Beer Bar gives bargoers exquisite blends

A good bar is often like a good first date. You don’t want to show up early and look overeager, and you definitely don’t know what to expect. But the final product, a significant other, or in this case a decent buzz, is totally worth it. Silver Lake’s Beer Bar is no exception.

Nestled in a strip mall between obscure restaurants, convenience stores and dry cleaners, Beer Bar is so new that there isn’t even a sign outside yet.

Pushing your way through the dark door without knowing for sure if it’s even the right place feels a bit odd, but once your senses absorb the warm lighting and friendly chatter, any reservations dissolve.

Old-school neon beer lights give bargoers a taste of what’s to come. The 60-plus bottles lining shelves behind the bar are further indication of what you might find yourself drinking at the aptly named Beer Bar if you couldn’t already guess — beer!

But don’t think that the singular class of beverage will leave your taste buds thirsting for something else.

An extensive variety of frothy brews makes each new sip an adventure. Travel to California, the greater United States, Belgium or all of Europe just by exploring this region-specific beer menu.

Simply scanning the long menu, which includes the alcohol content and brewery location for each listed beer, might not help you decide which brew to choose, but the friendly bartenders certainly will.

They’ll let you sample a few beers, or simply ask you what you normally drink and choose for you.

How they keep the different beers’ unique tastes and qualities organized in their minds is an impressive mystery. And since most of the beers are bottled, how they even find the right one is a feat itself.

Despite Silver Lake’s reputation as a too-cool-for-school, hipster paradise, Beer Bar’s staff remains unpretentious. The clientele seems amicable, and the entire bar has a sense of neighborhood ease.

The limited Southern menu, fried chicken and fries with sides ranging from baked beans to fried okra, is prepared in the neighboring Thai restaurant’s kitchen, which Beer Bar shares along with a bathroom.

Although the menu is short and somewhat random in fare, the food is satisfying and well-prepared. The fries and chicken were perfectly crunchy and not greasy, the ideal food to wash down with any of the bar’s delicious beers.

The hunting memorabilia opposite the long bar might inspire a carnivorous mindset once you get a good buzz going. The kitschy decorations, complete with a wall-sized tree mural, make Beer Bar feel like your grandpa’s basement, in a good way.

Of course, the beers themselves are buzz-worthy, even compared to trendier beer bars in wider Los Angeles such as Wurstküche. With names like Russian River Damnation, Bitch Creek, Denogginized Double IPA and Hair of the Dog, how could you not get smashed?

After a few beers, the tiny bar, probably no more than two arm-lengths across plus the bar banquet, is your oyster.

Luckily, customers are allowed to play shuffleboard bowling in the back of the bar after 10:30 p.m., when the restaurant next door closes.

The antique game machine is surprisingly entertaining, especially since it’s made for up to six players at once.

Although Beer Bar is a bit of a hike for USC students, it’s a welcome alternative to the overplayed, the mega-sized nightclubs of Hollywood, the anonymous bars in Downtown Los Angeles and the claustrophobic inside of the 9-0 Bar & Grill.

The parking lot is miniscule and street parking is tricky, but at least you’re not paying for valet. Silver Lake clientele might still possess that hipster sensibility, but Beer Bar maintains a “come one, come all” approach to good beer and good company, something every bar could take a cue from.

Beer Bar is located on 2853 Sunset Blvd. in Silver Lake and is open Mon – Sun from 5 p.m. to 1:30 a.m.