 PM on a Thursday afternoon, just about a week after the place had officially opened. There was a few people in, probably at this stage much like myself, just curiously checking things out.
Firstly the basics. They do indeed have 20 taps, 19 of which were pouring on my visit. The tap list is (currently) local-centric, with eleven of the beers pouring made in Fort Wayne. I’m infinitely less interested in local than I am interested in good, but if the two happen to intersect then great, but local is not a draw for me per se. I went for things that I know well, Todd Stone’s Märzen, and also his stout, Starlight. The latter is such a good beer, and it will be sadly missed in the wake of Junk Ditch’s imminent demise.
There is no kitchen at TPT so it’s a question of bringing your own or ordering in, both of which are encouraged. They are offering some free nibbles in the form of pretzels and the like.
For the majority the time I was there I was talking with the bar manager, Mary. This wasn’t the kind of formal interview that I have conducted in the past with Fort Wayne beer folk, nor was I taking any notes, so what follows is a haphazard collection of thoughts about what I learned.
It appears as though Mary will be an important person in terms of my relationship with TPT. I got the distinct impression that she will be largely in charge of deciding what beer will be available, and by the same token she’ll be the person who will either make or break my patronage. It’s incredibly hard to please me in the context of running a commercial enterprise in the North East Indiana bar scene, that much I know. I also know nobody is looking to appease me. I fully understand that businesses have to make money in order to survive, and therefore they need to offer products that the local clientele wants. It’s rare that there’s much crossover between my beer needs and local needs, so I’m on an island a lot. Nothing new here. It’s also true that my beer tastes rarely coincide with a person of Mary’s age (she’s approx. 25 years younger than me). As such, things aren’t looking great for me on a couple of fronts, but encouragingly there were several parts of our conversation that gave me cause for some optimism. Without going into great detail, Mary told me that she had brewed at The Landing Beer Co. here in Fort Wayne, has experience in the beer scene in DC, and in addition to that all of the following words/phrases came out of her mouth at some point during my time sitting at the bar; “cask”, “beer engine”, “Chimay”, “Weinhenstephaner”, “Allagash”, “Mild”, and “clean lines”! Again, the detail of some of this doesn’t matter yet, but maybe it will in the future – I truly hope that it does.
An important note about the interior of TPT. The decor is well … deliberate. There was clearly a conscious decision to craft the ambience and surroundings on the inside in such a way as to marry with the building on the outside. The building long pre-dates both the art-deco and mid-century modern architectural eras, but to me it has a real feel of both about it. From an architectural point of view I have no idea if that’s even possible in a single building, or if it can be true of building that dates from a period prior to both eras, but that’s the vibe I get.
The owners clearly wanted to take those style elements from the outside, and run with them inside. To the untrained eye (mine) they’ve done a pretty authentic job in creating a certain feel, and one can appreciate the effort and thought that has gone into it. However, for me there are a couple of issues. Personally, I don’t care for the style much. Now, nobody cares about what I think, and I know that you’ll all make up your own minds, but the second observation might mean a bit more to people in general. It seems like a really odd style choice for a bar. They’ve done such a good job inside of capturing that vibe, that it feels a bit like you’re drinking in your Grandmother’s kitchen in 1953 with plenty of tubular stainless steel chair legs, or a corporate boardroom from 1959 with the wooden paneling, or a diner from the same era with unique bar and associated seating.
Now I have some nostalgic memories of some of those things, but it’s kinda the opposite of what I want in the interior of a bar. It’s quite stark & cold, and it feels like there’s a lot of formica around (I don’t know if there’s any formica in the building or not, but it has that distinct vibe to me). It doesn’t feel very “comfortable” or inviting to me. Of course, I suppose since this is mostly personal taste it doesn’t matter at all, but I wonder if the second part of my thoughts on the interior design might play a role for some – I’d love to hear what you think.
Anyway, TPT will be in learning mode for a few weeks at least, likely much, much longer than that, but that’s to be expected. It’s entirely appropriate to cut them some slack at the beginning of their journey, and I hope that they get the beer right. If that happens, I’ll be happy to “walk up the road to Grandma’s kitchen” to enjoy a rare gem.
