Joe Schutzman is a Newport firefighter who loves Northern Kentucky’s culture, sense of place – and beer. Find Joe’s previous columns and more on NKY dining here.
As we head into the dog days of winter…(what actually is the opposite of the dog days of summer? Would it be the doldrums of winter? The deep freeze of the season?…Feel free to drop me a line if you have any thoughts)…I find it particularly important to talk about good places to head when the weather turns cold and inhospitable. It’s the time of year after the hustle and bustle of the holidays has ended and we begin to settle in for the long haul through winter.
And so, this is exactly when having a “little place you know to go” is most acutely felt. And it is also for that reason that I would like to talk about the idea of the “stammtisch.”
This is a German custom where patrons of a specific pub or beer establishment have a standing reservation at a specific table.
The frequency varies, but it’s most commonly weekly or monthly. The members of the stammtisch are usually close friends or members of a specific social group or club.
They meet at the same time, same pub, same table, and on the same day of the week. The pub will even place permanent signs on or near the table letting other guests know that this table is always unavailable during this set time.
And while the basic idea isn’t particularly different from the usual concept of a reservation, I can’t help but revel in the formalization of it. I’m enamored with the idea of a group of friends making the commitment to each other to hang out, catch up, and drink a beer (or more!) on such a regular basis.
Perhaps you already have a stammtisch going. They are not unheard of in this area due to the significant cultural influence of German tradition, or perhaps, you already have something similar going on without even knowing you had one. My parents and aunts have kept a running stammtisch without even knowing what one was for years now.
On almost any given Friday night, you can find them at their usual table on the back wall at Fort Mitchell Public House. Public House offers a nice selection of draft beer, and they do one of my favorite things a bar can do, which is offer local rotating taps.
You can always find something there from local beer makers, Rhinegeist and MadTree. Their current Rhinegeist selection is their flagship IPA, “Truth.”
Now I must admit, I consider myself a creature of habit and a stubborn beer drinker, slow to branch out. As anyone who has read previous articles can tell, I usually stay in my lane of German-style lagers and wheat beers of all types.
However, despite this, I think “Truth” is a really nice gateway beer into the IPAs. It’s an IPA for those of us who don’t drink them. On the rare occasion when I’m craving something with a little more of a “hoppy punch” than your average pilsner, I go for “Truth.”
And Public House is a lovely place to drink a “Truth.” It has exactly what you’re looking for in a neighborhood pub, a lively single room with a deep, rich wood bar that wraps around the bartender and libations on three sides. They offer a really nice burger, good selection of sandwiches, and some heartier dishes for those looking for a slightly more upscale dinner with their beer.
More importantly, Public House has a fantastic staff. You can most often find Andy working the door and welcoming you in and conducting the show. My parents and aunts not only keep the same table, time, and day for their reservation but also always have the same fabulous server, Hannah. But I would be remiss by not saying that everyone I have interacted with on the staff there have been great over the years. It’s this feeling of being taken care of that keeps folks coming back.
I can’t say I’m a full member of my family’s Friday-night stammtisch, but I’m proudly a part of the small rotating cast of support characters that occasionally appear at the table. So to Hannah and Andy and the rest of the lovely team at Fort Mitchell Public House, thank you for your hospitality and for always taking such great care of us. We will see you on Friday.