With their soon-to-open Global Brew Tap House and Lounge, owners Laura and Ryan High and partner Ryan Lowe are looking to bring the exploding category of craft beers to Edwardsville. “Beer culture is so cool and evolving,” said Laura High. “We want Global Brew Tap House to be an experience.”
The Highs and Lowe have no experience as owners of a bar or restaurant, but what they do have is a love of entertaining friends and a passion for beer. “Ryan and I love having parties and friends at our house,” Laura High said. “My husband built a bar in our basement just so we could do that. The more we got to thinking about it, the more it made sense to build an establishment where we can all get out.”
Located at 112 South Buchanan St. in Edwardsville, Ill., Global Brew will feature 50 beers on draught and more than 200 – domestic and international – by the bottle. While the beer list is still being finalized, the owners expect 15 to 20 labels to become permanent brews on tap, though they will be watching palates closely. “If people love something, we will want to keep it around,” she said. “It’s all about trying something new and finding out what you love.” In addition, mix-and-match six-packs will be available for retail sale.
The taphouse will not serve food, but imbibers can bring their own or have it delivered. The location in the Park Plaza complex is just above Wasabi as well as several other local restaurants.
Considering that Edwardsville already has a fair share of college bars serving the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville crowd, the owners are hoping to attract young professionals to the space that, when construction is finished, the owners hope to feel like a loft: “Warm colors, stained concrete – a warm, natural feeling,” described Laura High. Deep, cushy chairs in the lounge plus high-top tables and bar seating will enable Global Brew to comfortably accommodate 150 people when it opens in mid-November. Watch for news of their opening on their Facebook and Twitter pages.
This article appears in Oct 1-31, 2010.