30 Mohr years of brews at the Red Dog

Even before it was completed, the Red Dog Saloon perked the interest of celebrities Kevin Bacon and Steven Spielberg, who visited the saloon while working on movies in the area several years ago.

Bruce Mohr purchased the Red Dog Saloon on a bank foreclosure in July, 1984. The building had been abandoned for at least four years when Mohr bought it. 

At the time, Mohr and his wife Lisa were both working two jobs in addition to picking up a new business.

“It has been quite a journey,” Bruce Mohr said. “The times have changed, the laws have changed, the business has changed and the people have changed. We’ve spent a lot of time in the saloon, and sometimes it is a relaxing time.”

When the Mohrs first took the Red Dog under their wings, it was just a beer bar. The original 25-foot-by-30-foot building only had a bar table and a few places to sit. The transition from a bar to a restaurant was a result of the community pressures against driving under the influence in the mid-80s.

“If you didn’t serve food, you weren’t going to make it,” Bruce Mohr said. “Especially if you have a bar that is as far out of town as we are.”

The Red Dog has been a family saloon since it opened in 1967. At one point the name was changed to the Pipe Creek Tavern, but Mohr was displeased with that name and changed it back to its original name when he purchased it. 

The original building was divided into two areas, one for the Saloon and one for a residence with only a thin wall in between. A small grocery store was located in a building behind the Red Dog during this time, but it has since been sold and is now used as a family residence. 

 “The building was the size of a trailer house before the construction,” Lisa Mohr said. “There used to be a bedroom and a bathroom where our current kitchen is.”

Not long after the Mohrs bought the Red Dog, they intended to purchase another local business, but their bid was unsuccessful. Instead, they used the money to add a dining room to the Red Dog, which increased the size of the saloon by nearly five times.

The Mohrs have made other improvements to the building since adding the new dining room, including: building re-insulation, building a new foundation and re-varnishing the floors.

After finishing the building add-ons, business at the Red Dog doubled. Bruce Mohr estimated 60 to 70 percent of his business shifted from beer sales to food sales after the expansion because allowed him to seat customers and serve them food. Business doubled once again when the Mohrs obtained a liquor license. The license came with some difficulty, Bruce Mohr said, because he was in competition against two mafia-owned outfits for the right to sell liquor. With the help of a student lawyer, he said, he won the license by proving the intent of the other establishments was to re-sell the license.

Regular customer, John Sievers, 82, enjoys pizza and beer at the Red Dog every Sunday night with his neighbors. Sievers and his neighbors jokingly named their Sunday gathering the Pipe Creek city council meeting.

“I really like it there because it is a family place,” Sievers said. “It is in my neighborhood and I can walk to it, plus the food is really good. People don’t know how much work Bruce and Lisa have put into that place and what they have done to get where they are now.”

Ellen Mills is the most experienced Red Dog waitress as she has been serving customers for 18 years.  

“I really enjoy working there,” Mills said. “You see a lot of new faces, and you have a lot of regulars. After working there as long I have, the customers and the bosses are like an extended family to me.”

The Red Dog is also known to be a typical hangout for skiers and snowboarders coming down from Turner Mountain. Bruce Mohr expresses his gratitude toward the Turner Mountain crowd by hosting the ski area’s annual fundraiser for almost 20 years.

Although winters are one of the busiest times of year for the Mohrs and their employees, summer months attract even larger numbers of customers.

“People think we do most of our business in the winter, and that’s not the case,” Bruce Mohr said. “Between July and September the amount of business we get is comparable to all the other months combined. Every night is Saturday night.”

Bruce Mohr has visited a pizza exposition in Las Vegas for the past few years and took away several helpful tips to improve his pizza. He said one important thing he learned over the years is how to be a chemist rather than a baker.

The Red Dog pizza crust is a recipe created by Bruce Mohr and his brother Mark. During the first winter of Mohr’s ownership, he and his brother attempted to create a whole wheat-based crust using a 30-year-old oven. Their goal was to create a tasty crust that had the consistency of soft pizza dough. The dough was eventually perfected by the brothers, and the oven, which is now 60 years old, is still used to cook the pizza.

Bruce Mohr’s favorite part about the business is dealing with customers during their free time. “People are more relaxed and laid back when they aren’t working which creates a better atmosphere for everyone.” he said.

After many years of construction and improvements, the Mohrs have made the Red Dog Saloon the place to be for many locals. The saloon is at its all-time-high with a full evening menu, a full beverage bar, a pool table and a foosball table, all made possible by the Mohrs’ hard work and persistence.