National Culinary Review

The glass-enclosed keg room is the pulse of the Yard House operation, housing as much as 5,000 gallons of beer at a time.

“The wrong glass and how the glass is treated can definitely detract from the enjoyment of a fine beer. At Sam Adams, we created a beer glass specifically designed to show off the flavors and aromas of our Boston Lager,” Wood says.

glasses), tulip glasses, mugs and goblets. “There are all sorts of shapes and sizes to choose from,” Wood adds.

There also are deep, v-shaped pilsner
glasses, nonic pints (bulged conical
Finally, now that your draft program is in
place, sell it. Customers want to know what’s
available, and they don’t want to have to stand
on their heads trying to read the handles at
the bar to do it. Make a list, either printed or
on a chalkboard, and keep it up-to-date.

•;The;Brewmaster’s;Table: Discovering;the;Pleasures;of;Real Beer;with;Real;Food;(Ecco, 2003), by Garrett Oliver, brewmaster, The Brooklyn Brewery, Brooklyn, N. Y., is a resource for food and beer pairing.

• www.beeradvocate/com, a grassroots network and magazine dedicated to promoting beer, includes a detailed, lengthy list of beer styles, examples, reviews, alcohol content, food pairings and cellaring potential.

• www.draughtquality.org/w/ page/18182201/FrontPage is an all-inclusive manual for draft beer operations, including technical and nontechnical subjects available in précis form and to download. Produced by the Brewers Association, Boulder, Colo.

• www.craftbeer.com is a website published by the Brewers Association with a variety of material on craft beers.

The Yard House has an 18-category list, ranging from House Brews and Pale Ales to Strong Ales. Each category has a brief description to enable customers to make their choices. “It’s a steppingstone approach,” Snider says.

Make sure your servers know the list as well as they know your menu. Suggest that they encourage guests to try new beers and offer pairing suggestions for them.