Berwyn Tap Room adds to craft offerings

BERWYN – If you buy a neighborhood bar and add craft brews, craft whiskeys and craft cocktails, is it still a neighborhood bar? It is if you haven’t forgotten the most important thing: the neighborhood.

When brothers Vince and Anthony Andreani purchased and remodeled the Berwyn Tap Room, 6330 16th St., they wanted the business to reflect Berwyn’s coming of age. The brothers also wanted to attract the business of what they said is a growing demographic of young professionals and the arts community in the city of Berwyn, which has long been known for its deep blue-collar roots.

This new demographic has a curious tongue for beer, and treads boldly into the world of craft lagers and stouts, India pale ales and porters. But there are a lot of beer drinkers who like their Miller or Bud, and that does not make them any less a connoisseur, the brothers said.

Manager Molly Rumpz, who has spent years working behind bars in Chicago, Berwyn and Cicero, is the beer brainiac at the Tap Room. She selects the more than 30 craft beers offered, eight of which are on tap.

Rumpz said she is definitely a craft beer person.

“That’s where the craft beer comes from, and the craft cocktails,” she said. “My thing has been doing the ordering of the craft beer. We weren’t sure there would be as much interest with the craft beer and there has been more than we anticipated.”

The whiskey list, with top-shelf offerings, as well as small batch bourbons such as Bookers, Eagle Rare and Bulleit, is also a hit, Rumpz said.

“We definitely are getting a lot more people drinking craft cocktails, beers and the response has been amazing,” Rumpz said.

Like craft imbibers, sports fans come in all types, too, and the Tap Room’s seven high-definition TVs are dedicated to sports of all kinds, period. There’s a juke box of course, as well as a new sound system. The bar also offers a free pizza buffet for Bears fans during football season, and while the Tap Room doesn’t serve food, there’s a stack of carry out menus of local places to order from and eat without having to leave.

“It has been very successful,” Rumpz said. “We get a lot of support from the neighborhood and the community.

“It’s people from the neighborhood and newcomers, and now they’ve all kind of become friends. It’s kind of turned into a Cheers.”