Dirty beer lines at bars

How many of you guys run into beers infected by dirty beer lines at bars? I feel like I've recently run into a high percentage of infected tap beer at bars and its getting annoying. I don't always know exactly what the off flavor is I'm often a bit buzzed but I know its off and sometimes can't even drink it.

So far in the past two months its been two pints of New Castle (although I may just hate that beer), one IPA (never had this one so it might just be bad), and one Arrogant bastard that I've had a thousand times and never been so disapointed.

What do you guys do? do you send it back? I feel too snobbish and end up just choking it down. And how could I return an arrogant bastard even if its infected? they'll just think I don't like it because it is bitter

Send it back. If it's off they shouldn't be serving it.

some places are notoriusly bad about line maintenance.

If this happens to me again when I'm sober I'll send it back. I guess this is what I get for ordering an arrogant bastard at some podunk town in Northern Wisconsin that probably has it ordered once a week max.

I work for an insurance company and we had a claim where a patron was served a beer after the bar cleaned the lines. It turns out the tap was never disabled, the lines were actively being cleaned and the bartender ended up serving a good amount of cleaner through the line. A lot of money was paid out and the patron had serious health problems due to ingesting the cleaner. The moral of the story is any time you are served food or drink that doesn't seem right, send it back and either ask for something else or stop frequenting that establishment.

Dirty lines are bad news. Think how the kitchen must look if they can't even keep their beer lines clean.

On a related topic, I was at Higher Ground in Burlington, VT last fall to see the Black Crowes, and I ordered a SNPA from the tap. What I got was a Magic Hat #9 (yuck). So I told the bartender who insisted that I was wrong, even though he poured me another (I watched him pull it from the SNPA tap). Same thing...effing gross apricot beer. So I choked it down and switched to SN bottles.

Last week, I sent a rusty Guinness back for dirty lines and the bartender said to one of the waitresses: 'what's he trying to prove?'...incidentally this was the same place that had 'Victory' on the menu, I asked which kind and was told 'beer' I asked which kind again, and never could get the answer. Wound up with a Guinness, which I sent back...and taking my business elsewhere. NO TIP either. When I go to a place that has dirty lines, I send it back...always...I know what a damned Sam Adams is supposed to taste like! If they treat me with respect, it's usually the start of a great bartender-beerdrinker relationship.

In this area the distributor company is responsible for The taps and etc.
At least any distributor that I know of here.

At 6 bucks a pint damn right I'm sending it back. If I'm at a place with a manager I also ask to speak with them. I take the time to explane what I think is the problem. Most ask me how I know this which I tell them that I've been brewing for 20 years and I worked in a resturant for 5 years and have cleaned. 1000s of beer lines. I've even taken the time to show them their dirty lines. Got a free meal for that one.

ArtVandelay said:

What do you guys do? do you send it back? I feel too snobbish and end up just choking it down.

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Absolutely send it back. Would you choke down a sandwich on moldy bread if they served it to you? Whether it's ignorance, laziness or cheapness they're just going to keep serving it that way if customers don't complain. Good beer has come a long way in the last few decades but unfortunately there are still a lot of bozos in the service business who just don't have a clue.

The Olive Garden seems terrible for it. Multiple times, at multiple restaurants, I get beer that tastes like stale lipstick. Ugh. I always send it back.

I didn't think about this until now but I really should send it back, not just because I spend $5 on that beer, but because the next guy coming probably doesn't know any better and will thinks that beer always tastes like ****

I have no problem sending it back. I will not pay good money for crap because they are too lazy or too cheap to have good product.

What's sad is that the worst offender here is our only microbrewery in town. I've sent back they're house brews multiple times, and stopped going there when the bartender muttered, "if you don't like good beer, just order a bud light". I wasn't supposed to hear the comment, but I left before he poured a replacement and will never return. I know what a dirty line tastes like, dammit!

It shocks me when an establishment isn't even interested in serving their own product correctly.

I always send back and have sent back light stricken skunked bottles as well. I too live in a non-beer friendly town and get looked at like a snob, I don't' care. Sure Joe trucker hat down there won't know a difference between his bud light being served from dirty lines, but don't serve me crap.

Returning to my home town in western Washington a few years back, I was excited to try the small brewpub bar that I never knew existed. I had a sampler of their house beers. They were all served off the same tower and they all had a similar off flavor. It was hard to say if they had bad lines, as beers on the taps on the backside of the bar area all tasted fine, but, if they weren't infected, then I think they had an issue with their water or brewing technique. What a disappointment!

One of the reasons I stopped going to Smokey Bones, everything tasted sour.

I found out the other night the Tap house went under and is now empty. This place served me 2 sour beers and put up a fight over it. Apparently I'm trying to skip out on the tab without even drinking it.

I went to a place that made a point of cleaning their lines every afternoon before the evening rush came in.

They cleaned them with vinegar.

And didn't rinse them out very well.

If you were unlucky enough to get the first pull of a tap after cleaning, you got beer laced with a good amount of vinegar. I sent enough beers back that whenever I showed up and ordered my first beer, they'd let the tap run for a bit before pouring my beer just to make sure.

ChshreCat said:

I sent enough beers back that whenever I showed up and ordered my first beer, they'd let the tap run for a bit before pouring my beer just to make sure.

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Ha! I love it. But for real, BigEd has a point about the moldy sammich. Depends on how bad it is for me to send something back though, I don't like being "that guy". Plus, I'm always worried they might do something on purpose the next time ever since seeing the movie "Waiting". Luckily though, the only place I go to drink in public is Mellow Mushroom and I've never had a problem with their draft beers being tainted in any way. For a place that has a Beer of the Month club, I would only assume they take pride in their wide selection of draft beers.

I'll ask about what's pouring well, sometimes. I'll stay away from the stuff they don't mention (unless it's what I really want). If it's off, at least I have a dialoge going wiht them already.

I learned that one at a Bud Light bar, ordering a Murphy's.

They takeaway for me is that some wine snob will send back a glass with off flavors and the bartender doesn't bat an eyelash. Our tastes are somehow dismissed as lowbrow or unrefined.

Just had to share one of my favorite 'send it back' tales--perhaps a more positive one. Small bar outside of Sacramento with a great beer list (20+ on tap, 100's of bottles) I order one of the Sierra seasonals--it tasted off and slightly overcarbed (bad keg perhaps) I told him the beer tasted funny, he swiped it off the bar---took a few sniffs, and several long tastes trying to identify the problem. Dumped it, apologized, and pulled me something else. It was clear he wanted to know what the problem was so he could correct it. Horrible food, but I ate there for months because of the beer list and the owner's pride in the quality of his beer.

I've sent beers back for dirty lines and for massive diacytel (which isn't the establishment's fault). And I always get the same response. Bar tender brings over another guy, they both taste it, tell me it seems fine to them but they'll replace it anyway. Even though I tell them exactly what the problem is, in their opinion, I'm just wrong or picky. Whatever, they still give me a new beer.

shroomzofdoom said:

I order one of the Sierra seasonals--it tasted off and slightly overcarbed (bad keg perhaps)

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I doubt Sierrra Nevada sent out a bad keg, they take too much pride in their beer to send out bad beer (though I won't absolutely rule it out). But either the keg was not handled properly before getting to the bar or their draft system was not setup or maintained correctly. If the bar had that beer on for a few days and the pressure was a few psi too high, it could become over carbonated. Off flavors could have come from the line of course. To me it sounds problems with handling and serving of the product over a bad keg.


But back on topic, I haven't really had to send back many beers, but there is one bar I used to go to I should have. The only reason I didn't send them back was because I knew it wasn't going to make a big difference in their practices since despite many I know sending beer back they never really took care of their lines. I have been able to just smell bad lines upon receiving a beer at that establishment.

Luckily, most of the bars that serve good beer do take care of their lines and some even go as far as to make sure the glassware is beer ready, so I don't have many problems. The only places I might have an issue are the dive bars serving high life and at that point I really don't care.