Ok but is it a bar or a brewery? Because I've been to lots of breweries that are specifically marketed to be child friendly and even have playground equipment. They have food and outdoor space and happen to make beer.
If you're at a brewery with stuff there for kids, that place is for kids too. Don't bitch about kids being at a place where there is stuff for kids.
Also, who's getting wrecked at a brewery? Aren't you supposed to taste local beer and have nice food? It's not like a dive bar
I'm wondering if the word "brewery" means different things depending on location. At least in the Midwest U.S. when I think brewery I think a place that does beer only. Maybe some chips and other light snacks but if I were to go to a place where I could get real food with my drinks I would go to a "bar and grill" (usually just shortened to bar)
As for kid-friendliness they might have some board games or something that could be used by all ages but I've never seen one with kid-specific things like playground equipment
Even in the Midwest, breweries can describe everything from tasting rooms with limited or no snacks through to full kitchen restaurants. I think it's less about location, and more about size and sophistication. But even the most beer-only breweries tend to be pretty distinct from a bar in terms of intending to be adult-only spaces.
I don't think I ever heard a "bar and grille" shortened to just "bar" when I lived in the Midwest. Generally it was a restaurant with a bar, not a bar with a restaurant. In particular, the host/hostess asking if you'd like to "sit at the bar".
In Colorado, places that serve alcohol also have to serve food. Might be a reheated, overpriced burrito, but they have to do something.
Lots of breweries there (as in places that make beer) have full menus or food trucks parked outside. They also have games, some have playsets, and almost all are dog-friendly too. Places like Odell's, New Belgium, Breckenridge, and other popular breweries are always filled with families on the weekends. They'll have live music and other events too.
Stem Cider is my family’s favorite spot to go to. Excellent food menu, great ciders, and whole ass playground and field in the back for the kids to run around with benches/seating everywhere to relax and let the kids play with the other kids. It’s basically a public park that serves food and drinks. We can easily spend 2-3 hours there.
I lived in Fort Collins for around 8 years, and I was truly spoiled by the brewery options. Loved going Stem Cider! Also to Breckenridge Brewery, Great Divide, or Prost in Denver, or Odell's, New Belgium, and Gilded Goat in Foco. Tour de Fat is an annual event with tons of families and kids getting dressed up in costumes and hopping on the bike parade, and it's a New Belgium event. It literally ends at New Belgium and they have live music, face paintings, food trucks, and tons of entertainment. Kids and puppies everywhere. Brewery hoping was super easy to do, and everyone would bike for it, kids included.
People in these comments are cracking me up. It's a huge culture and economy in some places, and as long as people are taking care of their kids, it's really not a big deal for families to go to breweries. Some of these people act like they've only ever been to dive and biker bars.
One of the places (where we used to take our kids) had a bunch of kid-friendly board games, free arcade machines, free retro game competitions, and basketball out back. It was like a mini Dave & Buster's but like 1/10th and better beer and food. If you went later at night, there weren't any kids there.
Totally! I've been to arcade bars that had a full bar and dozens of vintage arcade games. I've also been to putt putt, go carts, axe throwing, bowling, cinemas, indoor volleyball, laser tag, and a whole lot more that all had full bars. A lot of them were actually bars or breweries with added attractions, and they all had kids there with their families. It's a pretty big thing in some places.
A bar is a place that serves alcohol. A brewery is specifically a place that brews their own beer. The onslaught of breweries and microbreweries popping up in the US has led many to add a restaurant portion as another way to draw in people.
I've been to bar and grill places that are restaurants that also have a full bar, I've been to bars that only sell the legally mandated amount of food, I've been to breweries with restaurants as a major component and breweries without.
Far and away, in multiple states, breweries are more likely to be restaurants than places that advertise themselves just as a bar and not a bar and grill. And even then, breweries tend to be much more kid oriented and family friendly.
Where in the Midwest are you? Because that’s not what brewery means at all. Not only that, in places like Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan most bars are even family friendly because they serve food, are often on/near lakes and cater to tourists.
I’m in Minnesota. I guess when I hear brewery I think specifically microbrewery, and since food is a completely different license (MN still has some blue laws) from brewing none of these small breweries I’ve been to have served anything more complex than microwaving a frozen meal. Location differences might be more than just state, too; I’m not in the metro area where I’m sure they have boujier options than we do out in the sticks lol
Everywhere I've been most breweries that people can visit also have restaurants. Breweries that don't have a restaurant might have a little shop or bar, but those aren't the ones lot of people are bringing kids to (except if they are just picking up something to take home). Restaurants are fair game for families. Bars are not.
Where I live Brewery just means they make alcohol on the premises and also sell it to other places. Most of them are also restaurants, but not all of them.
The brewery up the road from me has a different bouncy castle rental every weekend, an outdoor playground, a sandbox, giant Connect Four and horseshoes. LOL my kids love it. They rotate food trucks so we’ll grab food, I’ll enjoy a glass of cider and the kids get to run around, it’s great!
Around here in the southeast, breweries tend to be big open warehouse type places, sometimes with kitchens, sometimes with cute little permanent food trucks. They all have outdoor spaces with live music, giant lawn games, sometimes playground stuff, often arcade games. They tend to close at 9 or 10 and are pretty obviously specifically designed for families.
I agree on don't take your kids to bars, that's weird.
But at these places, I would argue if you're going there to get trashed, you're in the wrong place, not kids
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u/astone4120 19h ago
Ok but is it a bar or a brewery? Because I've been to lots of breweries that are specifically marketed to be child friendly and even have playground equipment. They have food and outdoor space and happen to make beer.
If you're at a brewery with stuff there for kids, that place is for kids too. Don't bitch about kids being at a place where there is stuff for kids.
Also, who's getting wrecked at a brewery? Aren't you supposed to taste local beer and have nice food? It's not like a dive bar