Yankee Brew News Archive

Pub Review: Richter's Cafe

Originally Published: 04/96

By: Gregg Glaser

Richter's Cafe in New Haven, on Chapel Street across from the New Haven Green, is the place to go for great beer in the city. With thirteen draft lines, close to thirty bottled beers, forty-two single malt Scotches and twelve small batch bourbons, Richter's is also one of Connecticut's best-stocked pubs.

Richter Elser opened his bar in January 1983. "I went into the bar business one year after I graduated from Yale," says Elser, "where I studied European diplomatic history. My former roommates and I were together the weekend of the Yale-Harvard football game in 1982, we had a little too much to drink as former roommates will do on occasion and we got this idea that for all the money we spent drinking at bars, what we should do is open our own place. Which is not such a novel idea for slightly inebriated roommates."

Elser had been accepted to Harvard Business School, but that same football weekend at a tailgate party, the uncle of one of his roommates gave Elser a bit of advice. He said that Elser would learn far more of practical business value by taking the money he would spend on business school and opening a bar than by going to B-School.

The roommates formed a partnership to open the bar, but only Elser remains. "I like the bar business," says Elser. "I'm not doing anything now that I thought I'd do when I was a senior in college, but I make a steady living and I basically enjoy myself. That's a lot more than most people can say. I have very few complaints."

The rear room of Richter's dates back to 1856 when it was the bar of The New Haven House, a hotel designed by Henry Austin, a famous New Haven architect. The New Haven House was torn down in 1910 to build the Hotel Taft, which opened in 1912. The Taft's Men's Taproom used all the woodwork of the original bar. At the beginning of Prohibition the paneling was stripped off the walls and re-assembled in the basement as a speakeasy. Upstairs, the old bar became a dining room.

In 1933, after Repeal, the paneling was brought back upstairs and once again put in place in the newly-opened bar. The Taft closed in 1972, and the bar rooms were boarded up. In 1980 the building was renovated into an apartment house, but the bar remained closed. Elser and his partners took over the space in late 1982 and re-did all the wiring, plumbing and heating and installed a kitchen.

Richter's is a small bar, with table and standing room for only seventy-five people. It's also a popular spot in New Haven. Most nights of the week it's not uncommon to have to wait outside before being able to enter. It's not the Yale crowd, however. "We're not a college bar," says Elser." "Our core group of customers are guys, 25-35 years old, professionals in the greater New Haven area with no mortgage and who are not married. The next biggest group of customers are the women who are looking for these guys."

The front and rear rooms of Richter's are paneled with wood from the old New Haven House, and the walls are decorated with beer paraphernalia and Gibson Girl drawings. Several Yale rowing oars hang throughout the bar, owing to Elser's years as a freshman rowing coach at Yale. The mantle above the filled-in fireplace holds nine empty 9-liter Salmanazars of champagne. Elser and his friends have celebrated with one of these bottles each New Year's Eve since the bar opened.

Of the thirteen draft lines at Richter's, six are permanent and the remaining seven change on a monthly basis. The bottled beers change a bit with the seasons. "We will not sell a draft beer if we can't sell a keg a week of it," says Elser, "and no bottled beer if we can't sell a case a month of it. By keeping our selection somewhat narrow and changing it regularly, we're able to have a good turnover on our beer and keep fresh stock. All the bartenders know how to read the date codes on the kegs, and our wholesalers know that we're one of the few retailers that actually check these dates. Wholesalers don't pawn off old beer on us."

Elser doesn't buy the line about imported beer not being as fresh as domestic beer. "We're getting Guinness here that is fresher than some of the American microbrewed beers. The serious import brands are very aware of moving beer quickly through the system. They're not as bad at it as some of these whiny little radio voices want you to believe."

So what beers can you find at Richter's? The current draft line includes Newcastle Brown Ale (Richter's is the largest Newcastle account in Connecticut), Bass Ale, Elm City Connecticut Ale, Guinness Stout, Pilsner Urquell, Harp Lager, Moosehead, Warsteiner, Harpoon IPA, Blackwell Stout, Anchor Steam, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and Redhook Wheathook Ale. Half-pints sell for $2.00, pints for $3.50 and half-yards for $6.50.

The bottled beers at Richter's range from standard American lagers such as Rolling Rock, Pabst, Schaefer and Schlitz to some of the beers of Samuel Smith, MacEwans, Mackeson, Old Peculier, Redhook, Boddington and others. Prices range from $2.50 to $5.00 a bottle.

"Pabst, Schaefer and Schlitz are included because they were America's three former great beers," says Elser "and part of my concentrated anti-Budweiser effort. I have nothing against the beer; just the local wholesaler who provides miserable service."

There are no Sam Adams or Pete's Wicked beers available at Richter's, though. "There are so many beers out there to sell, that we arbitrarily do not sell any contract brewed beer. Harpoon and Elm City products are the only fudging on this point, since they both do some contract brewing in addition to in-house brewing." With the absence of Budweiser and contract-brewed craft beers, Elser says, "We're as distinctive for the beers we don't sell, as for what we do sell."

Several years ago Elser was involved in the start-up of the New Haven Brewing Company, now the Elm City Brewing Company. Blair Potts, a founding partner at New Haven Brewing and the original head brewer, was once the manager at Richter's. Mike Gettings, another New Haven Brewing founding partner and current sales manager at Elm City, was a Richter's bartender. The drawing on the label of Elm City's Mr. Mike's Light Ale shows the bar at Richter's, and the dog on Elm City's Blackwell Stout was Elser's dog.

Commenting on the surge in popularity of craft-brewed and quality import beers, Elser says, "People have discovered in the last four to five years that beer can have a tremendous variety of flavor, and more and more people are realizing that. As customers come in who haven't ever tasted a strong flavored beer and want to try something different, we start them on Harp Lager or Pilsner Urquell and then move them up to Newcastle and Guinness. I keep some of the less interesting beers because if a group of people goes out to have a good time and someone in the group can't find something they like, they're going to go someplace else. Some bars have too rigid an idea of what kind of beer line-up to offer. I think you have to carry what your customers want."

There are no special beer promotions or beer nights at Richter's, but sometimes on a slow Saturday afternoon there might be an impromptu beer tasting. One novel way Elser advertises his pub is with a billboard. The billboard rotates among three locations around New Haven: on Route 34 driving into the city; on I-95 south of New Haven and I-95 north of New Haven.. "The first billboard was originally designed for the Richter's T-shirt," says Elser. This is a tap handle design, the Richter's logo and the slogan "For Life's Hard Choices." The new billboard pictures a series of filled pint glasses with the beers' logos. The color ranges from the gold of Pilsner Urquell to the black of Guinness. The printed slogan reads, "We Serve All Types."

The food at Richter's is good, simple pub fare, including chili, wings, ribs, salads, sandwiches, hot dogs, hamburgers and chicken. Prices range from $2.00 to $7.50

Asked how he views the current beer scene, Elser responds, "There are a few people in the micro and craft beer world that I take exception to. Just because a product comes from a small brewery doesn't mean that it's better than any other beer. It's certainly worth trying, but I get a little bit annoyed with what I call the beer proselytizers. I don't think there is any best beer in the world. It has a lot to do with the occasion you're drinking it, the weather, the temperature, the friends you're out with--all kinds of things. If I could only drink one beer it would be Guinness Stout, but I like all the beers we have here. I think beer is a great product."

Richter's is located at 990 Chapel Street in downtown New Haven (203-777-0400.) The hours are: Sunday, 6:00 p.m. - Midnight; Monday - Thursday, 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 a.m.; Friday-Saturday, 11:30 a.m. - 2:00 a.m.