Cave Creek Tap Haus now open

RB folks, there’s a new place worth trying if you’re in the Cave Creek area.

http://www.ratebeer.com/Places/ShowPlace.asp?PlaceID=23913

It’s a quasi-beer bar that has a couple beers of their own (very poor, in my opinion - a wheat and a blonde so far). 60 taps, though 10 are duplicates. Several are faux craft like Blue Moon. They had more than 6=7 IPA’s, so that was impressive for a change. Poor representation of German styles though.

Ordering a large beer gets you a weissbier glass, no matter what the style of beer is (and this is very annoying).

Atmosphere is a large, open room with live music on some evenings. Demographic is an odd mixture of old money Carefree/Cave Creek residents, cowboy types, and bikers in black leather. I suspect this was an old biker place previously, and by habit they just come here now that it’s a new place. All of them were drinking bottles of Ultra or Bud Light, and not having one of the 7 IPA’s available. Oh well.

Place has potential, since there’s virtually no good tap handle selections this far north in the valley.

Food is steak/chicken/fish focused, basically American, with a long list of fried apps including things like fried macaroni & cheese. They claim an Eastern European focus on food but I didn’t see it that much.

The last incarnation was Hammerhead Jacks a Cajun/Beach/Party restaurant that never really got off the ground. The new owners also own the Hideaway just down the street, which may be the best biker bar in the state, if not the country. These guys want to succeed in the craft market, but also realize that, being located where they are, can’t cater exclusively to the craft crowd. Their house beers are made by Old World.



Not much in the way of a German beer market in this state, so no surprise about the lack of German beers. However they do carry Krombacher Pils which is the best selling pils in Germany.



I think they will be okay and certainly worthy of checking out.

They’re my closest place so I hope they survive, though I’d love some changes of course.

I hope they don’t have "BMC tap creep" where the faux craft and/or overt BMC names slowly takeover the taps. Honestly I saw more people in leather drinking an Ultra or similar than people with draft beers - and among those I was hearing the Blue Moon request quite a bit.

I just can’t get over the idea of being served something like a Guinness in a Weissbier glass. To me that’s like a wine bar serving Champagne in a Riedel Bordeaux glass. You can roll your eyes but pardon the airport lounge for doing this, but not at a self-proclaimed craft beer bar.

Thanks for the Old World info.