Pub 67, a 2‑year-old bar off Route 67 in Seymour, is doubling its size, along with its food and drink offerings.
Craig Strilka, one of the owners, said Pub 67 is taking over a storefront (formerly Freckled Frosting) next door.
The expansion will result in a full kitchen, a 60-foot bar, more seating and 15 more beer taps.
The business now is about 1,800 square feet. It will be about 3,600 square feet after construction.
The owners were planning to close Feb. 2 for at least two weeks to do the work.
Pub 67 is at 225 West St. near CVS. Click here for a map.
About seven taverns have closed in Ansonia, Seymour and Derby since 2009, including Trestle Tavern, Dewey’s Pub (both in Seymour), Lanza’s, Mustang Sally’s (both in Ansonia), Tailgators and Whiskey’s (both in Derby).
Yet Pub 67 is expanding.
Strilka said the business concentrates on the basics. Being a new bar helps, too, he said.
“You still have to have a good staff and a clean place. We have an outside patio, a good selection of beer already, and wide selection of liquor. If someone asks for something and we don’t have it, we get it,” Strilka said.
The owners, including Tracy McGuire and her husband, Jerry, said offering a menu with burgers, wings, “long dogs” and other bar-food staples, will expand Pub 67’s customer base.
“It’s something everyone has been asking for,” said Tracy McGuire, who has been bar tending at Pub 67 since it opened. Her previous bar tending experiences include JP Morgan’s, which used to be in Shelton, and the Brookside Inn in Oxford.
Having 25 taps in the bar is a way to capitalize on the craft beer sensation that has gripped the U.S.
Customers today want an ever-changing beer menu, as beer is now marketed like wine, with a never-ending series of flavor combos.
There’s been a revolution in the country’s beer industry, with craft beers/micro beers emerging the winner.
Microbrews are brands that ship 6 million barrels or less per year.
Recently, microbrews/craft beer brands have shipped more barrels than the once mighty Budweiser, once the “king of beers.”
From USA Today:
“From 2008 to 2013, shipments of craft beer rose by 80.1% to a total of more than 16 million barrels, or 7.6% of the U.S. beer market. While the craft beer category now outsells Budweiser, it remains a relatively niche market. For comparison, the nation’s top-selling brand, Bud Light, shipped 38 million barrels in 2013, accounting for 18% of all beer shipped.”
Strilka said the rise of microbrews has been the single-biggest change in the bar world — and it is a factor they will take advantage of with the expanded Pub 67.
“That’s the trend now. Craft beer. There’s breweries opening all over this area. Oxford has a brewery, Two Roads in Stratford, Stony Creek in Branford, Stamford has Half Full. There are a lot of microbreweries that are opening up,” Strilka said. “If I just feature local beer, that’s eight or nine taps. And a lot of local people look for that. They want to support the Connecticut breweries.”
It doesn’t hurt that Connecticut beer tastes great, too.
“They are all good. There are no crummy local breweries around. They all produce pretty good beer,” Strilka said.
Manager Sarah McArdle said Goose Island IPAs are probably the most popular beer on tap at Pub 67, but it changes.
“People want to try what’s new,” she said.
Click here for Pub 67’s Facebook page.
