World of Beer vs. House 4 Beer

There is a strange battle waging in the South Daytona Beach area between two seemingly similar craft beer bars.  As I was searching for the next fry place to try on a recent trip down to FL, I noticed an interesting thread of yelp reviews for World of Beer and House 4 Beer that indicate that if you are a craft beer fan in that area, you MUST CHOOSE AN ALLEGIANCE.

Take a few minutes and read the reviews for both:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/house-for-beer-port-orange?osq=house+4+beers
http://www.yelp.com/biz/world-of-beer-port-orange

As you can see, most people are either team H4B or team WOB.  H4B is a privately-owned stand-alone, while WOB is a chain with 50+ locations.  I  found it fascinating, and naturally I decided to investigate.  I imagined that H4B was for the "greasers" and WOB was for the "soces"(sp?) a la The Outsiders.  Which would I be?

We tried WOB first cause it was closest to where we were staying.  It's in a micro-mall fairly close to the beach area.  I like the building.

They have beers.  Lots of beers.

And more beers.

And board games.

It was new years day, and the only employee working the front was a kid named Kyle.  Weird name, but he was on point.  He kept up with everybody there (about 12 people total) perfectly fine, and even managed to talk to us quite a bit about the beers. Sorry about potato quality picture, but had beers.

And they have fries.  $2.50 got us these wedges.

They were steaming hot.  Crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside.

And even though I don't give extra points for ketchup, the ketchup was really good.

Amy thought they were the bomb.

I paired the fries with a Terrapin Brewing Company French Toasted Wake and Bake Coffee Oatmeal Imperial Stout.  Long name.  Good beer.

All in, WOB was a pretty good experience.  Kyle even sold us a Cigar City Brewing snifter glass.  The prices were normal for the beers, and $2.50 for that amount (more would have been better) for those fries rates em a solid 9.

Off to H4B we went.

H4B is in a much bigger mall which they call a "galleria".  Fancy!  I didn't like the building as much.

As with WOB, they have beers.

Lots of beers.

And also a whole fridge full of "trade beers".  Beers people brought in and left that you could call them and ask if they wanted to trade for whatever beer you brought in.  It made me mad cause there were all these great beers in there that I wanted, but I hadn't brought anything to trade.  Dammit!  Maybe next time.

I was also sad cause the guy who everyone on Yelp says is a jerk (Patrick) wasn't working.  I really wanted to see what he was about.  Anyhoo, the kid working that day was Aldon, and he was cool.  He was super-friendly, let us try stuff (contrary to the yelp claims) and seemed to know/care about beer.  That's him way down there in the black shirt.  While we were there, Aldon's girlfriend brought him a sandwich and I quoted the line from Clerks about your girlfriend bringing you lunch and he chuckled.

The beer selection at H4B was definitely more refined than WOB.  I wouldn't say that's a negative for WOB, just an observation.   Also, the prices were comparable.   Actually, everything was pretty much even-steven.

But.

H4B does not have fries.

Game over.

Guess I'm a Soc.