Beer Beer Beer Beer... Chain?

In the past few weeks I have had the lovely opportunity to visit some beer spots around our city of Corvallis, Oregon. We do have quite a bit of a selection around here and that's what I like. Choice! Lots and lots of choice. We also have an event called Corvallis Beer Week. This event is where lots of craft breweries from areas all around Corvallis get to show off by joining up with hot spots to show off their best beer. From tasting rooms to full restaurants. Sometimes there are tap takeovers and sometimes just one or two taps. Local community breweries are showcased.

Now something that chain restaurants are usually reputed for are mixed drinks. Not so much for their choice of beer. One of my stops for Corvallis Beer Week really impressed me though! Buffalo Wild Wings.

What goes better with chicken wings than beer right? I specifically chose Buffalo Wild Wings because they have a reputation for friendly service, good chicken, and a progressive attitude. I really wanted to see if the reputation was deserved. Well I certainly agree with the friendly service. The bartender Sarah O. and my waitress Sarah both made me feel very welcome with friendly smiles and great service. This should be the hallmark of a good chain restaurant and Buffalo Wild Wings seems to hit the nail on the head. The chicken was pretty good too!

But what about the beer? On rather short notice, (only a few weeks) Buffalo Wild Wings had managed to get Hop Valley a tap onboard the rather packed list that included New Belgium, Pyramid, Widmer, and Boneyard just to name a few. The classic large commercial beers were there too, but I am happy to say that craft beers were well represented. It can be really tough to get a tap into a chain restaurant and Buffalo Wild Wings reputation for a progressive attitude here seemed to be deserved as well. 

Brandon from Hop Valley was a great representative for the company. He was thoroughly knowledgeable about all Hop Valley beers and ingredients that go in them. It was incredibly pleasant to talk to someone about the beer process and differences in each brew. 

Brandon was handing out some pretty interesting swag that included T-shirts, glasses, hats, and beer koozies. I have to say I really love Hop Valley's design work. Their logo is beautiful. 

And of course, the beer. This is Citrus Mistress. I noted in my beer app Untappd that Citrus Mistress had "Lots of citrus, lots of hops, fat bitter through the middle, nice for wings!"

Since I didn't have a whole lot of room, what I wanted to say but couldn't was that this beer can quench mighty fire without ruining the tanginess of the buffalo sauce. At 6.5% ABV this is great for drinking several glasses with a full meal. The citrus complements buffalo sauce for sure!

If the trend of opening up more taps to craft beer continues in chain restaurants then I am sure more craft beer lovers will be willing to stop at places like Buffalo Wild Wings. This really gives me hope. More people should be able to enjoy craft beers even if they do not have a craft brewery close by. I encourage more chain owners and managers to look into making their establishments more welcoming for craft beer lovers!

My thanks to Craft Beer Nation on Google Plus. Lots of podcasts and craft beer info that goes on and on and on! If you want to know more about craft beer and connect with other beer lovers, the Craft Beer Nation Community is available.