If you've been to a Scotty's before, you probably know the drill. Plentiful beer selection, polished sports bar feel and slightly upscale bar food. The plaza out front is currently under construction to allow for outdoor seating and a stage area with weekly live music during the summer. Everyone agreed that this place is going to do great business later this year as the only downtown nightlife venue with a large outdoor seating capacity besides the Rathskeller. Downtown needs more restaurants and bars that make you actually feel like things are going on late at night. Plus I'm crossing my fingers that this provokes the Dunkin' Donuts to be open 24-hours.
The decor was welcoming, with a classy sports bar feel. TVs in each of the booths were a nice touch in case you want to watch professional curling, dancing with the stars or something else that everyone at the bar is going to yell at you for changing the channel to. We also hear there are TVs in the restrooms. Nice. By far my favorite piece of decor was the antler chandelier.
So now that I've covered the general restaurant info, let's get to the beer. The tap list sits at 30 beers with a few Guinness combinations rounding out the draft menu. The bottle list has about the same number of options, but unlike the draft list, is mostly dominated with yellow fizzy beers. We were happy to see crowd favorites like Brugge Tripel, Rogue Dead Guy, Barley Island Barfly, Three Floyds Gumballhead, Dogfish Head 60 Minute and Bell's Two Hearted on the menu. The words "bud" "miller" and "coors" only occur once each on the draft list and that's a pretty big step forward by itself.
I'm going to go ahead and broach the subject of beer prices as well. I don't like that it is common bar practice to hide the prices of beer and liquor. When a waiter hands you a wine list, it has prices. Why do I have to guess at how much beer is? I rant about this here only because Scotty's is doing exactly what I like to see. They have prices clearly printed for 16oz, 23oz and pitchers. The prices are fairly average, even a touch cheaper than many other downtown locations. If you're curious what that means, here's the draft list and here's the bottle list.
They have a mug club program available for an entry fee of $10 which allows you to drink out of a 24oz clay stein. I can't remember what all the perks are, but I do remember they fill it with any micro for $5 on Thursdays. They also have a Wednesday pitcher special for $7 which I believe is unrelated to the mug club. This place is going to sell more Tripel de Ripple than the Brasserie.
Scotty's opens on Monday with 50 cent wings. We recommend the mini corndogs and Kelly would kill me if I didn't push the school tray lunch thing. She has a weird obsession with elementary school lunches.
Will Scotty's be family friendly or will they be 18 and over?
ReplyDeleteI'm looking at the taps and thinking "well, most those choices are understandable..."
ReplyDeleteBut I want to know how someone gets hooked on Amstel Light.
I believe it's all ages (we saw a kids menu), I wouldn't think it would be any different at this location from the others. I'm happy it's non-smoking inside.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Amstel - not only can you get it on tap for $4.75, you can get it in the can for $4.25! They do have can specials from what I remember, I just wish they had can specials of Oskar Blues and not Tecate. :(
Amstel Light is where Bud Light drinkers and Heineken drinkers collide. Sometimes you want the class and sophistication of drinking an imported beer, but you just love the crisp, clean taste of a light beer. The kind of beer that provides bold, imported flavor but won't fill you up.
ReplyDeleteYeah I'm just kidding, Amstel Light drinkers are drinking that beer for all the wrong reasons. Not that I really comprehend the popularity of Heineken either.
My buddy's birthday is Monday, so we will be there. Add in the fact that the preggy wife and future twins can go (no smoking) and that they are kicking it off with wing night, and I couldn't be a happier boy. I'm signing up for a mug.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I'm just simple, but what's the location for this new Scotty's?
ReplyDeleteTD - the new Scotty's fronts Pennsylvania between Washington and Maryland. It's right across from Andrus O'Reilly's and Coaches, if you know where those are. The outdoor seating area will extend into the point where Pennsylvania and Virginia intersect, right across Virginia from Fogo de Chao.
ReplyDeleteI'm almost certainly going on Monday. And I'm definitely going to get in on the Mug Club.
CorrND - thanks for the info. I drive by there nearly every night on the way home from work. Sweet location, will definitely check it out.
ReplyDeleteBased on the HBG post the missus and I went up to the northside Scotty's. We had a Gumball Head and a Hoegarden between us. I ordered a second beer, Stone Pale Ale but was informed that they no longer had it on draft but did have it in the bottle. Bummer, I passed.
ReplyDeleteThe food was pretty mediocre. The missus had a chicken sandwich that was all salt. Hopefully this was an aberration. Good food is important to keep people coming back almost as much as the good beer. The beer was served properly and there were no taints from dirty tap lines. That is a plus for sure.
Wow, that beer list is much better than I was expecting. This should be a winner. Can't wait still summer to enjoy the beer garden.
ReplyDeleteHopefully they used better sound attenuation materials in the downtown location compared to the Fishers location; I don't particularly enjoy screaming children or having to scream at my party to be heard. I quit going to Scotty's in Fishers because of that reason, that and The Ale Emporium has a better beer list & better atmosphere. However, since I live downtown, I'll give Scotty's another chance...can't beat outside seating in the summer!
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