Hay Merchant Grand Opening

So there has been a ton of press over the last months about the long anticipated opening of Hay Merchant (like here, here, here, here, here, and oh-my-dear-god-why-has-there-been-THAT-much-press here), so I'm not going to reinvent the wheel.  But, I do have to share that Jason and I actually checked the place out... on opening night, nonetheless.  Yes, we're total beer snobs.  And, yes, like one of the articles mentioned, it was full of tons of people "in the know."  Too bad I'm not "in the know" and couldn't identify half of them.

Interior shot.  Sorry for the bad picture quality.  I headed there
straight after work and didn't have a camera with me.

I do know that the guys from Karbach were there.  Also, we had an encounter with Chris Shepherd as he made his obligatory rounds.  While it's unclear how much input Chris had with the Hay Merchant menu offerings since his future next door restaurant, Underbelly, will be kept completely separate, it was still kinda funny.

Water was served in 32 oz. Budweiser bottles.  Get it?  Ha.

As Jason and I ate our blood sausage queso fundido, delicious local daily ground hamburger, and onion rings, I said, "Hey, maybe we should tell Chris how good the food is."  Jason says, "Why, he's just going to go, 'I know.'"  So later, Chris comes by the table and asks if every thing's alright.  I say, "Yea, thanks... the burger is delicious."  He so nonchalantly, responds, "Yea," and walks away.  Then Jason and I giggled cause he was totally called the response to a T.

Only an after shot of the food since it we ate it so quickly.

Anyways, we were pretty impressed by the whole experience.  Good food.  Over 75 beers on tap... and good ones too.  Attentive staff.  Nice interior.  Oh, and they have a couple dart boards so of course Jason was happy.

Dude Jase, chill out with your stalking of the
dart boards.

I'm sure we'll keep this place on our list of frequently visited beer establishments.

Update:  According to this article, the executive chef at Hay Merchant is Antoine Ware.