The Melange Apron is a small, quaint place, combo ice cream parlor, coffee house, bar, restaurant. The beer selection was absurd for such a small place. Eight on tap: Free State Copperhead, Stormwatch, and another; Breckenridge Agave Wheat; Leinenkugel's Limited plus a couple of other decent selections. Bottles included Bridgeport IPA, Hazed and Infused, Blackened Voodoo, Great Divide Hercules, and a few others that I might have remembered had I not enjoyed the Agave Wheat as much - It is tasty. Marco, the guy I talked with, gave me a small tour of the cellar; cooler space for sixteen 1/6th-barrels, glycol-cooled beer line snake that only had to travel twelve feet to the taps. Beer gas mix. He wants to add another eight taps. They had four kinds of small-batch bourbon, high-end scotch, gin, etc. The wine selection looked small but OK; the part-owner I spoke with talked up the local wines.
I didn't eat there, but the food smelled great! Marco said everything was fresh and homemade, nothing frozen or mass-produced. I think the on-line menus must need updated (judging by the beer list), but the prices are probably an accurate indication. He told me the most expensive entree was $20, surf-n-turf; 6 oz strip with king crab legs.
The band playing there tonight, Coyote Bill and His Wild Ones, was pretty decent, and the substitute drummer was killer.
We played for seven or eight people, including the bartender, owner, and a waitress. I have to recommend trying the place out - I'm afraid it might not last long. If you talk to Marco, tell him you heard about it through me - a Lawrence homebrewer. (This is not a compensated endorsement!)
