The
High Life Lounge is your quintessential neighborhood bar of 25 years
ago.
It’s an old-school,
blue collar bar. It’s the place your dad went for beers after
his softball game or bowling league. It’s the place you went
for lunch for a greasy cheeseburger. It’s the place where
the temperature of the beer was more important than the brand.
“There’s
definitely some nostalgia to it,” says co-owner Jeff Bruning,
noting the High Life Lounge’s 1970s atmosphere and décor.
The dark wood-paneled walls are lined with vintage beer signs –
most of which advertise Miller High Life and other cheap beers.
Brown shag carpet covers the floor under a ceiling with white acoustic
panels on a brown grid. The sign outside is a play off Miller High
Life’s “champagne of beer” slogan that reads “High
Life Lounge: The Champagne of Bar.”
The most vintage aspect
of the High Life Lounge, however, is the beer selection. Though
its signature is obviously Miller High Life (Bruning estimates one
in six beers sold is a High Life), the bar also features numerous
other popular brands from yesteryear – including Old Milwaukee,
Schiltz, Hamms, Old Style, Pabst Blue Ribbon and Grain Belt Premium.
They have Bud and Coors, too, but common beers usually play second
fiddle to the cheap stuff.
“If you come to
the High Life Lounge, you have to get cheap beer,” says Tim
Hall, a frequent patron. “To get anything else is like going
to a Mexican restaurant and ordering a hamburger. A beer you normally
wouldn’t pour out in your yard tastes pretty good at the High
Life Lounge.”
And the proof is in the
bar’s diverse clientele. Bruning points to two men at the
end of the bar clad in business suits – one drinking a High
Life and the other a Pabst Blue Ribbon. “Do those guys look
like the type that drinks PBR?” he asks. “They are when
they come here. There’s still a decent market for cheap beer.”
High Life Lounge co-owner
Andy Massoth found that market at Buzzard Billy’s, one of
his other Des Moines establishments. The bar featurs “Crappy
Beer Night” on Thursdays, selling Old Milwaukee, Miller Highlife,
PBR, Schlitz and other cheap beers for $1. The High Life owners
took the concept to the next level by bringing back the bar atmosphere
from which cheap beer got its identity.
And it’s an atmosphere
that Norm Adami, Miller Brewing Company President and CEO, was proud
to have his company’s name on during a visit to the High Life
Lounge earlier this year. According to Bruning, Adami said the bar
is the best operation he’s seen in his travels to the various
North American markets. Judging by the bar’s Miller beers
sales trends, Adami’s praise comes as no surprise.
“You can look and
see how much Miller High Life is sold in the City,” he said.
“I’d have to guess a large percent of that is because
of us.”
It’s the bar’s
nostalgia, coupled with its location and food menu, that make Miller
High Life an easy sell. The High Life Lounge prides itself in its
cheeseburgers ($2.95 for a cheeseburger and fries) and its broasted
chicken, which Bruning says is the best in town. With close proximity
to Principle Park, it’s also a popular hangout before and
after Iowa Cubs games. Regardless, High Life flows all day long.
Most patrons, however,
simply like a good throwback and a little nostalgia from an old
school neighborhood bar. The bottom line: it’s a place where
you can order a cheap beer and enjoy every drop of it.
Bruning watches an older
man at the bar takes his last sip of Miller High Life and reaches
into the cooler for another. Sarcastically, he presents it to the
man holding the long neck and resting the bottle on his forearm
– label up – like a waiter at an up-scale restaurant
presents a corked bottle of champagne.
The man looks at Bruning
and they both chuckle at the irony of Bruning’s elegant presentation
of a beer that has earned a reputation for its cheapness. But then
again, it is “The Champagne of Beers.”
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