You gotta love it!

I still feel that The Beer Revolution should not be all about bar and beer reviews but when people are taking the beer ball and running with it, they deserve a mention and any little encouragement I can provide. Today's worthy runner is; The Bierhaus on Popes Quay in Cork (not to be confused with The Bierhaus in Galway or any of the other Bierhaus named bars worldwide).

After laying idle for a few years the site formerly known as The Head of The River was given new life in the summer of 2006 when The Bierhaus very quietly opened for business. So quietly that it was open for maybe a month before I found it.

From day one, The Bierhaus offered the biggest and best selection of beer in Cork. Despite being the best selection in town, its menu was hardly a beer lovers dream - very lager heavy. A little less than two years later and the menu and guest beer boards have something for every beer enthusiast, freak, nerd, geek, nut, bore and even snob! Check the menu here, although new beers come and go faster than their website gets updated.

In less than two years some fine and strange beers have flowed through the taps - it's the only bar in Ireland to have had Schneiderweiss on tap - and not being afraid to experiment, Dave the owner, has had banana beer, apple beer, cherry beer, La Chouffe, Belgian blonds and bruins, DTs, Messers Maquire, O Haras Red, The Franciscan Well beers and more - and that's just on tap, before you consider that he also sells Guinness, Heineken, Murphy's, Carlsberg and Bulmers along with O Hara's Stout, Krombacher, Hoegaarden, Rebel Red, Erdinger and Svyturys on a full time basis all on tap too.

And then we get to the good part! The bottles. It would be no secret that I love Belgian beer. Where else in Cork can I get Orval Trappist Beer? Where else Gulden Draak? Where else Westmalle Dubble? (sadly not in Calanan's anymore). He's had in the past, Oud Geuze Boon, still has Kriek Boon and for Christmas got in Samichlaus Bruin! There's always a few English Ales, some good cider, and plenty of good lager including my favourite - Augistiner Edelstoff and a few good American beers.

Enough listing, check the menu yourself.

What I think is interesting is that if Dave, like so many other young guys do, just painted up the walls, installed his favourite songs on the laptop, stuck up a few posters and told all his mates, then his venture would have failed. What marked out his pub from all the other pubs that come and fail was its emphasis on beer. Two years on, The Bierhaus does very steady trade. It hasn't always been so but now there's a seven day trade - the key to the longevity in a bar.

There was no huge cost involved in making The Bierhaus a beer Mecca in Cork - just a little outlay in stock and a bit of research in sourcing suppliers; work, in other words. But this effort has paid off with the success of a bar which is small, restricted by its original design, under invested in and a little off the beaten path. The thing is, just sticking a few good beers on the shelves doesn't a beer bar make. Dave can talk beer, he can recommend beer to suit taste, he has beer festivals, a weekly quizz, poker, DJs and thankfully the neighbours stopped him having mediocre bands playing! What I'm getting at here is that it takes a lot of work to keep a small bar alive and while stocking great beer alone probably won't do it, it does give your pub an edge over most other bars.

I believe Cork can absorb another dedicated beer bar without taking business from The Bierhaus, in fact another would probably create more interest and trade. So come on Southside pub owners, give it a shot, one of you. It's not an expensive experiment - you gotta find the right manager or find a consultant (who could that be?).

Today the Beer Revolution takes it hat off and throws it in the air for Dave O Leary and his Bierhaus (an unwitting and unaffiliated member of The Revolution)!

P.S. If The Bierhaus has Budvar Dark, why don't some of the countless bars that stock Budvar have its far superior dark brother.

My last drink was; Apostoles, Palo Cortado Muy Viego, Sherry. 20%abv