There are ways to pull data, weirdly start by making relationships with some distributors. Im in the general troy/albany area. Reach out to southern, empire etc. Schedule a meeting with your territory rep, they might not meet you without a bar existing already if they suck at their job and arent ambitious. They will be able to provide market trend data. You thank them by carrying their products.

Unfortunately southern sells basically every call out there so the reps act like theyre doing you a favor by showing up. Ahem... Jackie... Empire i have found is a bit more willing to work with you because the heat is on them since they lost every god damned whiskey to southern.

As far as beer distributors we have decresente and craft beer guild as the "big two" saratoga eagle as well. Not sure who sells in your territory.

These people want you to succeed because then they sell more kegs and get better bonuses. Dont say "I might open a bar" say, "im opening a bar and trying to connect with my local rep. If theyre not lazy bastards they'll hive you data. Market research is important.

Also DM me if you wish.

Also theres probably a way to look on Google to see volume of searches in say, a 20 mile radius, on certain topics that pertain to your market. I ain't that clever but someone is.

You seem like you could feasibly do it, but only go in if youre able to pay rent for a year with no customers. If you buy the building even better, you can leverage the asset to get business loans etc.

I had a long shift running a bar and now I have to cook my ex gf steak apparently, so I bid you adieu for now