As some of you may already know, we have a new tap house in Omaha. The Brass Monkey Sports Bar opened its doors on election night: November 4, 2008. Since that time, the word-of-mouth advertisement for this establishment has been swift. In only a few months the bar has seen an influx of beer geeks and beer lovers from across the metro.
Kevin and Maria (the proprietors) are very easy-going and quite friendly. They are more than happy to “chew the fat” with beer-centric people like ourselves. Kevin has told me his goal was to create a great tap house in south Omaha, while also keeping beer prices down. He has definitely achieved his goal so far. For example, the bar’s happy hour runs from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.
The bar does not have a kitchen. However, there are plans to have a pizza oven which will serve locally-made pizzas from a bakery in downtown Omaha. They also have a self-service popcorn machine to keep you thirsty for more beer.There are several televisions (around 20 I think) tuned into a wide-variety of sports. The few times I have been there I have watched soccer, basketball, field hockey, and even truck & trailer demolition derby (this is my new favorite sport). The bar underwent a complete renovation before they opened and it looks great. They even have tile floors; in my opinion, there is nothing worse that industrial carpet in a bar...after 1 week it already looks terrible.
They currently have 36 tap handles, with a good mix of domestic craft and import beers. They also have over 50 bottled beers at any given time.
Brass Monkey Sports Bar
5611 S 36th St
Omaha, NE 68107
Tap Beers:
Guinness
Fat Tire
Hopluia
Blue Moon
Boulevard Wheat
Smithwicks
Sam Adams Seasonal
Schilling Bridge 70 Schilling
Rogue Dead Guy Ale
Gottberg Pale Ale
Moose Drool
Big Sky IPA
Avery IPA
Odell’s IPA
Odell’s 90 Schilling
Bud American Ale
Sprecker Black Bavarian
Nebraska Brewing Seasonal
Nebraska Brewing EOS
Nebraska Brewing Brunette Nut Brown
Nebraska Brewing Farrell’s Irish Red
Woodchuck Cider
Weinenstephan Hefeweizen
Franziskaner Hefeweizen
Spaten Premium Lager
Spaten Optimator
Warsteiner Pilsner
Warsteiner Dunkel
Left Hand Milk Stout
Rogue Chocolate Stout
Bare Knuckle Stout
12 comments:
Who is that cool guy talking with the owners of the Brass Monkey...ha ha ha.
Nice write up Nick!!!
I don't know, but he looks confused ;)
What no Empyrean? If there is that many taps why not support them.
That's kind of what I thought, but I was keeping it to myself. There are several bars in omaha that do not carry Empyrean even in bottles and that's a disappointment. I love all the NE breweries but Empyrean beers are the most consistant IMO. IE absence of major off flavors like Diacetyl. But it's the bars choice I guess.
Empyrean is overrated, if you go there and talk t the owners who are very cool, they might at least carry it in the bottle
but this is the BEST bar in the area!
$$3.00 for a pint of Guinness every day, you can not beat that.
How is Empyrean overrated? Lazlo's was the first brew pub and paved the way for the other Nebraska breweries. They were making local craft beer before craft beer was as popular as it is now. They have been around for almost 20 years. That is a long time for craft beer especially in Nebraska. Why are they the only local brewery available in 6 packs if they are overrated? I think they make great beer for the midwest.
Jason, I agree with almost everything you have said except the 6pack thing. Thunderhead now has 6 packs cans available.
Thunderhead 6 packs at $9.99 if you can find them. Empyrean is everywhere including Wal-mart so much more available and at much more reasonable price $6.99-$7.99. So why are is Empyrean overrated?
I never said Empyrean is overrated, I was just correcting a fact on your post about Thunderhead. Yes, they $9.99 a six pack, keep in mind that there are economies of scale at work there, Thunderhead has only been doing this a couple months and is hand canned, compared to machine bottled and years of doing it.
Also, compared to Empyreans beers I believe that Thunderheads is higher in alcohol than any of their line up and with the cost of honey it is only expected to be higher. But the point was you said that Empyrean is the only brewery with their beers in six packs and that was inaccurate. Soon Lucky Bucket will be out on the shelves too.
I think we should support all Nebraska breweries, otherwise I wouldn't have started this blog.
If you re-read my post it says I agree with almost everything you said, just making a clarification. Thanks for reading and contributing BTW!!!
I am sorry I thought you were agreeing with Tom's post about being overrated I wasn't paying attention. My point was you can only get Empyrean in 6 packs in Omaha. This post was about an Omaha bar the Brass Monkey. I live in Omaha and should have stated Omaha not the entire state. I have spoke with Trevor from Thunderhead and he didn't know when he will be selling in Omaha. As far as hand canning. I would think the cost is in Thunderhead's favor. I thought Trevor does it himself so no labor and no packaging other than the can and 6 pack ring. Empyrean uses at least 2-4 hourly employees, bottles cost more than cans since they need glass bottles, label, crowns, and six pack carries. Lucky Bucket is still planning on package beer but they don't have an exact date yet. They have kept pushing back a release date. So Empyrean is the only Nebraska brewed beer in Omaha available in 6 pack right now. Empyrean sells all over the state also. Thunderhead I think is only available in Kearney, Hastings, Grand Island, and Lincoln communities. Lucky Bucket will only be in Omaha, Lincoln, and north of Elkhorn to Norkfolk. They have only signed on with 2 distributors so far. I didn't mean to come off as a jerk. I am new to your blog. I don't see much interaction on posts so I thought I would be more involved. I love local beer. I enjoy all local breweries and support them all. I just feel Empyrean has helped the beer culture in Nebraska and doesn't get much credit. Just my opinion. Thanks for starting this great blog. Keep up the good work.
Fantastic stuff Jason!! I am glad you are contributing. Just for clarification, I don't live in Omaha or Lincoln so I didn't put them in context of the Brass Monkey, so that was my fault.
Thunderhead Honey Wheat is actually in a lot of towns around the Tri-City area (GI, Kearney and Hastings) including mine, Broken Bow. I think I got your point though.
I am really glad you took the post to task on Empyrean, I was kind of hoping he would jump in, oh well.
Thanks again and if you have some beer news, shoot me an email and I will post it!
http://brassmonkey.synthasite.com/
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