Brewery vs. Bar — What's the Difference?
By Maham Liaqat & Urooj Arif — Updated on March 10, 2024
A brewery primarily focuses on producing beer, often offering a tasting room to sample its products, while a bar is a retail establishment that serves alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises.
Difference Between Brewery and Bar
Table of Contents
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Key Differences
A brewery is a facility where beer is produced, involving processes like mashing, fermenting, and packaging. Breweries often have a distinct focus on the craft and quality of beer production, experimenting with different ingredients and brewing techniques to create unique flavors. Whereas, a bar is an establishment that sells alcoholic drinks such as beer, wine, and cocktails for consumption on the premises. Bars typically provide a social setting, where patrons can gather to enjoy drinks, sometimes accompanied by food, entertainment, or live music.
While breweries may have a tasting room or taproom where customers can sample the beers produced on-site, the primary purpose is to showcase the brewery's own products. These spaces often offer a limited selection of other beverages and may provide tours of the brewing facilities to educate visitors about the brewing process. On the other hand, bars offer a wider variety of alcoholic beverages, including beers from various breweries, wines, and spirits. Bars focus more on the experience of socializing and drinking, rather than the educational aspect of beer production.
Some breweries expand their operations to include a brewpub, where they not only produce beer but also operate a bar-like setting with a full food menu, blending the lines between a brewery and a bar. Conversely, some bars may focus on craft beers, offering a wide selection of beers from different breweries, including local and international options, to cater to beer enthusiasts.
Breweries often engage in the distribution of their beers to other retail outlets, such as liquor stores, bars, and restaurants, allowing them to reach a wider audience beyond their own premises. Bars, however, are the end-point in the distribution chain, serving as a venue for consumers to explore and enjoy a diverse range of alcoholic beverages from various producers.
The ambiance and clientele of breweries and bars can differ significantly. Breweries, especially those with taprooms, often attract beer aficionados interested in learning about the brewing process and tasting different beer styles. Bars, depending on their theme and location, can attract a diverse crowd looking for a casual drink, a night out, or a place to watch sports or engage in other forms of entertainment.
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Comparison Chart
Primary Function
Production of beer
Serving alcoholic beverages for consumption
Focus
Craft and quality of beer, brewing process
Socializing, variety of drinks, entertainment
Offerings
Own beer products, sometimes limited other beverages
Wide range of alcoholic drinks, including beer, wine, spirits
Additional Features
Tasting rooms, tours
Food, live music, sports viewing
Clientele
Beer enthusiasts, those interested in brewing
General public looking for social or entertainment venues
Distribution
Distributes beer to various retail outlets
End-point of the beverage distribution chain
Atmosphere
Often more focused on the beer experience
Diverse, depending on theme and location
Compare with Definitions
Brewery
Focuses on the art and science of beer making.
The brewery prides itself on using traditional brewing methods.
Bar
An establishment that serves alcoholic drinks for consumption.
The bar is known for its extensive cocktail menu.
Brewery
A place where beer is brewed and packaged.
The brewery offers tours to show visitors how their beer is made.
Bar
Offers a wide range of alcoholic beverages.
The bar stocks an impressive selection of international beers.
Brewery
A space to sample beers made on-site.
The brewery's tasting room offers a rotating selection of their craft beers.
Bar
The ambiance can vary widely from casual to upscale.
The bar has a cozy, intimate atmosphere perfect for date nights.
Brewery
Breweries often distribute their beer to other outlets.
The brewery's beers are available in local bars and liquor stores.
Bar
Often features live music, sports, or other forms of entertainment.
The bar hosts live bands every Friday night.
Brewery
Provides insights into the brewing process.
The brewery's tour includes a detailed explanation of the fermentation process.
Bar
Many bars offer a menu of snacks or meals.
The bar's menu includes classic pub fare like burgers and wings.
Brewery
A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant.
Bar
A long rigid piece of wood, metal, or similar material, typically used as an obstruction, fastening, or weapon
Bars on the windows
An iron bar
Brewery
A place where beer is brewed, especially commercially.
Bar
A counter in a pub, restaurant, or cafe across which drinks or refreshments are served
Standing at the bar
Brewery
A building where beer is produced.
We took a day trip to the Guiness Brewery
Bar
A barrier or restriction to an action or advance
Political differences are not necessarily a bar to a good relationship
Brewery
A company that brews beer.
Mike works for the local brewery.
Bar
Any of the short sections or measures, typically of equal time value, into which a piece of music is divided, shown on a score by vertical lines across the stave
The opening bars of the first hymn
Brewery
A brewhouse; the building and apparatus where brewing is carried on.
Bar
A partition in a court room, now usually notional, beyond which most people may not pass and at which an accused person stands
The prisoner at the bar
Brewery
A distillery where beer is brewed
Bar
The profession of barrister
His dismissal from the Singapore Bar
Bar
A unit of pressure equivalent to a hundred thousand newtons per square metre or approximately one atmosphere.
Bar
Fasten (something, especially a door or window) with a bar or bars
She bolted and barred the door
Bar
Prevent or prohibit (someone) from doing something or from going somewhere
Journalists had been barred from covering the elections
Bar
Mark (something) with bars or stripes
His face was barred with light
Bar
Except for
His kids were all gone now, bar one
Bar
A relatively long, straight, rigid piece of solid material used as a fastener, support, barrier, or structural or mechanical member.
Bar
A solid oblong block of a substance or combination of ingredients, such as soap or candy.
Bar
A usually rectangular slice of any of various flat baked confections that are typically dense in texture.
Bar
A rectangular block of a precious metal.
Bar
See horizontal bar.
Bar
A horizontal rod that marks the height to be cleared in high jumping or pole vaulting.
Bar
A standard, expectation, or degree of requirement
A leader whose example set a high bar for others.
Bar
Something that impedes or prevents action or progress
A poor education was a bar to his ambitions.
Bar
A ridge, as of sand or gravel, on a shore or streambed, that is formed by the action of tides or currents.
Bar
A narrow marking, as a stripe or band.
Bar
A narrow metal or embroidered strip worn on a military uniform indicating rank or service.
Bar
Chiefly British A small insignia worn on a military decoration indicating that it has been awarded an additional time.
Bar
(Heraldry) A pair of horizontal parallel lines drawn across a shield.
Bar
The nullification, defeat, or prevention of a claim or action.
Bar
The process by which nullification, defeat, or prevention is achieved.
Bar
The railing in a courtroom separating the participants in a legal proceeding from the spectators.
Bar
A court or courtroom.
Bar
Attorneys considered as a group. Used with the.
Bar
The profession of law. Used with the.
Bar
A vertical line drawn through a staff to mark off a measure.
Bar
A measure.
Bar
Variant of barre.
Bar
A counter at which drinks, especially alcoholic drinks, and sometimes food, are served.
Bar
An establishment or room having such a counter.
Bar
A unit of pressure equal to one million (106) dynes per square centimeter.
Bar
To fasten securely with a long, straight, rigid piece of material
Barred the gate.
Bar
To shut in or confine
Barred themselves in the basement.
Bar
To obstruct or impede; block
Barred the access route.
Bar
To keep out; exclude
Tourists are barred from this room.
Bar
To prohibit or prevent (someone) from doing something
Failing the eye exam barred him from driving.
Bar
To prohibit (an action)
The state bars the dumping of waste in the river.
Bar
(Law) To nullify, defeat, or prevent (a claim or action).
Bar
To rule out; except
Can we bar the possibility of foul play?.
Bar
To mark with stripes or bands.
Bar
Chiefly British Except for; excluding
This was your best performance, bar none.
Bar
A solid, more or less rigid object of metal or wood with a uniform cross-section smaller than its length.
The window was protected by steel bars.
Bar
A solid metal object with uniform (round, square, hexagonal, octagonal or rectangular) cross-section; in the US its smallest dimension is 4 inch or greater, a piece of thinner material being called a strip.
Ancient Sparta used iron bars instead of handy coins in more valuable alloy, to physically discourage the use of money.
We are expecting a carload of bar tomorrow.
Bar
A cuboid piece of any solid commodity.
Bar of chocolate
Bar of soap
Bar
A broad shaft, band, or stripe.
A bar of light
A bar of colour
Bar
A long, narrow drawn or printed rectangle, cuboid or cylinder, especially as used in a bar code or a bar chart.
Bar
(typography) Any of various lines used as punctuation or diacritics, such as the pipe ⟨{{!}}⟩, fraction bar (as in 12), and strikethrough (as in Ⱥ), formerly including oblique marks such as the slash.
Bar
(mathematics) The sign indicating that the characteristic of a logarithm is negative, conventionally placed above the digit(s) to show that it applies to the characteristic only and not to the mantissa.
Bar
(physics) A similar sign indicating that the charge on a particle is the negative of its usual value (and that consequently the particle is in fact an antiparticle).
Bar
A business selling alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises, or the premises themselves; a public house.
The street was lined with all-night bars.
Bar
The counter of such premises.
Step up to the bar and order a drink.
Bar
A counter, or simply a cabinet, from which alcoholic drinks are served in a private house or a hotel room.
Bar
, juice bar, etc.}} Premises or a counter serving any type of beverage.
Bar
An establishment where alcohol and sometimes other refreshments are served.
Bar
An informal establishment selling food to be consumed on the premises.
A burger bar
A local fish bar
Bar
An establishment offering cosmetic services.
A nail bar; a brow bar
Bar
An official order or pronouncement that prohibits some activity.
The club has lifted its bar on women members.
Bar
Anything that obstructs, hinders, or prevents; an obstruction; a barrier.
Bar
A metasyntactic variable representing an unspecified entity, often the second in a series, following foo.
Suppose we have four objects, foo, bar, baz and quux.
Bar
A dividing line (physical or notional) in the chamber of a legislature beyond which only members and officials may pass.
Bar
The railing surrounding the part of a courtroom in which the judges, lawyers, defendants and witnesses stay.
Bar
The bar exam, the legal licensing exam.
He's studying hard to pass the Bar this time; he's failed it twice before.
Bar
Collectively, lawyers or the legal profession; specifically applied to barristers in some countries, but including all lawyers in others.
He was called to the bar, he became a barrister.
Bar
One of an array of bar-shaped symbols that display the level of something, such as wireless signal strength or battery life remaining.
I don't have any bars in the middle of this desert.
Bar
(music) A vertical line across a musical staff dividing written music into sections, typically of equal durational value.
Bar
(music) One of those musical sections.
Bar
(sports) A horizontal pole that must be crossed in the high jump and pole vault.
Bar
(metaphorical) Any level of achievement regarded as a challenge to be overcome.
Bar
The crossbar.
Bar
(backgammon) The central divider between the inner and outer table of a backgammon board, where stones are placed if they are hit.
Bar
An addition to a military medal, on account of a subsequent act.
Bar
A linear shoaling landform feature within a body of water.
Bar
A ridge or succession of ridges of sand or other substance, especially a formation extending across the mouth of a river or harbor or off a beach, and which may obstruct navigation. (FM 55-501).
Bar
(heraldry) One of the ordinaries in heraldry; a diminutive of a fess.
Bar
A city gate, in some British place names.
Bar
(mining) A drilling or tamping rod.
Bar
(mining) A vein or dike crossing a lode.
Bar
(architecture) A gatehouse of a castle or fortified town.
Bar
(farriery) The part of the crust of a horse's hoof which is bent inwards towards the frog at the heel on each side, and extends into the centre of the sole.
Bar
The space between the tusks and grinders in the upper jaw of a horse, in which the bit is placed.
Bar
(slang) A measure of drugs, typically one ounce.
Bar
A non-SI unit of pressure equal to 100,000 pascals, approximately equal to atmospheric pressure at sea level.
Bar
(transitive) To obstruct the passage of (someone or something).
Our way was barred by a huge rockfall.
Bar
(transitive) To prohibit.
I couldn't get into the nightclub because I had been barred.
Bar
(transitive) To lock or bolt with a bar.
Bar the door
Bar
To imprint or paint with bars, to stripe.
Bar
Except, other than, besides.
He invited everyone to his wedding bar his ex-wife.
Bar
(horse racing) Denotes the minimum odds offered on other horses not mentioned by name.
Leg At Each Corner is at 3/1, Lost My Shirt 5/1, and it's 10/1 bar.
Bar
A piece of wood, metal, or other material, long in proportion to its breadth or thickness, used as a lever and for various other purposes, but especially for a hindrance, obstruction, or fastening; as, the bars of a fence or gate; the bar of a door.
Thou shalt make bars of shittim wood.
Bar
An indefinite quantity of some substance, so shaped as to be long in proportion to its breadth and thickness; as, a bar of gold or of lead; a bar of soap.
Bar
Anything which obstructs, hinders, or prevents; an obstruction; a barrier.
Must I new bars to my own joy create?
Bar
A bank of sand, gravel, or other matter, esp. at the mouth of a river or harbor, obstructing navigation.
Bar
Any railing that divides a room, or office, or hall of assembly, in order to reserve a space for those having special privileges; as, the bar of the House of Commons.
Bar
The railing that incloses the place which counsel occupy in courts of justice. Hence, the phrase at the bar of the court signifies in open court.
Bar
Any tribunal; as, the bar of public opinion; the bar of God.
Bar
A barrier or counter, over which liquors and food are passed to customers; hence, the portion of the room behind the counter where liquors for sale are kept.
Bar
An ordinary, like a fess but narrower, occupying only one fifth part of the field.
Bar
A broad shaft, or band, or stripe; as, a bar of light; a bar of color.
Bar
A vertical line across the staff. Bars divide the staff into spaces which represent measures, and are themselves called measures.
Bar
The space between the tusks and grinders in the upper jaw of a horse, in which the bit is placed.
Bar
A drilling or tamping rod.
Bar
A gatehouse of a castle or fortified town.
Bar
To fasten with a bar; as, to bar a door or gate.
Bar
To restrict or confine, as if by a bar; to hinder; to obstruct; to prevent; to prohibit; as, to bar the entrance of evil; distance bars our intercourse; the statute bars my right; the right is barred by time; a release bars the plaintiff's recovery; - sometimes with up.
He barely looked the idea in the face, and hastened to bar it in its dungeon.
Bar
To except; to exclude by exception.
Nay, but I bar to-night: you shall not gauge meBy what we do to-night.
Bar
To cross with one or more stripes or lines.
For the sake of distinguishing the feet more clearly, I have barred them singly.
Bar
A room or establishment where alcoholic drinks are served over a counter;
He drowned his sorrows in whiskey at the bar
Bar
A counter where you can obtain food or drink;
He bought a hot dog and a coke at the bar
Bar
A rigid piece of metal or wood; usually used as a fastening or obstruction or weapon;
There were bars in the windows to prevent escape
Bar
Musical notation for a repeating pattern of musical beats;
The orchestra omitted the last twelve bars of the song
Bar
An obstruction (usually metal) placed at the top of a goal;
It was an excellent kick but the ball hit the bar
Bar
The act of preventing;
There was no bar against leaving
Money was allocated to study the cause and prevention of influenza
Bar
(meteorology) a unit of pressure equal to a million dynes per square centimeter;
Unfortunately some writers have used bar for one dyne per square centimeter
Bar
A submerged (or partly submerged) ridge in a river or along a shore;
The boat ran aground on a submerged bar in the river
Bar
The body of individuals qualified to practice law in a particular jurisdiction;
He was admitted to the bar in New Jersey
Bar
A block of solid substance (such as soap or wax);
A bar of chocolate
Bar
A portable .30 caliber magazine-fed automatic rifle operated by gas pressure; used by United States troops in World War I and in World War II and in the Korean War
Bar
A horizontal rod that serves as a support for gymnasts as they perform exercises
Bar
A heating element in an electric fire;
An electric fire with three bars
Bar
(law) a railing that encloses the part of the courtroom where the judges and lawyers sit and the case is tried;
Spectators were not allowed past the bar
Bar
Prevent from entering; keep out;
He was barred from membership in the club
Bar
Render unsuitable for passage;
Block the way
Barricade the streets
Stop the busy road
Bar
Expel, as if by official decree;
He was banished from his own country
Bar
Secure with, or as if with, bars;
He barred the door
Common Curiosities
What is the primary purpose of a brewery?
The primary purpose of a brewery is to produce beer.
What makes a bar different from other drinking establishments?
A bar is specifically focused on serving a variety of alcoholic drinks in a social setting.
Are there bars that only serve beer?
Yes, some bars specialize in beer, offering a wide range of domestic and international brews.
What's the difference between a brewpub and a brewery?
A brewpub is a hybrid that combines a brewery with a restaurant, serving both beer and food.
Do all breweries offer tours?
Many breweries offer tours, but it's not universal. It's best to check with the brewery.
How do bars ensure a variety of drink options?
Bars stock a wide range of beers, wines, and spirits from various suppliers to offer diversity.
Can you drink beer at a brewery?
Yes, many breweries have tasting rooms where you can sample their beers.
Do breweries serve food?
Some breweries have brewpubs that serve food, but not all offer extensive menus.
Is it common for breweries to have seasonal or special releases?
Yes, breweries often release seasonal or limited edition beers to showcase creativity.
Can bars brew their own beer?
Some bars, particularly brewpubs, may brew their own beer, but it's not common for most bars.
How do bars cater to different tastes?
Bars may offer themed nights, special drink menus, and cater to niche interests like craft beer or cocktails.
Can breweries sell their beer directly to consumers?
Yes, many breweries sell their beer on-site and through distribution to retail outlets.
What kind of entertainment can you find at a bar?
Bars may offer live music, DJ sets, sports broadcasts, trivia nights, and more.
What's the typical atmosphere of a bar?
It can range from lively and loud to relaxed and quiet, depending on the bar's theme and clientele.
What role do breweries play in local communities?
Breweries can be community hubs, hosting events and supporting local causes.
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Written by
Maham Liaqat
Co-written by
Urooj ArifUrooj is a skilled content writer at Ask Difference, known for her exceptional ability to simplify complex topics into engaging and informative content. With a passion for research and a flair for clear, concise writing, she consistently delivers articles that resonate with our diverse audience.
