Chill vibes and super friendly service at new Sixth Avenue bar

Sixth Avenue has a new spot for low-key drinking and gathering.

With a similar taproom vibe and the same long wooden bar as its predecessor, Off Day Beer and Wine opened quietly following Pierce County’s entrance to Phase 2 of the state’s COVID-19 recovery program.

The bar replaces North End Social Club, which closed in December after four years in the ground-floor space of 3013 Sixth Avenue. Owner Justin Caillier, who wanted to spend more time with family, sold all equipment and transferred the lease to husband and wife, Lai Thach and Nuri Song, both native Tacomans and high school sweethearts from Mount Tahoma.

They will focus on “hyperlocal” beer, especially from breweries that might not otherwise find a place on tap handles around town. Coolers in the back offer packaged beer for here or to-go.

“We want to give them a little bit of a platform, right here in the center of Tacoma,” said Song.

So far that bunch includes the likes of Wet Coast in Gig Harbor, Acorn in Edgewood and Half Lion in Sumner.

Off Day marks the couple’s first foray to bar ownership but not their first rendezvous with beer or hospitality.

They have been avid home brewers for about a decade and have plans to incorporate their own nanobrewery, called KnuckleDraggers, into Off Day — some day — inspired by the success of backyard taprooms like Puyallup’s Off Camber Brewing. They moved to the southeast side of Tacoma, in unincorporated Pierce County, to find a larger lot with a sizable detached garage for that express purpose.

Song worked as a server throughout much of her 20s while earning an accounting degree from the University of Washington Tacoma. She landed an internship that turned into a job with the City of Tacoma, which she left last fall to embark on this venture.

Thach, also in his late 20s, is currently completing the business program at UWT, following several years in engineering aerospace parts and nearly a decade in the National Guard. The latter deployed him to Thailand, Kuwait, Iraq and Oso, Wash., during the 2014 mudslide.

Their passion for craft beer and the community led them to open Off Day. When they learned that North End was available, they knew they would be hard-pressed to find a better location.

“He put a lot into this place,” said Thach of Caillier’s build-out. It previously housed Tacoma Frame Makers, which moved a couple of doors north. Taking over an existing bar saved upfront costs, they said.

In addition to the existing wooden bar, Off Day retained the monochrome image of Prohibition protesters. They brightened up the walls with a lighter gray paint and added art, with plans to feature rotating local artists on the back chalkboard wall. To start, friend and artist Joseph Helm made his mark above a neon yellow sign with the bar’s name.

They plan to continue hosting open-mic and acoustic nights, but in the back instead of the front, and hope to add trivia and board game nights with a have-a-beer twist.

Capitalizing on their amiable personalities and everyman’s approach to drinking good beer, they want Off Day to attract a wide swath of customers — from barhoppers headed to Crown Bar, The Alleycat or Half Pint up the street, to dinner dates looking for a nightcap after a meal at The Table or Asado.

“I kinda want to promote a lifestyle,” said Song. “We meet a lot of interesting people.”

She referenced a recent Instagram post showing two guys rolling down the sidewalk on motorized skateboards with pink lights.

An off day carries multiple meanings, they explained. It could be a bad day kind of off day, or a day off from the normal grind. In the hospitality industry, any day of the week can be an off day.

Some people have doubted them, saying this section of Sixth Avenue is already dense with such bars, but they believe in the power of the prime location and, to an extent, their own youth.

“This is the golden time for us to do something for ourselves,” said Song.

Either she or Thach will always be there to greet you.

OFF DAY BEER AND WINE

▪ 3013 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253-302-3047, instagram.com/offdaytacoma

▪ Monday to Thursday, 4-10 p.m.; Friday to Saturday, 4 p.m. to 12 a.m.; closed Sundays

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This story was originally published July 2, 2020 at 11:30 AM.