Parched Eagle Brew Pub

We enjoyed the beers, but this pub's ambience and staff rubbed us the wrong way. Parched Eagle holds limited hours and looks closed most of the time. When we stepped into the pub, we were greeted by a beautiful, rustic bar. However, the bar is incredibly tiny and the rest of the place looks like a cheap lunch cafe, lit with terrible fluorescent lighting and painted in insipid colors. The brewing equipment is on display, but isn't aesthetically pleasing and tends to look cluttered. Music comes from a tiny bookshelf stereo behind the bar. At 8pm on a Friday night, we were the only guests in the "pub." The bartender (who is also the brewmaster/part owner) served us. After giving us a quick overview of the beers in the flight we ordered, he buried his head in his smartphone. While the beers were good, the entire place felt stale, less like a pub and more like a fluorescent lit waiting room with a bar. We were looking to get dinner, but after one round, we decided to head into Madison in search of warmer, livelier environment and found it at Villa Tap. With an incredibly narrow focus on beer brewing, limited hours, and clinical atmosphere, we're unlikely to return.

I am a bit confused by their business model and very disappointed by a recent experience. I had stopped prior on a Sunday afternoon and felt the beer was good and service was great. They even let us have our dogs on the patio. My husband and I stopped on a Tuesday evening at 5 pm after a walk at a nearby park. The internet and their door said they are open from 3-11 weekly. The lights were on but when I attempted to enter the door was locked. We waited a few minutes and eventually saw someone clearly brewing beer. I was able to get his attention but all he did was shake his head no when I asked if they were open. I feel like 5 pm on a Tuesday is a pretty standard time to stop so I am unsure why the door was locked. I wish this company success just feel they may want to evaluate situations such as this because we won't waste our time stopping again.

Smells like body odor. My buddy smell says it smells like yeast. I've been to plenty of breweries and never smelled one quite like this so you think it's preventable. I like how intimate it is to a certain extent but it depends on the crowd. Because of the size the bartender seems to know the Brewer very well and explain their thought process which is great for beer nerds like myself. I went on a day where the entire menu was very similar dark brews which is unfortunate but the bartender explains that I just happened to go on the wrong day. For instance she explained that the prior week was all ipas. Despite my low star rating I will be going back because I enjoyed the price points and I think that the experience will vary based on the dates