Tallahassee Brew District is growing

http://www.fsunews.com/story/life/2016/08/03/signs-positivity-brewing/88001280/

"With the developments in the Collegetown and All Saints areas, we’ve seen the formation of a coalition of bars, giving the area an unofficial nickname—the Tallahassee Brew District.
Comprising Madison Social, Brass Tap, Grasslands Brewing Company and Proof Brewing Company, the stretch of bars has displayed the up and coming bar scene in full form. By up and coming, I don’t mean to say we’ve been lacking in the bar area, but rather we’re seeing an evolution of bar entertainment and engagement.
Whether it be nostalgic Trivia Nights on our favorite shows or movies, live music, drinking challenges with the prize of free merchandise or just the pride that comes with turning in a fully punched MadSo monthly challenge card, the Tallahassee Brew District has elevated the game of social drinking.
One of, if not perhaps the most interesting engagement strategies, has been the introduction of the bar crawl. Now, Tallahassee is no stranger to bar crawls, just ask anyone in Greek Life and they’ll have plenty of stories from Senior bar crawls of old. Each bar crawl has a theme and some are pretty genius (one of my personal favorites was when the Delts dressed up as grandmas last semester).
The Tallahassee Brew District has adopted these bar crawls as a way of not only engaging with their customers, but engaging with each of the individual small business therein. Recently, the Brew District hosted a Suds and Scoops bar crawl, where participants were given a carefully chosen pairing of ice cream and beer at each stop.
Madison Social featured a Guinness Stout with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and blackberry reduction, forming a delicious adult milkshake. Brass Tap featured a Funky Buddah Floridian with a scoop of peach ice cream. Grasslands originally featured a Catalina Coffee Stout paired with coffee ice cream, however after realizing the two tastes were competing against each other, they switched the beer to a house amber. Proof featured a Raspberry Gose with champagne sorbet.
It was clear to see the effort each bar put into their pairing and in setting up a great atmosphere. Any one of the bartenders or owners were happy to discuss the pairings and had adequate knowledge on the beers they were featuring.
There is obviously a bit of planning that goes into these bar crawls, as they require coordination and participation from multiple businesses, but that’s not to say they can’t come together on the fly to give the people what they want.
Enter Pokemon Go—the game that is still taking the world by storm. Within days, the town became infested with “Pokemon trainers” scouring the streets in search of pokemon. As any smart businesses would do, the Tallahassee Brew District saw an opportunity and acted. The bars came together and orchestrated a Pokemon Go bar crawl complete with lures, pokestops, pokemon merchandise, and the refreshments to keep the journey going. Participants were given a Pokemon card to get punched at each bar. Once the card was completed it could be redeemed for a free drink.
As with the app itself, the bar crawl drew quite the crowd and was a testament to the community aspect of the game and of the area. Situations like this create a win-win for everyone with patrons enjoying themselves and businesses making money.
For the future, the Tallahassee Brew District has a Million Muggle March (that’s right people, Harry Potter) bar crawl slated for October. Each bar will be themed after one of the four houses in the Harry Potter universe. Excitement for this event is already palpable and is sure to be a success.
In talking with some of the staff from each of the bars, one thing became painstakingly clear—a realization that instead of directly competing with each other, these bars could come together and help each other out. There were no egos, no issues and no worries, only curiosity and ideas.
The Gaines St. area has really come into its own over the years, and with Collegetown Phase II expected for this upcoming fall semester, these bar crawls are sure to grow in involvement.
One thing I’d like to see is the inclusion of other bars in the area such as The Palace, The Warehouse, Cantina and Warhorse, but there are obviously logistical circumstances that would have to be sorted out. Also, with the inclusion of more bars comes the inclusion of more crowd control, however I think these bar crawls can turn into a collaborative experience, on all fronts, that shows what this town has to offer.
The Tallahassee Brew District shows no sings of slowing anytime soon and seems to only want to top themselves with each new event. This fall semester is sure to be a pivotal one, in terms of both football and local development, so get ready to bear witness to a new age in Tallahassee."