Founder - I think this club requires a new classification.

I suppose it was inevitable, considering strip clubs generally serve beer and craft beer seems to be running its more commercial cousins off taps all over the place these days, but hey, there's a gentlemen's club making its own beer. What is somewhat surprising is that this isn't happening in Portland, Oregon (a place with two vegan strip clubs), but in the suburbs of Dayton, Ohio at a place called Pinups and Pints:

We went to the back room, which was where the brewery was housed. The brewery is a small affair — only a 15-gallon set-up, but a SABCO high-end computerized system that homebrewers would certainly kill for.

Conrad confessed he hadn't been an avid homebrewer, but the idea of making his own beer appealed to him. It also helped to renovate the club. Baby Dolls didn't have a liquor license, and to get a license through the regional agencies can be tough. However, a brewer's license is easier to obtain. Pinups and Pints' type of license is the same one Fifth Street Brewpub, Lock 27 and several other local breweries hold. It allows them to not only brew and serve their own beer, but also to serve a full bar of guest beers, liquor and wine.

Pinup Pale Ale, Conrad's inaugural beer, was being primed for release that Monday, but we sampled an early release. It was a solid pale ale, a good start on a new system and one that will get better as Conrad works out the kinks in his system. “If I'm going to have it, I might as well make it good,” Conrad explained. He plans to do an Oktoberfest as well, offering two beer styles alongside the full bar.

When asked about the impact the craft beer is having on business, Conrad noted, “It's been great. We've been having people come out for the beer.” Alisha, the bartender, noted a similar occurrence: “People are interested in the beer. It's fun to have more to offer.”

Overall, we had a great time. What we expected was light years away from what we experienced. With high-quality décor, attractive and enthusiastic entertainers and a solid bar centered around microbrewed flagship offerings, Pinups and Pints seems to have figured out a formula to turn around a struggling gentlemen's club into something with the possibility of being a regional destination, as well as perhaps the only microbrewing strip club in the country.

Photos: tucsonweekly.com