Olive Garden's Sister Restaurant Has A Large Draft Beer Selection

People go to Olive Garden when they're craving its Italian American dishes, like the signature Tour of Italy and the deliciously iconic breadsticks. While patrons may get a glass of wine or a cocktail with their meal, they're really there for the food. The same isn't true at Yard House, its sister restaurant under the Darden Restaurants umbrella, where its large selection of beer is a big part of the draw.

The sports bar-style casual dining chain focuses on draft beer instead of bottles or cans, and boasts more than 100 brews on tap. The selection spans domestic, imported, and local craft beers across nearly 100 U.S. locations, and even includes a variety of its own house brews.

Yard House sorts its extensive beer menu into categories such as India pale ales, including some hazy IPAs; seasonal-rotating; fruit, with flavors like mango and raspberry; crisp-refreshing, which are mostly pale lagers and pilsners; sour; wheat; brown-stouts like Guinness; and malty-amber, such as Sam Adams Boston Lager. There are also hard ciders and seltzers, along with nonalcoholic and gluten-free options. Customers who want to sample a few can order a flight with six selected house beers, or four of their own choosing.

Of course, the restaurants serve food alongside all that beer, from a New American menu that plays with international flavors. The choices range widely, from poke- or chicken-topped nachos to tacos, burgers, spicy chicken sandwiches, pizza, and more.

Yard House has paid attention to the details since its 1996 founding in Long Beach, California, in an effort to serve the best beer possible. That starts with how it chooses what to add to its selections. It's always looking for creative new brews and ones that are generating buzz to try on the menu, including by communicating with breweries, as well as its own workers and customers.

The restaurants have custom systems to handle the logistics of serving so many different beers. They're all stored in keg rooms maintained at temperatures between 36 and 38 degrees Fahrenheit. Technologically up-to-date processes ensure that after the beer flows through the equivalent of miles of beer lines, it will be fresh, chilled, and taste good when the bartender pours it from the tap.

Even the glasses have been carefully thought out. The chain is famous for its attention-grabbing half-yard glasses, towering narrow vessels that give Yard House its name and can hold 32 ounces, or one quart, of beer. It also has its own pint glasses designed to boost carbonation, goblets that are particularly used for Belgian and sour beers, and 23-ounce pub glasses with ample foamy head space. Customers can take any of the brews home in 32-ounce crowlers, containers that are specially sealed to maintain their fresh flavor.