First Look: Real a Gastropub

Real a Gastropub opened last Wednesday with 24 beers on tap and 200 in bottles.

May 29, 2012

Martha Cheng,

Real a Gastropub opened last Wednesday (May 23), with 24 beers on tap and 200 in bottles. Troy Terorotoa, formerly beer specialist for Whole Foods, is one of the partners in the venture, so expect an ever-changing assortment of beer. Real makes a point not to carry more than one keg of any variety; when one keg is drained, a new beer is tapped. Hence the chalkboard menu on a pulley, making it easy for the bartenders to update the beers. (Well, easier, at least. One says he's breaking a sweat hauling the chalkboard up and down throughout the night.)

When we went, Real tapped at least two new kegs, including a Norwegian harvest ale—Haandbryggeriet Hesjeøl. We sampled a flight of beers ($4 for each 4.5-oz serving), including a Mikkeller Sorachi Ace Single Hop IPA, which to me, has notes of green tea; To Øl Final Frontier Double IPA, which came across as smack-you-in-the head hoppy; and Djævlebryg Old Mephisto, a molasses-y barleywine with a 10.5 percent (!) ABV.