Anaheim House of Blues gets on the craft brew bandwagon

The House of Blues in Anaheim, Downtown Disney’s concert venue, has turned to craft beer taps and a variety of craft beer bottles, as an alternative to the typical light lagers found at most music sites.

As craft beer’s popularity continues to expand, more people are asking for craft options at places that have long been bastions of beer’s status quo, and Anaheim’s House of Blues is giving concertgoers the choices they are asking for with a new craft beer program featuring local breweries, hand-picked bottles, and even beer cocktails.

In addition to three rotating craft taps, including one handle dedicated to local OC favorite Bootleggers Brewery, Thomas Towning, HOB’s director of restaurant operations, has added a fridge dedicated to craft beer to the venue’s Crossroads restaurant. The bottle list features well over a dozen craft brews that cover the spectrum from stouts to pilsners.

Both 12-ounce and 22-ounce bottles are available, and prices range from $7 to $14 a bottle. The draught prices vary depending on what’s pouring, and draught beer is available in 14- or 22-ounce glasses.

Towning says response to the new program has been very positive, and he has tried to make the beer list a draw for beer fans visiting Downtown Disney.

“Our retail manager is a craft lover, and so am I,” Towning says, adding, “We have partnerships with the breweries we chose, and we asked them for the beers that were popular but not widely sold. The list has some of my favorites [like] the Sierra Nevada, Lighting’s Elemental [Pilsner], and Stone’s Levitation.... Beers you will not find anywhere else in Downtown Disney.”

Craft beer may have only a small sliver of beer’s market, but the sliver is growing and more restaurants, bars and venues are realizing that catering to craft beer fans makes good business sense.

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