This blog will be “killed” at the end of December 2011.

The question for me remains, when to kill this blog?

At one point I said when traffic dropped below 100 per month. (And then I did not check for a while…)

I did notice on a recent visit to Eau Claire (which was under the radar for most people!), that there have been changes in the bar scene. Some old places are gone, some new ones are in. It seems that Volume One is doing a decent job of listing them (and often with photos). Their list is also organized. Is it time for this blog to die?

I am living in a new state, in a new region, and have a whole new life.

It was a great run while it lasted, but it is over.

I just checked the stats. I will leave this blog up as long as there are at least 50 hits per month. Once traffic drops below that, I will delete this effort.

This first batch is those bars generally north of the Eau Claire River and east of the Chippewa River along with the bars which are north of Madison/Cameron Streets. Water Street will be a separate project, as will those on Hastings and in the south part of town.

I may or may not add out of town bar photos, depending on how the spirit moves me.

I loved that there was a group of ladies sitting playing a card game in the late afternoon. It seems like a nice, friendly neighborhood place.

I sat down at the bar. After asking about the special (they were out), I ordered something else, which was just great. They have Leinie’s Honey Weiss (and a number of other beers) on tap. The bartender also makes a great Long Island (and bargain priced, too!)

I hung out for a bit. It was a very mixed crowd, and many came (at least at that hour) for the food. The waitress serving those on the deck was kept hopping. I got to chatting with a guy at the bar, who turned out to be the bartender’s father and part-owner. The other part-owner was the bartender! (And he was barely 30, would be my guess.) The bartender was very, very good. He heard the shouted orders from the waitress, and kept up. He clearly loves what he does. At slow moments, he did the usual “house-keeping” with help from his dad, brother, and others. You know, adding ice to the well, refilling the condiment server, etc.

It was a great place, and I highly recommend it!

It is clearly a neighborhood bar. There was a crowd of regulars who were quite convivial and all seemed to know each other. It was a fairly homogeneous crowd, age-wise [Eau Claire is by definition homogeneous racially!]. Mostly 40+, and mostly couples.

The Long Islands were good, and reasonably priced. Only three tap beers, and the Leinie’s was the original (Red), not my favorite, Honey Weiss.

There is a great deck part of which is covered and part is not. It overlooks a softball field for the bar, plus horseshoe courts. There were signs up about a Tavern Horseshoe League. It is also clear that they do catering and events there. It would be a nice location for a party, or an informal wedding reception.

I’ll probably go back.

It is clearly a Packers hang out, and the amount of promotional material is almost overwhelming. (In general people here go way overboard with the Packers. My brother the Packers fan, has a couple of items, a shirt, and the souvenir single share of stock hanging on the wall. It is tasteful.) Other than the Packers stuff, the inside is quite nice. There are very large beer glass-fronted coolers, into which the bartender regularly reached.

They have a couple of draft beers (Leine’s Red, but not Honey Weiss), and the drinks are reasonably priced.

The bar is in the basement of the house. I actually looks like a rec room bar which has been expanded. The basement window sills are about 5 feet above the floor! There is a pool table which is in an addition to one side which has skylights to let in some natural light.

I was there after work on a weekday, and the crowd was clearly regulars. There is no draft beer, and even the set up behind the bar looks like an expanded “rec room.” At six o’clock, the bartender treated everyone to a drink. Very nice!

Reasonably priced drinks, and an interesting location.