This whole BrewPub things?

Is it really that good?

It seams like it no guarantee of good beer.

No, it is not really that good. Some brewpubs are excellent with both great beer and good food, but for the most part both the beer and the food are subpar (there is one I have been to in NH where the beer literally tastes like they brewed it with salt water).

I think for people who typically drink BMC or some of the larger "micros" like Sierra Nevada and Sam Adams, they are a good thing as it opens them up to trying different things; for us EACs, not so much as we make better beer in our kitchens.

Shot who in the what now? what "whole brewpub things" are you talking about?

Who ever said they were a guarantee of good beer? They're just a brew-on-premises operation. Like standalone breweries, some are good, some are bad.

I have 1 great brewpub and 1 OK brewpub just down the street, the great one has beers that I'm still working on cloning, very awesome stuff, has a beer club, brewery tours etc. Some I guess can be sucky, but around here it is great. I really love beer on tap rather than out of bottles if I can (as a general rule) maybe I'm just imagining it tastes better though

Shot who in the what now? what "whole brewpub things" are you talking about?

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Don't ask me to think about what I mean.
I'm

What I love about the idea of a brewpub (one that actually brews on premises) is that it brings beer closer to the consumer. It's not travelling halfway across the country to get to the restaurant, it's local. All things being equal, beer ought to be consumed close to where it was brewed. That's the tradition, right? That's the ideal?

Is it a guarantee of quality? Of course not, it all comes down to execution; but I love the very nature of what a good local brewpub represents.

I'm pretty happy that Vermont Pub & Brewery and The Alchemist are in existence

Yeah, I'm in a beer snobs club and once a month we go to a different brewpub in the detroit area....and they are hit or miss pretty much. Some are Stellar like Dragonmead, and some suck, but think their sh@# doesn't stink because they are in a hip suburb full of trendy people like Woodward Avenue Brewers...

We went to one a couple months back that their beer tasted like soda pop...there wasn't one decent beer in the bunch (the sad thing is that they have the best pizza I ever had...but I wouldn't go there for pizza and beer.)

I was complaining about that place to one of the guys at my LHBS, it turns out that they hired him to come up with the beer recipes there when they first opened, and he did, and everything was fine for a couple months, but he said they changed his recipes or somethig and their beers suck now.

I'd kill for a brewpub in-town. Even a garbage brewpub with stank beer! It would still be better than a pint of BMC.

Although Dogfish Head is only an hour away from me and that is a very good brewpub, it's still an hour away (it's a longer drive after a few).

We have 3 and I would rather drink Budweiser than most of them.

Everytime I try them I get hit with diacetyl or DMS and to add insult to that all BOP are limited to 3.2abw here. You'd think that would make for some good brewers but it doesn't.

There are tons of them around here. Most of them are good too. There are at least 10 of them (I know there are more I am forgetting) within 30 minutes of my house. About 5 within 10 minutes.

There's one or two brewpubs in Portland, I think.

EvilTOJ said:

There's one or two brewpubs in Portland, I think.

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I'm surprised they can survive. People in the PNW don't seem to appreciate good beer. Heathens.

You poor people... we have 3 local brewpubs and it is some of the best beer I've ever tasted (only beaten out by the beer gardens in Munich).

The closest to me is DuClaw (a local chain). Food is decent, beer is decent. I just went to the Ramshead Tavern in Annapolis this past weekend. Great food, so-so beer (was not a fan of their stout, but their wit wasn't half bad). I think it all depends on the operation. Can't wait to try the Brewer's Art in Baltimore next, bring on the Belgians! And of course, DFH alehouses are good.

Jester369 said:

I'm pretty happy that Vermont Pub & Brewery and The Alchemist are in existence

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+1...Amen!

jmulligan said:

The closest to me is DuClaw (a local chain). Food is decent, beer is decent. I just went to the Ramshead Tavern in Annapolis this past weekend. Great food, so-so beer (was not a fan of their stout, but their wit wasn't half bad). I think it all depends on the operation. Can't wait to try the Brewer's Art in Baltimore next, bring on the Belgians! And of course, DFH alehouses are good.

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This past weekend I went to DuClaw and the Wharf Rat in Fells Point. They were both very good brewpubs IMO. Wish I could've sampled Brewer's Art though...

Jester369 said:

I'm pretty happy that Vermont Pub & Brewery and The Alchemist are in existence

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+1

That's why I cross the lake!!!

For me it is not so much the beer as it is the people and the atmosphere. I would love to be able to go to the pub once in a while. I have better beer at home than I can usually find in pubs, but I am tired of drinking at home. In my particular case, pubs really are that great.

There is a place by my house that takes me ten minutes to walk to. They have 12-16 beers on tap - mostly their own but they have guest taps and 2 beer engines serving local cask conditioned ales and one nitrogen tap. They brew some fair beer and some really good beer. The local beer on the hand engine is usually really good. Food is OK - I am not expecting 5 star dining from what is a glorified pub/bar. Good burgers, great hand breaded cod - that sort of thing.

I know that for every good one, there is probably 5 bad - so I may be a little spoiled. :rockin:

EDIT: And for me - it is all about the beer.

It is rare to find a bad brewpub around here. There are enough good ones that bad beer or food will kill an operation quickly. The last bad one I was in had fantastic food and lousy beer. New people took over & it is doing fine. There are places I go to more for the beer than the food, but never the other way around.

The great ones all have three main players: a good brewer, a good cook and a good manager. One person cannot do all three.

Great prewpubs in Wisconsin. In my experience, it is harder to find a bad one than listing all the good ones. They rarely have incredible beer, but it is always good and a fun atmosphere.

Yeah, they're hit and miss. The only one within reasonable driving distance for me is DFH. The food's pretty good and the beer's good, if you like hops.

I love the concept of a BrewPub. As the_bird mentioned it brings the beer closer to the consumers. And many of the Pubs have much better beer than is commonly available in restaurants around here. However it is definitely no guarantee of quality. One of the worst beers I have been served was at the Put-in-Bay Brewery on South Bass Island (Lake Erie). The local RockBottom Brewery has only OK beers and the beer at the local Chophouse is decent. However the Great Lakes Brewery Pub is excellent as is the Willoughby Brewing Company in an east side suburb.

Craig

I've only got one chain brewpub by me, Hops. Pretty good beer, and it is cheaper than most stuff at $2.75/pint, good food as well.

I wish there was somewhere local that did cask brews! I are jealous.

I've only ever been to one brew pub in the UK and it was crap.
They brewed from extract.

But there are great pubs that have there own off site brewery. Or maybe it's more correct to say breweries that have their own pub.