Babes In Breweryland

For those of you thinking this will be about pretty women at breweries you are incorrect. The babes referred to here are those of the juvenile kind – children accompanying their parents for some quality time with mom and dad at a brewery. And for those of you old enough to remember Laurel and Hardy, you’ll recognize the play on one of their movie titles. For those of you who don’t, Google knows all.

       A few weeks ago, on a late Saturday afternoon, I went to a nearby brewery to see one of the beertenders who worked at our former local brewery. He started at 5:00 and I got there a little after 4:30. Looking around – and listening – I quickly noticed that about 1/3 of the people in the brewery were not of drinking age, not of driving age, and not even of middle-school age. This is a common phenomenon at this and many other breweries. While most of the kids present were well behaved – kudos to their parents – they were taking seats that paying adults could have used.

       By about 5:15 virtually all of those “babes” were gone though. As I noticed the change in the room, I chuckled to myself and thought of a friend who told her husband that in order to avoid kiddie-time you need to wait until around 5:00 as that’s the time to get the little ones home for dinner, bath and bed. When I heard that I laughed, but over several visits to local breweries frequented by such families, she is spot-on. It’s almost like a bell chimes and their shift is over.

       Discussing the invasion of kids with friends I bumped into that afternoon, we all agreed that well-behaved kids are fine. Our only issue is when so many kids take over seating areas. When mentioning that to the owner of our former brewery, he said that many breweries actively create and promote a family atmosphere – much like the German beer garden model – to make their location a gathering place for family and friends. This is particularly true of the larger facilities and those with lots of outdoor space. Many have board games as well as cornhole and other outdoor games for all to enjoy. His perspective makes a lot of sense from a business perspective, and again, I have no issue with well-behaved children – or well behaved dogs at the dog-friendly locations. Unfortunately, while they are the majority, there are those parents who let their kids run wild, even when indoors, and that ruins the brewery experience for everyone else.

       Many breweries have instituted age restrictions for evening hours on weekends and special occasions to eliminate the risk of inconsiderate parents. I’ve witnessed parents complain about these policies, but they have only their inconsiderate peers to blame, not the facility. For those of us who are not there with kids, we applaud these businesses for sticking up for the majority of their customers. I have no issue with well-behaved kids at a brewery but it’s nice to be able to have adult time especially in the smaller locations.

      This is not a screed against well behaved children – or dogs – at breweries. It is a caution to those who want to avoid Romper-Room (if you are too young to get the reference, check with Google) to be (or get) familiar with the timing patterns at your favorite breweries. I’ve noticed that the 5:00 hour is generally a common break point and it’s the time I use as a guide for visiting a brewery I know is popular with families with kids. So for those of you with kids, please be considerate of others, and for those of you without kids, keep that timing in mind and enjoy your time at your favorite breweries.

www.RetiredandInspiredat55.com  04-28-2025