It’s hard to imagine how the new Washington Avenue bar Underdogs can turn a profit by selling dirt-cheap, high-end brews. Almost all of their draft pints are five dollars — up from a paltry $3 price point — including premium kegs from around the country.
Steven Warren and Dustin Evans, who met and worked together at the Fox & Hound, own this bar, which occupies The Lot’s former spot on Washington Avenue. Since opening some months ago, they have been quietly stirring up attention for all of the right reasons.
“We don’t care what you are drinking, just that you drink it with us. Let us pick you a beer and see how we do!”
Unpretentious but with a quality selection of 10 mostly craft beers on tap, the bar is appropriately named for a few reasons. Both Evans and Warren are deeply committed to helping dog rescue causes and are self-proclaimed animal lovers, and the bar has stiff competition with local beer institutions upping their game as they compete with each other for national awards and local respect or reemerge with improved-upon selections.
Beyond that, they’re also the small, new kids on a street better known for its dance clubs and pricey restaurants. Evans says that while most will “roll their eyes” at the Washington scene, he and Warren are taking on the challenge to attract craft beer lovers to an area they’d usually pass up.
“We’re going to change what Washington has become,” Evans says.
Underdogs aims to offer a consistently cheaper microbrew selection while attempting to bridge the gap between those who want to discuss BJCP style guidelines and those who just want some food truck tacos and a low-key spot to watch the game.
“Some of my go-to beers are Voo Doo stout and Old Rasputin,” Evans says. “If it tastes good to us, we think others will like it.”
Nonetheless, the guys are not keen on judging their customers’ tastes. They’re all about providing what their former corporate bar job was lacking: Warm, personal customer service.
“We don’t care what you are drinking, just that you drink it with us,” Evans says. “Let us pick you a beer and see how we do!”
I’ll hate to see this still relatively under-the-radar, best deal in town become popular enough for large crowds and kegs that blow hourly, but it’ll be great to see these guys earn the credit they deserve.
Who wouldn’t root for the guys who want to create an atmosphere that is “friendly and fun with a neighborhood feel and a lot of sass and jokes”?
Underdogs is looking to save the craft beer day.
