Hippie staff behind the bar...ignorant wait staff...dumb overall. Beer selection is solid , but the bar manager is horrible. Through a hissy fit over nothing. Go down the street for better bars. This place is trying to be something it's not...sh**ty pool tables, foosball etc. Check further down church street...you'll be much happier.
Review Source:The bartenders are a bitter, crabby bunch who don't seem to appreciate how much money they make off of obnoxious college kids. Â Having a job is a luxury... be nice to the people who are not part of the unaware UVM bunch! Â The door people are much friendlier than the bar staff. Â Basically, this place turned from a nice place to hang out to a turn and burn college hook-up bar when they moved locations. Â I guess I don't blame the bar staff for being irritated, but they should be more discerning about who they treat like doo doo. Â The only plus is that there is tons of space and you can easily sit and talk with friends.
Review Source:Went there tonight with 7 others. Â The bartender was very rude as if we were taxing him for serving us our beers. One from our party noticed the rudeness of the employee and responded with a statement the involved a lack of tip. Â The bartender therefore attempted to charge our party an extra $20 for an additional beer. Â When the member of my party refused to pay the extreme and false extra amount, the bartender seized the drinks from our hands and claimed they weren't paid for, then proceeded to have the entire party removed from the premises. Â I will NEVER return to this establishment. Â Being a former bartender and member of the food service industry for 10 + years, I was appalled at the lack of respect given to the paying customer, a customer who would have spent a considerable amount at 3 Needs.
Review Source:BOO! What is this place?!
From out of town, Three Needs is listed as a must-visit brewery. Strange? We think. We have never heard of this brewery.
That is because three needs is not a taproom nor a brewery. It is just a dive bar that looks cool. We reluctantly ordered a non-three needs selection because we came all the way out there and felt bad.
Three Needs should not market something they do not in fact have. If we came in looking for a cool dive bar, the review would have been 5/5 - expectations met.
Brewery, not so much.
Brewery? When?
We stopped in at Three Needs in search of unique local brews on a trip from Philly under the pretense that Three Needs creates beer. Â A logical assumption given the name? Â When we visited last week and asked which Three Needs beers were on tap, the server told us none. Â
None? Really? Â Sadface :-(
The bartender was friendly, though, and they did have some beer on tap from other local breweries. Â We each had a Switchback, which we enjoyed. Â The decor was nice, the atmosphere was nice, and they had some old arcade games set up near the door. Â Our bartender stopped paying attention to us and we had to get our check from someone else. Â On our way out, we played some pinball and Gallaga in order to end our experience on a better note.
As a bar, I'd give it 3.5 stars. Â As a brewery, I have no idea..? Â Zero stars, since they weren't making/serving any of their own beer? Â
I can't find a Three Needs website (besides 3rd party sites like Yelp and BeerAdvocate), so I don't know what the story is on when they did create their own beer or when they stopped.
The OIB: Optical Illusion Bar... Â Looks like a hobbit hole on the outside, opens up into a spacious ski lodge looking inside. Co-ed bathroom pleasantly disorienting for a second, then makes sense. Great vibes. Patio with jungle-y painted walls. Get wrecked and make some cool friends here :)
Review Source:Cozy. Good Beer Selections. Pinball. Progressive.
This bar has a cozy, woodsy feel to it, with exposed rafters and nooks and crannies to hide in and talk to friends. The beer selection was nice, with some local and unique brews.
The bartender wasn't the most knowledgable about the beers however, and didn't even know which ones were local.
There's also a pinball machine and a multi-gender bathroom! Â Ooo! Progressivity!
*It can get a little loud later at night, but not terrible.
This draft has been waiting to be finished since August 2011. I am just now finally getting around to finishing. Good grief!
I went on a Friday night and there was a line out the door!! I would have walked away right then but I needed my passport stamp from the Vermont Brewery Challenge so I waited in line for like 10 minutes before I was able to get in. Inside, the place is packed. Like sardines. Once you get past the crazy popularity of it, it really is kind of a cute place. But WAY too busy for my liking. I like to sit at a bar and enjoy my drink, not get elbowed and pushed around all night.
I tried two beers, one was pretty good, one was pretty bad.
the pretty bad: Ich bin ein Berlinger Weisse: lemony sour like pledge or pine sol
the pretty good: Witty belgian: hefe like, good carbonation and weight, wheaty, slight banana
I would only come back again if the place wasn't packed. I also wish they did a sampler or flight. Sad :(
This place used to be one of my favorite bars until they switched locations. They traded the character and charm of their prior spot for a more spacious and thus higher capacity situation. When I went to pay my bill, I was told by the bartender, rather smugly, that I needed to check my wallet because apparently I'd already checked out. Well, I most certainly had not. The bar had carelessly given my debit card to some other patron who walked away with it into the night. They offered little in the form of an apology or compensation. The manager attempted to dodge the blame by repeatedly indicating that it wasn't her who had given my card to a stranger, it was a member of her staff.
No longer Burlington's #1 dive, no longer charming... Three Needs officially sucks. Go here if you want to be treated like shit and have your card stolen.
The new Needs opened last night. Same great vibe, just three times the size. Now with a second pool table and foosball.
I was skeptical about the move at first, worried that my favorite bar would lose some of its dive-y hole-in-the wall charm, but it's all still there. Come see for yourself!
I loved this place! We went on a Friday night after hitting a few other bars, but once we made it here, we didn't want to go anywhere else. Even though it was pretty crowded, we managed to find 2 seats at the bar. The mister got their black IPA and I had a Stone IPA... both were awesome. We had 3 each. We settled in with some card games and drinking and cutesy and just had a ball. We didn't go anywhere else until we went back to the hotel. I kind of wish we went nowhere but here, but I probably would have gone hungry.
Place is fun with good beer! What else do you need?
So my first impression of this place was not good. I walk up on a Friday evening and see a bunch of people standing out front. I start to walk past them thinking they are smoking or hanging out or whatever only to find out the bar is at capacity. There is seriously a line to get inside a bar in Burlington. WTF!
I wait because I wanted to check the place out and it turns out to only take like 5 or 10 minutes. So finally I get in and the place is completely jammed with people and its almost impossible to move. They are playing super loud hipster type music and the crowd was a mix of granola hippy people and trendy hipsters.
I ended up going with the Witty Belgian which was pretty much what the name suggests. It was a decent tasting Belgian wheat ale. The second beer I tried was the Ich Bin Ein Berlinger Weis which was way too citrusy for my taste. At that point being unimpressed with the 2 beers and starting to get annoyed by the crowd I left and doubt I will return here.
3 Needs is a fantastically divey taproom only about a block away from the madness of Church St, but you'd walk right past it and never know what you missed. They've got a weird airlock double-door thing going on which makes it awkward to casually stroll in while wielding photo gear, but I eventually made it. It was 7pm on a Saturday, and dead. Three others, a couple and one other solo gent, were in watching a soccer game, and not saying much. I'm assuming it gets busier later on in the night. The reviews on Yelp say this is a "love it or hate it" kind of place, and describe the normal crowd as "Phishy." Perhaps it's better that we were there while it was quiet.
The bartender was very friendly, and told me they brew in the basement, and I'm kicking myself for not taking a peek at their setup. The decor of the place is very 18-35 year old male demographic, with a pool table, punk rock stickers, liberated street signs and license plates, and a plethora of Family Guy and Simpsons cutouts.
I went with the Citra IPA, which was fantastic... hoppy bitter bite, but with enough smoothness to balance it out. The best beer I had on the whole trip. My companion went with the Helles Boch, and enjoyed it... medium dark and malty sweet. After that she was feeling adventurous and got a (free!) flight of the four house beers. I'm not sure if that is standard, or if it was just quiet that evening, but free beer always tastes better. The Belgian wit, Helles boch and Paul's pils were all pretty standard and drinkable, but the IPA was by far the star of the show. Excellent.
It was definitely a dive, but with that "neighborhood-bar-where-the-locals-go" sort of vibe. I wouldn't be surprised if I was sitting in somebody's "saved" seat. While we were there, a few others wandered in, and casually strolled behind the bar to get their personal pool cues before settling down for a couple games. My thoughts might change if I saw the usual crowd, but I loved it. Good, solid place to sit down, shut up, and have a good beer.
my favorite bar in burlington. not to be confused with my favorite bar of all time.
good things about this place.
dim lighting (dark bars...good. bright bars...too many things i don't to see0
good beer (for a small place they brew 4-5 beers that they offer on tap. if you see their list on the bar...it's the ones above the stick. you'll know what i mean when you get there)
awesome bartenders but mostly the women though. they're easy going and take no bullshit. they've thrown out unruly patron and not before giving them a good tongue lashing.
good tunes most of the time.
things that i don't enjoy so much.
pool table (i'm all for pool but this space takes too much prime space)
i know it probably wasn't their fault but the video games are in the small closet in the back. no space to enjoy it and if you're there you like a loser because you're the only. ok i might exaggerating on the smallness of the closet because for a closet, it's pretty big.
A
This bar is pretty awesome. A dive bar for sure, for real people, with good and cheap beer in great quantity. When we got there they were finishing off one keg and charging a dollar a glass until it ran out. Awesome.
If I still lived in Burlington, this would probably be where I'd be most weekends. It's just fun. It seems like a good place to meet people and just hang out and have a good time.
This place may look and feel like a dive, because it is, but that is what gives it so much character. The home beer menu changes between seasonally and every few weeks, and most of them are very good. My friends and I each get one and pass them around just so we can try them all. Don't write this brewery off because it's a dive, rejoice in the friendly pub feel. Bars are supposed to be about the company you keep as much as, if not more so, than they are about the atmosphere - and here the people defiantly make up for any lack of atmosphere.
Review Source:I was hoping to add something some other yelpers left out, but I think they covered it. We were there at 6pm, and saddled up to the bar. The bartender was quick to point out the dollar draft of the night (lasted until the keg ran dry) and the beer offered was pretty decent. The hippie/unshaven/bandana crowd in the joint wore their style with pride. The bathroom walls has black and white checkered tile, with some spray paint graffiti on the ceiling for an added touch. Â The music had a Dead Kennedy's style to it, and the cartoon network was on the boob-tube.
Dive bar? Â Yup.
Worth a visit? Â Sure. Even if this isn't your scene, the beer flows just as smoothly as the tourist joints.
"Duff Hour" is swell, They've got cheap house brews, and a pinball machine! Also Simpsons, Phish, and Dead memorabilia all over the walls. What's not to love? Also, a less college type scene and more actual VT folks give this place a nice vibe. Hole in the wall and a little bit of a dive? Sure, but they give this place it's character.
Review Source:Love this place. Football sundays are the shit!!! When I lived there the owner would put out free hot dogs and home made chili. I was the lone Jaguar fan there and I was always welcome there (unless my team was playing the steelers, there is a TV dedicated to the steelers) but it wasnt too bad even then. On the weekend, it was just another place to stumble into when your time traveling on Church st. Yes it is a dive but most bars in the area are.
Review Source:Just another bar option. Â Leave it at that. Â
I do like the pool table it is this pretty light grey color and in good condition.
The only problem is that you are sharing it with everyone else. Â So you may be waiting awhile to use it....and the competition is very good. Which could be fun but after waiting so long you may be immediately booted from the table.
The atmosphere is a very casual and local feel to it. Â The beer is a small mix of local brews to your regular options. Â
With that written, if it isn't busy it could be a cool place for a game of pool and drink. Â Otherwise, go elsewhere.
I've found a 4th Need for this place, a ventilation system. Â Went in there on the early side last night, around 10pm and it smelled like a combination locker room, pool, wet basement. Â I don't expect potpourri by any stretch, but come on ....
Beer selection is good.
Smell is not good.
Divebar Brewpub, that's what I'd call this great place. You've got the quality brews, with the comforts of a dingy bar. I'm sure some people might be confused by the combination, but I think it's awesome. No room for the pretentious. There's a bar, some tables, and a pool table. What else do you need?!
Review Source:It's still a 5-star bar, but it was a little odd to visit over Christmas with the out-of-state girlfriend and try to explain how THIS was the sort of bar where I used to always see friends no matter when I stopped in. Â The crowd wasn't exactly desirables, but it also wasn't quite five o'clock. Â Since when do all the bars in Burlington open at 2pm? And since when is the Duff Saranac and not Sierra?
Review Source:I have never been here past Duff Hour so the complaints about the crowd may very well be true. Â But where else are you going to get quality beer (Saranac, usually) for only a dollar?
At its best on a weekday afternoon when you can drop in at 4, actually get a table, have a few beers for under $5, then leave when the keg runs out.
Also, I had one of the house ales last time and it was pretty solid.
If the beer wasn't so good here, I would probably never go. Â The people are sort of weird and I feel out of place like Pee Wee Herman when he goes into that biker bar in Pee Wee's Big Adventure (minus the bikers). Â I usually hit this place up on my way home from VT. Pub when it's not as busy. Â One time a girl walked in on me using the bathroom, but other than that it's not a very exciting place. Â 4 stars for the beer!
Review Source:
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