The Tulsa Forum by TulsaNow

OK, I can't believe nobody has posted a review of Prairie Brewery yet.

Food is delicious, and you can get Burn Co ribs here without the inconvenience of waiting in line at 18th and Boston.  Mac and cheese is huge, rich and indulgent (with rib tips).  Split the portion or schedule a nap afterwards.

Great vibe and decor.  Awesome outdoor patio space with a ping pong table. (This should also be a prime spot to hang out during Tulsa Tough's Brady races.)

Selection of Prairie beers, including some you can't get anywhere else.

So cool!  Great addition to the Brady!

Goes against every review I have heard.....

I echo everything PonderInc said. It is a cool space (including a large outdoor area with a ping pong table!), a great location, fantastic beer, and BurnCo BBQ. I was there one time with a couple other guys and we shut the place down, it was one of the first nights they were open and it was slow - we had a fine time sitting around chatting. I was there with a large group of people when the place was absolutely packed, back in the private room, we had a great time and the servers kept up just fine.

What is possibly not to like?

Just FYI, they will be pouring the limited edition Marshall’s Double Tough IPA during Tulsa Tough and afterwards as long as the kegs hold out.

I think it’s kind of cool local breweries will serve beer from other local breweries.

With my limited activity time, I've been there once.

My experience was very positive and I'll make it a point go again.

I have not heard anyone say the food is good except for the Burnco stuff....You can't get a drink...And the beer is not being brewed there....

A small clarification,  the place on Main is Prairie Brew Pub.  The brewery is over on W 49th and they have just opened a tap room there.  No more standing around in the actual brewery while you enjoy your brews.  Have you tried the Feoder Cereis (terrible spelling I know). 

To clarify - you haven't actually been there, right?

I have now been there four times. Four times I have gotten a drink while there, never having to wait more than a couple of minutes. I went for a bike ride last night and stopped for a beer at Prairie, I didn't have to wait at all.

I believe you are correct, that the beer is not brewed there. But try GOING to the place, and then review it.

If any of you would like to kick the beer habit, try Prairie Ale Birthday Bomb. It is a 26 proof stout that has been steeped in cacao nibs, jalapeno and who knows what. Pretty much what I would guess bull semen to taste like. Is this brewery responsible for that swill? My mom bought it for me as a joke at the liquour store. Ugh.

I'm not a fan of their Bomb, either.  But that's what's great about Prairie, they have all kinds of beers and are always trying new things.   A couple of their beers are on my short list of go-to's whenever I see them available, and several of the others are very good.

Also,  I've been to the Prairie Brewery a couple of times.  Solid place.   Friendly people, good service, etc.   Have not eaten there yet, so will defer on their food.  About the only complaint I have is the acoustics.  It's been really loud both times I've been there and it's got something to do with the ceiling set up.  But maybe I'm just getting old, because it was packed both times and nobody else seemed to mind.

It isn't my taste either, but it wasn't made to appeal to everyone. The real beer nerds love it. It was rated a 95 (out of 100) by Beer Advocate and a 4.5/5 by consumers (40 reviews from all over the country). It is ranked as a top 50 beer in the country.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/30356/221289/

If you were to break down beer ratings in Oklahoma, Prairie occupies 10 of the top 10 spots and 18 for the top 20.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/lists/state/ok/

I've been there twice for food and drink.  The look of the place is really nice.

We drove by it last weekend. Looks like plenty of fun and I can't wait to try some of their OTHER beers.

You have not gotten mixed drink there....And until the food gets better I'm not going to waste my money....

I stopped in last Saturday afternoon and had a couple of drinks + ribs and enjoyed it.

I will say the Burn Co. ribs are nice to try, but at $15 for 4 small ribs, some creamed corn, and some sort of kale thing it's not really worth it. The creamed corn was really good though. Lots of other stuff on the menu is really good too, judging by the reactions of those around me.

I had their Berliner Weisse, which was kind of sweet and refreshing, and their simple Praire Brown Ale, which was enjoyable.

So all around just a really nice place. Definitely going to be a regular stop for me.

https://www.restaurant.com/prairie-brewpub-tulsa-pid=329663

they have huge coupons on restaurant.com

Surprised I haven't seen this

http://www.tulsaworld.com/blogs/scene/whattheale/krebs-brewing-company-acquires-prairie-artisan-ales/article_91db22c6-6fc5-5bc2-99e5-75ff8d3f363e.html

I meant to post that a few days ago. The President of Krebs Brewing put a "Letter from Our President" on the Prairie Artisan Ales website announcing that Prairie sold their brands to Krebs.  It was confusing, because it was titled "Letter from Our President" and it wasn't Chase, had to read carefully, not just skim to see the sale announcement within the ramble (not that it was hidden).

http://prairieales.com/a-letter-from-our-president/

Apparently the deal actually happened, or at least was agreed to last fall. The statement is that they bought "the brands" which presumably means the Tulsa brewery and tap room remain. As I understand it, Krebs has always contract brewed the vast majority of Prairie beer anyway, so doubtful there will be any meaningful change to the beer and as I understand it the Prairie guys are still in the day to day operations, crafting, and decision making (which makes sense, why buy a brand and kill the idea makers behind it). But does seem less "Tulsa" than before.

Helps explain why Krebs bought the ambitious new larger system and got it up and running a month or so ago. Wonder if there was a buy-sell clause in the brewing contract, if the economics were tough as it scaled up, or if it was going from start-up mode to being more of a mature company and the start-up guys felt tied down by it. I have no idea, but would be curious on the reasoning.

I went to Krebs in the spring of 2015 to go to the brewing facility and take a tour.  If it hasn't changed much since then, yes, they are contract brewing Prairie because I saw quite a few palettes of Bomb! and a lot of the hops and other ingredients specifically labeled for it.

It is possible for the dreams everyone closely involved has for the Prairie brand that this was the way to go from a capital perspective.

Chase is very much an artist though his creative outlet is on a canvas much more different than most of us relate to.  He does things with beer no one or few ever thought of doing (and some which just don’t register with me but are highly sought after all over the U.S. and abroad).  I mean literally, some of the things he has done used to be considered spoiled beer and now they can bring $12 a bottle.  Funny part is though, some of the brews he created prior to PAA are very much mainstream hits like Coop F-5 when he was at Coop Ale Works.

If everyone remembers, he purchased land down near Mounds which was to eventually merge all PAA operations at that property.  I believe part of the idea was to also grow some grain and hops on the property.  As he explained it to me, that whole move started to make little economic sense and was finally scuttled.  I have no idea if it was that he could not raise the funds for all the infrastructure and equipment needed or the idea of being deep in debt scared the hell out of him.  Perhaps the guys at Krebs were more willing to take that risk.  Perhaps PAA had started to become too mainstream for Chase and he’s got something else coming out of the West Tulsa brewery.

There’s many things about the blog post which are odd and leave more questions than answers and Chase and Colin’s own FB pages mention nothing of this purchase nor what it means.  In fact, they have been completely silent about it.