Spreading the gospel

A love of beer sparked restaurateur Elliot Nelson’s growing empire

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Location: James E. McNellie’s Public House, downtown

To drink: A variety of draught beers, chosen by Elliot Nelson

The Tulsa Voice: How did you come to be interested in beer? 

Elliot Nelson: I did an exchange program in Dublin during my junior year in college, and I went in to a pub down the street from where I lived. This guy Eddie was the bartender. I said, “I want a pint of Smithwick’s.” And he said, “Sorry, lad. Only Guinness.” And I kept telling him I wanted a Smithwick’s and he kept refusing to serve it to me. I said, “Look, I see that you have it, I see other people drinking it.” And he said, “You don’t get it. I’m only serving you Guinness. Give me five pints, and if you still want a Smithwick’s, I’ll serve it to you.” After about three pints, I never turned back.

I was fortunate enough when I was over there to travel back into the continent a little and got to Germany and Belgium and really started to discover how much amazing beer was out there. 

TTV: Is that what got you thinking about opening McNellie’s?

EN: Yeah it started to coalesce. When I’d come back home, I couldn’t find a good beer on tap anywhere, so I thought, you know, if I could do this and offer a crazy amount of beers and a good burger, I might be able to make it.

TTV: And now you’re ten years in. I guess it’s worked. Is it hard to manage all of these beers?

EN: Yeah, it’s somebody’s full time job. There’s about 60 on tap and 300 or so more in bottles. It’s really difficult to stay on top of; we’re vigilant about the dates and freshness, so that makes it even harder. We keep our lines clean. I mean, it’s never ending. When you do it all and do it all right, it’s a lot of work. 

TTV: So, what’s new? Anything in development?

EN: [Laughs] Just a few things.

TTV: Let’s talk about the new pub in development near the ball field.

EN: That’s something I’ll bet Eric [Marshall, of Marshal Brewing] has been talking about for about four or five years now. Finally, we had a building that came up, and we’ve been working on the building since 2012.

TTV: So it’s going to be a brewery. 3.2 beers?

EN: Yeah, people are skeptical of the 3.2 label, but truly, 3.2 beer is 4.1 percent alcohol. To give you an idea, Guinness is 4.2 percent, and all of the new sessionable IPA’s are about right there as well, so you can brew some great beers in that range. It allows us to do some interesting things. We can do growlers, we’re gonna have pizza, so we’re really excited about the prospects. With 3.2 beers, there are fewer open container restrictions, so that will afford us the opportunity to have a lively patio atmosphere and happy hours and things that we’re excited about.

TTV: Who wants to chew through something thick when it’s this hot anyway?

EN: Yeah, you want something kind of thirst quenching. A lot of those big IPA’s, you need a glass of water sitting beside it. You want something that evaporates quickly on your palette.

TTV: How many businesses are you running right now?

EN: We have El Guapo’s out south under construction, and then two more restaurants in Oklahoma City under construction, so those will be 13, 14, and 15.

TTV: Ten years ago, is this where you thought you’d be?

EN: Oh, no. 

TTV: What were you thinking? Just keep the doors on this one open?

EN: Yeah, for sure. Just get to the next day. But along the way, we got pretty good at the restaurant business and I’ve had some great people who have worked with us, and that’s who we grow for now. You know, it’s not some empirical plan. We grow so that our people can step up and run things and grow with us.