Families That Drink Together ...

I love living across from a neighborhood pub so family friendly that children are left to play on the walkway in front while their parents get sauced within.  Even better is when the parents take their toddlers inside, to indulge in such a family friendly cultural experience.   Nothing speaks love like strollers left hanging in front of a bar, or children drug within.

Let it be known that I will photographically document all of this in the future.  I well could have in the past, but I was trying to be 'the nice guy'.  There is no 'nice' here.   These people don't give a fricking damn about the area they live in; they care about selling beer.  That's all they care about.  One needn't worry about their defense.  That will, as it always will, come from the Bozeman city council.  But that won't stop me from being a pain in their ass.  That is my right, and I will exploit it to the fullest.

Comments

[pjfinn]

Can't wait to see it.

[DMerriman]

Silly Wulfar! How else are the kids going to be imbued with the 'alcohol-as-a-way-of-life' ethos?

[drylander]

It sucks that you have to deal with the beer crowd.. I certainly don't envy you there. But, I do like this brewery, and I enjoy going to their tap room from time to time. You'd think the lumber yard's parking lot would be enough for the masses that congregate there. This must be some weird zoning area? One side of the street is residential and the other business?

Totally sucks you have to deal with their irresponsible customers though...

I know I've seen the totally irresponsible type you speak of, but for every one of those, there's 20 of the responsible type... They might bring their kid in while they sip on a pint (and actually have control of them). Big deal. You sort of make it sound like you're living next to the Filling Station, but my limited experience there doesn't see the same thing you've been witnessing.

I know you're not some moral crusader - but are likely pissed off that this thing landed on your front doorstep. It's too bad the owners can't police it a bit better if their neighbors are complaining.

Anyhow, all I know is what I see when I go there from time to time - living across from it must give you more detailed perspective. I tend to go to tap rooms like this to avoid the "bar experience" because it's quite a bit different in my opinion. Sounds like you've been seeing otherwise.

[Wulfgar]

No worries, drylander. I was just blowing off steam last night. At times the frustration feels intolerable. It's just a good thing that I have a blog so I can scream at the world instead of marching across the street and screaming at them (like a crazy cat lady, only with fewer cats ... and a beard ... and an axe ...)

;-)

It is a hella bunch better than the Filler, pretty much all the time, and better than most bars most of the time. But then again, the Bozeman city council wouldn't have allowed a "bar" across the street from residences, either. The taproom may be different, but it is a difference of degree; certainly not of form. And it is at those times, where the pretense becomes a blatant lie, those are the times I really feel like yelling about it.

I guess my perspective isn't 'more detailed', it's just more constant. 6 days a week, every single week of the year. I feel no shame in saying that it gets really old after a while.

[Mandy]

Drylander, hate to tell you but the "responsible type" don't take their kids to a bar. Just saying...

[drylander]

Mandy, first.. it's a tap room, not a bar.
And second, if you have children, do you drink in front of them? Explain the difference?
Righteous much?

[Rebecca]

Mandy, I hate to tell you, but "responsible types" all over the world bring their children to bars. Just saying...that in many other countries, children are permitted in their local corner pub. Their parents aren't there to get sloshed like some college frat boy; rather, the whole family is there to enjoy an evening out with friends and neighbors. Responsible drinking isn't something horrible that needs to be hidden from children.

Perhaps you should travel more, Mandy. Just saying...

[Wulfgar]

Excuse me, kids, but Mandy has spent more time as a bar tender than any of us have as bloggers (combined). You might want to ratchet back the condescension a bit.

[Mandy]

Wow, Drylander defensive much? Tap room - bar...a rose by any other name. Yes I have had alcohol in front my child, I still don't think it appropriate to take a child into an establishment whose primary business is alcohol. No moral judgment here, it's just as a former bartender, I had my fill of people who were too cheap to get a babysitter so they can go have a couple. Nothing better than watching a mother on a Sunday afternoon play poker machines while her kid sits on a barstool.

Rebecca, since we don't live in another country I can't see how your argument applies. You're also making some pretty broad assumptions about my cultural knowledge or lack there of. If I'm not mistaken pubs generally offer food also, they aren't primarily just a drinking establishment, if not I stand corrected.

Just call me a stick in the mud, but when I go out to a bar I'm going there so I can be with adults not so I can deal to somebody else's kid(s). Then again, I feel the same way when I go to late showing at the theater (for which I forked out $10) so I can avoid the kids talking through the movie and instead I get to listen to an infant crying because someone didn't feel it necessary to get a babysitter.

Thanks for that Wulfgar. Hopefully I didn't rachet it back up with my response. :)

[Rebecca]

What good is an argument, Wulfgar, if you don't have a ratchet to grind?

As for the application of my argument, there are a few establishments in Missoula where alcohol is the main attraction, but food is an important sideshow: the Old Post, the Iron Horse, Sean Kelly's. I've seen children at all of them. I'm no fan of the little buggers (obviously, I'm not a parent), but I don't get my panties in a bunch if a child's eating dinner with her parents--and said parents are drinking--at the Old Post.

Children are a part of life. If you don't want to deal with crying babies in a movie theater, join Netflix. Your sanity will thank you, Mandy. Mine did.

[Mandy]

Rebecca, that's exactly the point I was trying to make. I don't have a problem in a place that serves both food and drink, and I certainly don't find it objectionable if a family is having a meal and the parents have a drink. I have a problem when the parents are going out for a drink or two and drag the kids along. I could be wrong, since I don't generally go to tap rooms, but I doubt very much they serve food there since they're only a tasting facility for the brewery.

As for me getting Netflix - I have a better idea, why don't the people with the little darlings stay home and order Netflix or go to the an earlier show where the kids are, and give the rest of us some relief?

I am a parent and I don't bring my child along to what I would consider adult gatherings, not because I don't think she shouldn't see people drinking, but because I'm trying to be considerate of others. If I can't make arrangements for her I stay home, plain and simple. I don't assume everyone should welcome her presence just because I do. I guess I'd like the same consideration from other parents.

If you have the tolerance to put up with someone's kid sitting next you on a barstool as they try to see how fast they can twirl it around while using yours as their kicking off point, more power to you. It's just not for me.

[Big Swede]

Wolf, you better not tick them off, those are Obama supporters, they may see your yard sign and vote for McCain.

[Rebecca]

As a friend's mother says, good kids and dogs are welcome anywhere, bad kids and dogs nowhere.

I think we can agree on that.

[Sheila N]

Ooooh - kids in the bar (taproom, whatever!), not great, but left alone outside - way bad idea! Pedophiles, take note, sounds like good hunting!

And yes, I have some experience with kids, I used to work in a toy store and there were an amazing number of parents who would leave their child(ren) for extended periods of time; anyone could have taken those kids - with all the kids who left crying, we would never have known the difference. I think a bored kid outside a taproom would love to go see the puppy, pony, kitty - you name it!

I think a call to social services would be appropriate for kids running loose outside...

[Wulfgar]

A thought I myself have had many times ...

[dew-r-lite]

"(like a crazy cat lady, only with fewer cats ... and a beard ... and an axe ...)"

I like the "axe" comment; Wulfgar as a bearded Carrie Nation, campaigning against the horrors of children and beer drinking in the same location, crashing over to the appropriately located and zoned tasting room and chopping up the bar.

Wouldn't want to take those kids to a baseball game or a hockey game, no siree, they've got BEER DRINKING there right in the stands! Oh, the humanity.

[dew-r-lite]

I'd feel irresponsible, Mandy, but knowing that you don't have kids leaves your comment about what are responsible or irresponsible parents with zero credibility. Going to the sports bar with my sons and catching six or eight first round NCAA basketball games, simultaneously, bantering with the fans of other teams, shooting some pool or tossing darts has been big fun for us. Maybe it's a guy thing?

[Mandy]

dew-r-lite - I'd double back on who you are commenting to...I am a parent.

Glad to see you're out raising another fine generation of young men. Carry on.

[drylander]

Wow...

I don't know about all the puritanical absolutes here.

Clearly, leaving your kids to play in the street while you sauce it up is not the height of responsibility. But, going home after work... greeting your wife and going for a solitary pint of beer at the local tap room (non smoking, no gambling) and bringing the little critter along (and *GASP* potentially meet other friends you have that are parents) outside of work and home can't be considered a bad thing. And, from what I recall, most people don't get too worked up over seeing an occasional kid there. I certainly don't. But, then again I've not seen parents let their kids go wily-nilly in the streets while they're inside either... (dogs are another story.)

Now, it looks like Wulfgar is seeing worse behavior at the Bozone. Ok. Leaving your kid out to fuck around while you drink is certainly not acceptable and I don't condone that. But, leave the absolutes behind. Kids will be exposed to alcohol consumption one way or another. Personally, I'd rather my kid (if I had one) be exposed in that environment and be introduced to what responsible alcohol consumption should be as opposed to the likely alternative: A keg of Old Milwaukee in a wheat stubble field.

Personally, if you're a responsible parent I don't care if you bring your kid in. It's a part of life... Maybe the Eurpeans have it right.
But, still, I don't envy you Wulfgar for getting to live around the irresponsible types that ruin all the good things of a place like a tap room. I'd grow old of it too if I had to deal with the crap you see.
So that I do understand, Wulfgar.

[Wulfgar]

'Scuse me, there, DRL, but if ever I did lose it on the taproom, what makes you think I'd be swinging at the barrels?

Regardless, surely you realize that some things are just inappropriate for the ... shall we say ... the venue of context? I could point out a certain event of yestereve and ask your thoughts, but I'm certain the mere mention of it might make my point clear. There are things that do not belong amidst other things. That can't be difficult to grasp. There is no sport or entertainment at a venue that exists solely to serve beer, (Save on Mondays with the bluegrass and the party that lasts on the street several hours after close ...) Kindly drop the pretense that the bar is anything other than what it is. It's a bar. That is it's sole reason for existing; to serve beer. That is the sole reason behind this post. I am infinitely frustrated with those who pretend that it is anything other than what it is.

[dew-r-lite]

Sorry, Mandy. I need to work on my reading comprehension. I see that now.

Still, whether I raise, "fine young men" or "typical american males", or just a couple of guys like me who just muddle through, I'm not going to sweat taking them, at a relatively young age, to venues where alcohol is served.

I once heard a woman say, "I don't want my children exposed to adults drinking alcohol". I've seen that kind of radical prohibition and sense it in your posts as well. It doesn't work in the "dry counties" in the south, and it won't work here.

Perhaps you don't like spectator sports or alcohol, I suspect. That's your choice, but it isn't mine and I'm not accepting your version of "good parents" any more than I would those frowning at adolescents dirty dancin at the school dance.

[dew-r-lite]

Wulfgar! it is possible to ask that the tap room be held to the conditions of its approval.

As was discussed "yestereve".

"I'm just pissed" is okay for the occasional post, but it's not much for a permanent condition every evening. The party in the street or the late closings bother me...not so much the kids playing with pigs and popcorn at the tap room.

As for where the axe might fall, there's more Nation than Borden down at the end of Broadway.

[Mandy]

dew-r-lite, You crack me up! I can't wait to tell all my friends I'm a radical prohibitionist - they'll love a good laugh.