The Black Star Pub?
News8Austin: It's always happy hour at community-owned bar
Some Austin residents are working to create the state's first co-op beer pub in the European sense of the word.
*ears perk up*
The Black Star Pub is the brainchild of Steven Wyarak, who had lived in Belgium and liked the quality of beer and pub atmosphere there."We're starting up a community-owned bar here in town. I wanted to do something cooperative, something that would involve the community [and see] what options are out there, what can we do?" Wyarak said.
The idea was also inspired by co-op pubs in Ireland, and Wyarak said Austin is the perfect place for its Texas debut.
"If there is a place for this to happen, Austin is where it should happen," he said.
He is, of course, right about that last bit. If there is going to be a Texas experiment in collectivist bar operations, Austin is the most appropriate place to do it.
Through word of mouth and the Internet the idea of a bar owned by the regulars has gained a following. The group meets every Wednesday at Café Mundi and Saturday at a house on Cesar Chavez. Organizers are still trying to raise capital - the idea that if 100 people pitch in $100 they'll start with $10,000 in capital."You get a vote in everything that goes on from the beer we serve to the air conditioning," Wyarak said.
Ahh, now this is an interesting idea. I could get behind this. Reading their minutes, they do seem to have a serious vision and are hitting on all the important points. I'm curious to know the details...for example, would these venture capitalists be able to sell/exchange their share down the road? Do they really want to distribute dividend checks to investors after profits are reinvested into the pub? If they can swing it, would they prefer to avoid government start-up money?
Wyarak envisions a beer bar where members pay happy hour prices all the time, and the choices will be discriminating, with a rotating selection of between eight - 200 beers on tap.
Sounds good, though the non-profit angle is probably the only way the kinds of above goodies could work.
The location of the Black Star Pub is very important. Right now, all fingers point to East Austin, where Wyarak is looking at an abandoned building on Seventh and Lydia Street near the Texas State Cemetery."East Austin is really a resurging area of town and there's trying to be a lot of revitalization going on here and we want to be part of that," Wyarak said.
Copyright ©2006TWEAN News Channel of Austin, L.P. d.b.a. News 8 Austin
Fuck. Yeah. The number one thing I dislike about living in east Austin is the total lack of serious beer pubs, places that openly and happily turn their backs on the major American brews.
I'm going to drop in on one of their meetings and see things for myself. I have hope for people who want to "serve beer at right temperatures with [the] right glasses."
UPDATED 1/31/2006 12:45pm
The Black Star Pub Blog.
UPDATED 2/2/2006 9:08am
The meeting last night went fast. I counted 12 people included myself. Didn't take notes because my pen died at the scene. Discussion picked up near the end about fundraising, the many legal issues, and the as-yet-unpicked location. Steven had his shit together throughout.
UPDATED 2/7/2006 3:18pm
BlackStarPub in the News Again...and myself along with it. By the way, Steven's last name is spelled Yarak, not Wyarak.