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MQA@MQAblog.com
Tallahassee's "Mike's Beer Barn"
closes it's doors
closing up. To say that Mike's is (was) an institution does not do it justice. The place was an institution in 1980! The fact
that it was around more than 25 years after that makes it a landmark. Located right in the middle of Tennessee Street, "The
Strip", Mike's provided beer for generations of FSU students and Tallahassee residents.
To me Mike's was a reminder of a time when people were more free. Back in the day, before Tallahassee began moving
toward a police dominated city, students could flood the streets after a big FSU football victory. People would climb on top of
Mike's (and his neighbor Bullwinkles) and hoop and holler for hours. Old friends and new ones would gather in front of Mike's
drink, talk, laugh and enjoy being young. Of course, that is no longer allowed.
One of my first impressions of Tallahassee, when I arrived straight from High School, was Mike's. It had beer. It was a barn.
It had a drive through. At last, I thought, civilization! It served the public 24/7 so yes, the barn door was always open.
Over the years I got dozens of kegs from Mike's for house parties. They had the kegs, taps,big bags of ice and the familiar
blue Mike's Beer Barn keg tub. You could see those almost anywhere in town where students lived. Bars in Tallahassee
close at 2 so when I accompanied friends who just had to keep drinking after the bars closed Mikes was the place to be at
1:55am. It was the place to get last minute direction to "after hours" parties.
There is probably no other place in Tallahassee that has served college student for so well for such a long period of time.
The only other places that have even been open that long (that I can think of) is "Bill's Bookstore" and "Deebs Hats". The
former rarely brought a smile to students faces, the latter not visited by a student since the hat wearing phase died out in the
1950's.
So Mike's Beer Barn provided a service that was in demand for 5 decades and served millions of fun loving people.
Students, alumni and Tallahassee residents alike will mourn the passing of Mike's Beer Bar. Even if only because it was
something that was in the same place and looked exactly the same for as long as anyone can remember. Now it is gone.
Relegated to history - along with drinking beer on the streets and publicly celebrating with your fellow students. A relic of a
freer time in Tallahassee history.
If you have any old photos of Mike's Beer Barn you want to share, e mail them to me.
MQA@MQAblog.com
