Holiday pop-up bars a new feature of county nightlife
In recent years, the “pop-up bar” has become a new way to celebrate the holiday season, and Butler County has plenty of holiday-themed venues for residents to slake their thirst this month.
ShuBrew in Zelienople has decided to convert its former property, located across the street from ShuBrew on Zelienople’s Main Street, into a tiki-themed holiday pop-up bar.
The “Mele Kalikimaka (Merry Christmas) Holiday Tiki Bar” is open Friday and Saturday nights throughout December and will stay open simultaneously with the regular ShuBrew location during this time.
This isn’t the first time ShuBrew has held a holiday-themed pop-up bar. However, the tiki theme is a change from what it offered last year, when the owners offered a “Griswold’s Pop-up Holiday Experience,” a pop-up bar themed after “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation,” on the roof of its building.
In addition to the same drinks offered at the regular ShuBrew, the holiday bar will offer tiki cocktails, Mai Tais, and holiday beverages such as eggnog.
Earlier this year, the site of the holiday tiki bar was the home of the “General Shu’s” Chinese restaurant, a spinoff venture from the owners of ShuBrew which closed in April. Prior to this, the location was the original home of ShuBrew before the pub moved across the street to its new location in 2019. ShuBrew’s management still owns the old location.
The last date of opening for the tiki bar is Dec. 28.
A relatively new entity on Butler’s Main Street, Johnny’s Distillery came into existence last year as a holiday pop-up bar called the Jolly Holiday Bar before settling into its normal routine as a speakeasy-style lounge and cigar bar.
“We have a lot more interactive things, games, entertainment, trivia, live music, things like that which we didn't have last year,” said manager, Christina Coughenour of the venue at 201 S. Main St.
For December, Johnny’s has added Wednesday to its usual days of business of Thursday through Saturday.
“Every square inch of the upstairs bar is covered in some sort of wrapping paper, tinsel or ribbon,” Coughenour said. “From the ceiling to the floor, from the window to the walls.”
Even hotels have gotten in on the pop-up bar craze, with the Pittsburgh Marriott North on Cranberry Woods Drive hosting its own — Elf’d Up — through Saturday, Dec. 7. The bar, located within the hotel’s lobby, served as a fundraising event for the Lighthouse Foundation food bank, with tickets selling for $10 each.
As part of the theme, attendees were encouraged to dress as elves, with prizes to be awarded each night for the best-dressed elf.
Of course, bars don’t have to be “pop-up” to get in the holiday spirit. With some decorations, special events, and maybe some special holiday cocktails, any bar can become a holiday bar.
For instance, The Missing Links in Connoquenessing Township is holding a Christmas trivia event on Dec. 18, as well as an Ugly Christmas Sweater party on Dec. 21. In keeping with the Christmas spirit, the bar is collecting socks for seniors.
The bar is also touting its “winter beer” called Black Friday.
