BG bar serves up good beer and live music
BOWLING GREEN – Eric Jones loves music, especially jazz.
In fact, he loves it so much that he opened Arlyn’s Good Beer to give local musicians a steady place to play.
Before Arlyn’s opened on Feb. 5, 2020, students and faculty from Bowling Green State University were forced to jam in different local venues for decades. Jones said he attended their Wednesday night sessions for five years.
“They were kind of at the whim of bar owners who would let them play or pay them enough to play,” Jones recalled. “I had the chance to enjoy the jazz every Wednesday night. It looked like they were having trouble getting a place to play so I started talking about opening a bar.”
“And lo and behold, he did it,” said Jeff Halsey, a jazz bassist who plays regularly at Arlyn’s.
Jones retired as a professor of special education at BGSU and decided to take the plunge and open the bar, mainly to support live, local music.
Jones and his wife, Akiko Kawano Jones, teamed up with brewer Roger Shope and business partner Sean Brennan to buy a building and several acres of property on Hankey Ave., a side street just three blocks from downtown.
The new owners decided to name it after the building’s former owner, the late Arlyn Snyder, who ran a wood-milling shop.
The Joneses and partners opened Arlyn’s about a month before the world came to a screeching halt because of COVID. But Arlyn’s survived the pandemic and patrons know they can count on the venue for live music – and good beer.
Jazz is featured on Wednesdays, and blues and rock on Fridays and Saturdays, Jones said.
“It’s a fantastic place,” said Halsey, who just retired as a BGSU music professor and plays there on Wednesday nights. “It’s really cool, a beautiful space, and the beer really is good.”
“The community really likes it,” Jones added. “We hear frequently how much people really like the place.”
Somewhat surprisingly, Jones said the age of the patrons typically range from their mid-20s to 70+.
“People ask me if it’s popular with students. Well, not really. It’s kind of a mature adult hangout,” he said.
The beer brewed by Shope is mostly German and English ales and lagers.
“We decided early on to keep it simple, no fruity beers or sours. The only fruity beer we make is a raspberry ale. And we don’t have clever names; we just name them what they are,” Jones said.
The biggest night for students is Wednesdays. They come for the jazz. Many of the BGSU music students often join the band after the first set.
“The music students, they love it. They come there to play and to see each other,” Jones said.
He said about a third of them don’t drink because they’re under the legal age, but they can bring in their own soda pop.
Arlyn’s does not charge admission.
There is a half-acre beer garden outside with tables and chairs and picnic tables, and there is ample parking. The bar also doesn’t have a kitchen but food trucks open shop on the weekends and on many Wednesday and Thursday nights.
Arlyn’s Good Beer is at 520 Hankey Ave., Bowling Green, OH 43402. More information is available on its Facebook page.
