Daniel Drennon
[Photo gallery after the jump.]
After months of anticipation and a few delays, Mohawk Bend, the beer wonderland conceived by Tony Yanow, owner of Tony's Darts Away in Burbank and co-owner of Golden Road Brewing in Atwater Village, will likely open on July 25th (or so we hear). Mohawk will feature a mere seventy tap handles with four nitro lines and two Firkin pump handles.
When you enter Mohawk, there is a relatively dark front room with high ceilings and, to the right, a long, cool bar with an wall of chrome tap handles that seems to stretch on forever. The entire left side is an open air kitchen. But your eyes are drawn to the skylight-lit back room — with an original brick wall that is over 100 years old.
The Spacecraft Design Group remodeled what was once an old vaudeville theatre and has created a stunning and inviting space given the huge size. The fireplace in the center of the massive back wall adds ambiance. Yanow says that the original plan was to have the back room serve as a private dining room for parties but, “once it came out like it did, we decided to make it the main dining room.”
Mohawk Bend is located where Mohawk Street meets Sunset Boulevard just as it makes a bend up toward Hollywood — hence the name. It will undoubtedly be the new anchor of the Echo Park revitalization – the place to go. And while we are used to reviewing intimate, craft beer bars, comparing the vast selection of California craft beer and so-good ambiance that is Mohawk Bend to most other beer joints is akin to reviewing the Rolling Stones if they played at a local battle of the bands night.
Half of the 70 tap handles will rotate with each keg that blows so customers can always expect something new and different. The “standards” will be dedicated to what Yanow calls “top of class” beers. Five handles will be dedicated to a world class out-of-state brewer each month to recognize other states that brew great beer. Beyond the sick selection available to beer fans, Yanow tells us that he doesn't ever want anyone to come into Mohawk and feel they didn't get a good value so he says, “all of the beers will be reasonably priced and those styles that should be poured in proper pint glasses will be a full 16 oz. pour or what is known as a certified honest pint.”
Mohawk will also offer six wine faucets, three whites and three reds, all of which are custom-made kegs of wine from California vineyards. And for mixed drink customers, there will be a full bar of spirits, but all locally distilled in California. One of Mohawk's main goals is to support the California economy via our state's brewers and farmers, and thereby also “leave the smallest carbon footprint possible” according to Paige Reilly, the President and General Manager.
The Mohawk menu has an eclectic array of vegan and non-vegan options. They will be open for lunch (after the first month) and dinner seven days a week. We don't want to say the food at Mohawk will be secondary, because one of the things about craft beer bars is that, if you pay that much attention to the quality of the beer, chances are you are going to have great food too. But top of the class craft beer is what it's all about. Yanow, Reilly, and the entire team they have assembled love craft beer, and we are about to become the beneficiaries.
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