This month’s edition of The Session is hosted by Thomas Cizauskas of Yours for Good Fermentables, who asks us to consider Beer Gardens. I’m late to the party due to some overall craziness and weekend traveling but here we go:

What is a beer garden? Or what isn’t a beer garden? Or what should a beer garden be? Or where is a beer garden?

Is a beer garden a place of foliage and shrubberies? Or is it a plot of concrete with umbrellas? Is a beer garden an outdoor bar? Or is it an outdoor Biergarten pavilion with Gemütlichkeit und Bier? Or is a beer garden to be found at a brewery with a hop trellis de rigueur?

Is a beer garden to be found outdoors, or can it be, alternatively, an interior third place, an arboretum with beer? Is a beer garden a real thing or is it a Platonic ideal, an imagined gueuzic nostalgia? Or is it a place indeed, once or often visited, not Bill Bryson in the woods, but Lew Bryson in a beer garden? If so, where is it? Tell us (with or without Lew).

The topic is beer gardens: whatever they may be, wherever they may be. And even your backyard, Olmsted-esque or humble, might be a Moon Over Beer garden. On Friday, 6 April, tell the world about it.

When it comes to the beer garden, the Platonic ideal I have in my head is the classic German one that I probably read about in Maureen Ogle’s book, Ambitious Brew. The outdoor garden/grassy setting, communal tables, families on blankets (was that part of it?), flowing beer and plentiful food. It sounds terrific and was a stark contrast to the dark and dingy American taverns and saloons of yesteryear that were anything but those things.

The micro/craft era has at least brought about its own American version of the beer garden, though I think more often than not we tend to see breweries put picnic tables out onto a concrete patio with some potted hop plants and maybe an awning and call that their “biergarten.” There may be a small lawn area, but it would be tough to quantify as such. Nothing against patio drinking! I love sitting outside in the sun on a brewpub patio. But let’s be honest, as a beer garden it’s a stretch.

There is hope. Stone Brewing‘s World Bistro & Gardens in Escondido is probably what I would consider the ideal American version. Yes there is a (big) patio but they have seamlessly integrated actual gardens and plants and more for a truly remarkable experience that captures the spirit amazingly well. Of course there is a lot of money behind Stone that most breweries frankly don’t have access to, but they can still strive to follow its example. Move beyond the concrete patio! (Or at least heavily supplement it!)

Here in Bend (I always come back to Bend…), there are several breweries with beer gardens more in this vein. GoodLife Brewing is first to come to mind, as it has its expansive Biergarten that is almost entirely grassy lawn, with a bocce ball court and other lawn games to enjoy in a family-friendly atmosphere. The brewery has done a nice job with the space to make it not appear as industrial as the surroundings.

Crux Fermentation Project has a great lawn space next to the patio of the brewpub that functions as a defacto beer garden in the warmer months, offering lawn games, a large space for kids and dogs to play, terrific views of the mountains, and even an outdoor bar on the patio. It’s a popular spot in the summertime and Crux has some elegant lagers to help complete the experience.

Both Worthy Brewing and Bend Brewing offer garden-y spaces with more patio; Worthy’s website even says:

It’s not an authentic beer garden without string lights, shades, fire pits, a band stage, picnic tables, hanging flower baskets and happy beer lovers having a worthy good time.

To which I will say yes, but; more grass, and I’m not sure how much contribution string lights actually offer besides looking cool. To be fair, the patios aren’t fully concrete, as they’ve put in sand/gravel beds upon which the picnic tables sit. That’s actually kind of nice touch because it makes for easy cleanup of spills and whatnot, without worrying about killing the greenery beneath the table.

Bend Brewing’s beer garden expansion is a more recent renovation, which included adding parking as well as (concrete) patio space with a firepit along with the grassy yard area. A fantastic bonus feature is that the yard overlooks Mirror Pond/the Deschutes River.

Okay, ultimately, I don’t want to get too fine-grained in trying to define a “proper” beer garden—there’s that Platonic ideal in my head, and then there is the reality. Given that balance, when it comes to beer gardens, I will paraphrase the words of Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart and say, “I know them when I see them.”