Downtown Elmhurst. now that steve's gone, it's a brighter community with better accommodations.

first and foremost, the red arrow tap room right near the tracks. as far as i know, it is the only self-pour tap room bar in the country. there's a wall of taps, and they charge by the ounce. gratuity is included, so at the end of your stay, all you do is turn in your "pour card". after 32 oz, you're "cut off"--meaning someone from the staff has to renew your card. they give you the once-over, and if you're not fall down drunk, they'll just run your card again.

trickiest thing is the pour. some of the beers will give a lot of head (!!), so you either want to let one of the staff pour it for you, or be OK with wasting some ounces. i mean, sure it'll settle eventually. but a lot of it will evaporate.

it can get very pricey, obviously. but there are about 40 beers on tap, from all over the country. so far my favorites have been old jubilation ale, fun sized, and a wild sour that was outstanding. there are also about 4 wines on tap--but they're just generic red and white varieties. there's also a water tap.

the food is also surprisingly good. mostly bbq. the pulled pork and the wings were awesome.

only thing i wish they had were more TV's. there's only one little area in the corner near the restrooms that has one.

other than that, highly recommend this place.

I don't know who pioneered the concept but 2 years ago I went to a bar called Bear Republic in San Diego with this concept. It's a good way to taste a wide variety of beers but as WZ stated it's pricier than a normal bar. The per ounce cost adds up when you settle your final bill. Not a good type of place to get ripped with the guys.

definitely not for the "let's get trashed" crew. although, some of the beers are so strong, you don't need that much to catch a nice buzz. i'd say it's a good "starting point" bar. get a buzz going, and then hit up another bar where you can get nuts.

the clientele is more middle aged people. the most hilarious thing was this group of obvious just-turned-21 college girls that had no idea what they were doing but were highly amused by trying the beers. made for great people watching.