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**rifraf** · 08-13-2012, 12:58 PM

When I go into a brew pub, I try to make a quick evaluation: is it a restaurant that also makes beer, or a brewery that also makes food. I try and temper my expectations accordingly. I've only been to one where I liked their food and beer equally.

A brewpub recently closed here. Their beer was ok, better than Gordon Biersch but not as good as some of the craft brews I could get at the liquor store...when I went I made sure I wasn't expecting the best beer I'd ever had and it was fun.

**SusieBrew** · 08-13-2012, 11:25 PM

I had a Yuengling (sp?) lager last week and it had a solvent-like taste to it. Are my taste buds now sensitive to commercial brews since drinking my own homebrew? Oh no...not that!

Susie

tagz · 08-14-2012, 12:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pdxal

"I expect most brewpub beers to be watery"
What area are you in? I'm spoiled living in Portland, I guess, because I have yet to find that issue around here.

Buffalo... Pearl Street Brewery and Buffalo Brewpub both play to the Labatt drinking crowd, so everything they offer is light in flavor; similar to Saranac, Magic Hat, or other second tier breweries.

One of the "bad" beers I tasted was from a new brewpub called Pan American. I believe its run by the same owner as Pearl Street. Tasted like they didn't filter out the chlorine. I couldn't even finish the 3 oz glass.

maclaren · 08-14-2012, 02:38 PM

I've noticed with a lot of the newer brewpubs their recipe's aren't dialed in. So sometimes you'll get some pretty tasty beer and other times you get a watered down mess. I like that fact that more and more people are getting into with craft beer, but at the same time I feel, like with anything, no one should jump into starting a brewery/brew pub. Perfect your beer first!

Kate00 · 08-14-2012, 04:24 PM

I think another thing that will affect quality for a lot of these brew pubs is the water they have available to brew with, if they don't filter or add chemicals appropriately. Most of the places with a big beer scene have great municipal water. Colorado, Portland, etc. a brew pub in some of these places with water that tastes like a swimming pool have a lot of work to do just to make the water taste ok, and that's the biggest ingredient in beer.

I went to college at Texas A&M, and College Station had really bad tasting water. Clean, but tasted bad. Dodge City KS also comes to mind. Boot Hill Brewing Co would be cool for the town, but the water there tastes like sewage.

Might be the problem for some of these places too.

Tenspeed · 08-14-2012, 04:37 PM

People will buy whatever you put in front of them if the price is about average and the label says what they want.

"Artisan" anything, for example. Usually costs 2-3x as much as the regular stuff, usually tastes about the same if not worse.

maclaren · 08-14-2012, 09:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kate00

I think another thing that will affect quality for a lot of these brew pubs is the water they have available to brew with, if they don't filter or add chemicals appropriately. Most of the places with a big beer scene have great municipal water. Colorado, Portland, etc. a brew pub in some of these places with water that tastes like a swimming pool have a lot of work to do just to make the water taste ok, and that's the biggest ingredient in beer.

I went to college at Texas A&M, and College Station had really bad tasting water. Clean, but tasted bad. Dodge City KS also comes to mind. Boot Hill Brewing Co would be cool for the town, but the water there tastes like sewage.

Might be the problem for some of these places too.

It's interesting that you bring that up because a local brewery out here, Four Peaks, had that issue and they to purchase an RO system with tons of tanks to handle their product.

**b-boy** · 09-08-2012, 03:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tagz

Buffalo... Pearl Street Brewery and Buffalo Brewpub both play to the Labatt drinking crowd, so everything they offer is light in flavor; similar to Saranac, Magic Hat, or other second tier breweries.

One of the "bad" beers I tasted was from a new brewpub called Pan American. I believe its run by the same owner as Pearl Street. Tasted like they didn't filter out the chlorine. I couldn't even finish the 3 oz glass.

They are the same owner and the same brewer. They make excellent Amber Ale and Stout, but some of the other offerings are average. I've had a few bad ones too. Overall the stuff they do well is fantastic. I highly recommend the Trainwreck Amber and Brawler Stout.

I occasionally get a few cornys filled there. The head brewer is a really nice guy. He was one of the original partners in Fying Bison Brewery, which makes a decent Lager and a really good Barleywine.

**Jakeintoledo** · 09-08-2012, 01:41 PM

Don't know about you guys, but I'd definitely tell a brewpub about these problems...especially the band-aid taste. It's their product, and you're paying a premium for it. I'd tell them specifically what their fault is---use or chlorine cleaners (band aid taste) or astringent taste ( according to Palmer, any number of problems could be to blame).

Would you eat a steak that tasted like crap?

**Krovitz** · 09-08-2012, 02:19 PM

In Massachusetts there's a chain brewpub called Beer Works. The food is consistently good between locations but the beer definitely is not. Hingham has an excellent house ipa. Went to one near Fenway and there house ipa was flat, watery and tasted like wet cardboard. There beer is brewed at each individual location so I can only assume crappy brewers equal crappy beer.