On a recent Wednesday afternoon, Clever Alehouse co-owners Nelson Taylor, Jeff Schwenke and Jason Bowers sat around the bar discussing the details of a grand opening celebration set for Aug. 27.
It was an hour before the bar/restaurant’s 4 p.m. opening, and several staff members were already prepping food in the 78-square-foot kitchen, and several more of the eatery’s 18 employees had begun arriving to set up the bar and take chairs off the tables.
After a quick tour of the two-story space in Red Bank that was once home to Big Frog Brewing, the three settled into one of four large leather couches in the downstairs area. Clever opened June 2, and Schwenke said it already feels like a part of the neighborhood, with several regulars, including parents who walk from their homes pushing baby strollers or couples who walk or ride bikes a couple of times a week.
“We knew people in the neighborhood wanted a place to hang out, because they told us before we opened, but we have been surprised at how quickly it has happened,” he said.
Taylor said his biggest surprise since opening has been the number of new names of patrons that he’s seen, in addition to the number of people he didn’t already know who signed up for the venue’s Kickstarter campaign. The owners plan to do another round of sign-ups for its members-only group sometime soon.