Brewpubs That Suck

[Chris1272]

There is one in Columbus GA where I ordered the house Maibock. It tasted like a fizzy butterscotch soda. When I tried to talk to the head brewer about the obvious diacetyl problem she blamed the taste on an infection in the beer lines that they cant seem to kill. I left knowing the head brewer knew nothing about what she was doing, and that they ok knowingly serving beer in what they consider infected lines. I won't go back there.

 

[Bamsdealer]

McKenzie Brew Pub in Malvern, PA. I haven't tried their other locations, but I wasn't impressed with the beer or food. The Iron Hills, Sly Fox, Victory (obviously), and even Rock Bottom in the mall are better choices. The ones in center city Philly make a good beer and do much better in the food department than ones in the burbs.

Not a huge fan of ABC brewing either... which is unfortunate since it's within walking distance. Still, doesn't stop me from going a couple times a month

 

[InLimbo]

This seems like the beer equivalent of a bunch of out of shape middle-aged guys sitting on their sofas and yelling at the TV while their favorite team is losing, and how they should be doing it better.

It's one thing to make a great 5 gallon batch of beer in the comfort of your home.

It's another thing all together when you're brewing to support yourself, AND trying to do it in volume.

I'll take comfort in the fact that whoever you are (yes you, reading this right now) there is probably someone in your industry that thinks that you suck as well.

 

[bchurch]

This seems like the beer equivalent of a bunch of out of shape middle-aged guys sitting on their sofas and yelling at the TV while their favorite team is losing, and how they should be doing it better.

It's one thing to make a great 5 gallon batch of beer in the comfort of your home.

It's another thing all together when you're brewing to support yourself, AND trying to do it in volume.

I'll take comfort in the fact that whoever you are (yes you, reading this right now) there is probably someone in your industry that thinks that you suck as well.

It seems we must have offended someone who makes ****ty beer.

 

[CGVT]

This seems like the beer equivalent of a bunch of out of shape middle-aged guys sitting on their sofas and yelling at the TV while their favorite team is losing, and how they should be doing it better.

It's one thing to make a great 5 gallon batch of beer in the comfort of your home.

It's another thing all together when you're brewing to support yourself, AND trying to do it in volume.

I'll take comfort in the fact that whoever you are (yes you, reading this right now) there is probably someone in your industry that thinks that you suck as well.

Really?

If you are going to make a product and expect it to sell well enough to support you, you should probably do it well.

If someone in my industry thinks that I suck, I would probably be out of a job, the same as a brewer that produces a ****ty product.

I guess that we can take comfort in the fact that brewers with a lousy attitude that produce lousy beer will most likely soon be out of business and will be unable to subject us to a sub par product.

 

[brubanker]

Really?

If you are going to make a product and expect it to sell well enough to support you, you should probably do it well.

If someone in my industry thinks that I suck, I would probably be out of a job, the same as a brewer that produces a ****ty product.

I guess that we can take comfort in the fact that brewers with a lousy attitude that produce lousy beer will most likely soon be out of business and will be unable to subject us to a sub par product.

Too true!

At the end of the day, we all live off our work product. Those little complaints should drive us to improve not make excuses. Ofc, you can' t always make everyone happy but keep as many happy as you can!

 

[MisterTipsy]

No brewer can satisfy 100% of home brewers. Not even Russian River.

On the other hand, its totally possible to brew mediocre beer and satisfy millions of people.

 

[Bamsdealer]

This seems like the beer equivalent of a bunch of out of shape middle-aged guys sitting on their sofas and yelling at the TV while their favorite team is losing, and how they should be doing it better.

It's one thing to make a great 5 gallon batch of beer in the comfort of your home.

It's another thing all together when you're brewing to support yourself, AND trying to do it in volume.

I'll take comfort in the fact that whoever you are (yes you, reading this right now) there is probably someone in your industry that thinks that you suck as well.

I'm much more animated when my favorite team is on tv. I think this is the equivalent of a bunch of people who are passionate about beer talking about their experience with drinking establishments they've visited.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

This seems like the beer equivalent of a bunch of out of shape middle-aged guys sitting on their sofas and yelling at the TV while their favorite team is losing, and how they should be doing it better.

It's more like a guy who's a high school coach in a sport watching the TV and analyzing why a specific player is screwing up. Most of us who homebrew have a pretty decent understanding of the *product* of beer, and are able to tell when something is downright bad. And there are a *lot* of brewpubs that aren't very good.

I chalk it up to competition. As someone previously who lives in San Diego said, there's not a lot of bad brewpubs down there. The market down there cares about beer, and thus the clientele is discriminating and knows enough to tell the difference. I've seen the same in Denver. The clientele knows about beer, and thus pretty much all the brewpubs I've been to in the area are pretty darn good. But when I go to a small-town brewpub, it's rolling the dice.

Up here in OC, there's a lot of the same going on. But I can think of a specific brewpub roughly in between where you and I live that is a pretty glaring exception. It's got decent food, a good wine list, and a full bar, and is located in a big shopping center with a theater. Thus, it's got so many advantages that it'll survive without the beer being great. And it's clear that they don't care about the beer. For a while their menu had wine pairings for all their dishes (uhh, *hello*, you're a brewpub, why not add a beer pairing for a dish???). And they have several BMC taps. While I don't mind that they have the BMC taps, they're *constantly* advertising the drink specials on BMC (even on their mailed ads). It goes to show that for them, brewing their own beer isn't all that important. And it's evident in the quality of the product.

I really want them to be better. They're only 2 miles from my house, and the food is good enough that it would satisfy my non-beer-drinking wife. If they made good beer, I'd be a very regular customer.

 

[Tinga]

we've got some great brew pubs around here and we've got some doozies. my favorite brew pub has great beer and the best pizza in the world. I think the beer is better at another place but it's a little pretentious.

 

[Nateo]

I hate this type of exchange:
Person 1 - Product X is of unacceptable quality
Person 2 - Oh yeah, well it's not like you could do any better

Does my inability to personally make an automobile preclude me from having opinions about the quality of automobiles? Why should beer be any different?

 

[jfrizzell]

As a fellow Iowan I'm curious what brew pub you went to. Although most in Des Moines are merely average I wouldn't say any were so terrible I had to send a beer back. There is one that does seem to have trouble carbonating to the proper level but some of their stuff can very good nevertheless.

It was in the Waterloo / Cedar Falls area.

 

[jfrizzell]

This seems like the beer equivalent of a bunch of out of shape middle-aged guys sitting on their sofas and yelling at the TV while their favorite team is losing, and how they should be doing it better.

It's one thing to make a great 5 gallon batch of beer in the comfort of your home.

It's another thing all together when you're brewing to support yourself, AND trying to do it in volume.

I'll take comfort in the fact that whoever you are (yes you, reading this right now) there is probably someone in your industry that thinks that you suck as well.

Brewpub owner? Sorry to offend, but if you're going to sell beer and you've been doing it a while, your beer shouldn't taste like ass. Yep, big diff between 5 gal and 7 bbl but it's not rocket science. Do it right or don't do it.

 

[downtown3641]

This seems like the beer equivalent of a bunch of out of shape middle-aged guys sitting on their sofas and yelling at the TV while their favorite team is losing, and how they should be doing it better.

It's one thing to make a great 5 gallon batch of beer in the comfort of your home.

It's another thing all together when you're brewing to support yourself, AND trying to do it in volume.

I'll take comfort in the fact that whoever you are (yes you, reading this right now) there is probably someone in your industry that thinks that you suck as well.

Lots of breweries support themselves and make good beer. Consumers have a right to gripe about inferior products.

 

[Jukas]

Brewpub owner? Sorry to offend, but if you're going to sell beer and you've been doing it a while, your beer shouldn't taste like ass. Yep, big diff between 5 gal and 7 bbl but it's not rocket science. Do it right or don't do it.

Also breweries often tend to have professional grade equipment most homebrewers don't. It should be easier to produce consistent results on a pro setup.

 

[PapsD]

Also breweries often tend to have professional grade equipment most homebrewers don't. It should be easier to produce consistent results on a pro setup.

Not always true any manufacturer of any product can have trouble producing consistant results. But if you process isn't repeatable you shouldn't be knowingly selling a bad product. They need to have some sort of quality system or problem solving system in place. Others have mentioned known issues with beer line infections @ various brew pubs. Wtf? Bevex is about 50 cents per foot at a lhbs. it's not the place to cut cost in your brewing process.

Like it or not quality will make or break a company.

 

[Toga]

How does Founders and/or Bells not make this list?

They are not in south eastern Michigan. If rating the state as a whole I would have had Founders at the top of the list. Founders products are awesome. On the rare occasion I purchase bottled beer I go straight for Founders section. Any good store here has a section dedicated to Founders. Bells would be in there somewhere as well. Gotta love hopslam

 

[rvklein]

Yeah, there's a few sub-par brewpubs in Metro Detroit. But it balances out by the great ones, like Dragonmead.

Visiting from Baltimore and took a keg of Sin Eater to go!

 

[craigger64]

A pet peeve of mine is the frosted glass...even slightly chilled drives me nuts. I always ask for a non-frozen glass or mug. I also hate when you get a bottle and they don't bring out a glass.

This is because most bartenders (at least here in the States) have no clue how to properly serve beer, and unfortunately many of the people they're used to serving don't know any better. They think everything has to be "icy cold" or "frosty cold", etc. They watch WAY too many Super Bowl commercials!

 

[Hammy71]

Iron Hill. I live close to the original and I keep hoping one of the "seasonals" (not whats usually on tap.), will actually be a winner. Years ago they had some good stuff, but I think they are a victim of their own success. Too big, too fast. Duclaw is a close second.

 

[planetscott]

^^^^^^^^^^^
Speaking of....A brew pub near me also sells crap beer and it kills me to see these wannabe hipsters drinking PBR out of a can while quality beer, at a better price is being brewed and served there......Amazing.

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

Drinking beer in America is way too complicated.

 

[Arbor413]

There is a brewpub/steakhouse near me here in western Mass that was handing out samples at a local liquor store. The beer was pissy and flat. I thought it a bit odd that they all had accents too. As we were leaving they were loading up their Escalade (yep), and guess what, no accents. Bogus BS. It's obviously not working for them though as their sales never get any better while the good micros here are growing well. Serves them right.

 

[Stevo2569]

We went to Illinois to visit the wife's family this weekend. While she was at the baby shower I went out in search of beer. I found a place called Illinois brewing co. Two of the three beers I tried had more off flavors than I could name. The amber wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either. The owner/brewer was friendly but not very knowledgeable for having a 8 barrel system and the bar left a bad taste in my mouth the minute I walked in. Then I went to the Distyll. I had about ten one oncers. Great beer and great food. I think the Rye barley wine was my favorite. The bartender said IBC used to be good till their head brewer quit. Figures.

 

[TVM71]

McKenzie Brew Pub in Malvern, PA. I haven't tried their other locations, but I wasn't impressed with the beer or food. The Iron Hills, Sly Fox, Victory (obviously), and even Rock Bottom in the mall are better choices. The ones in center city Philly make a good beer and do much better in the food department than ones in the burbs.

Not a huge fan of ABC brewing either... which is unfortunate since it's within walking distance. Still, doesn't stop me from going a couple times a month

Maybe it's a location thing, but ABC just opened one in Lititz and I've found everything to be great so far. They've been open since June 10 and we've been there three times so far, each one was without any issues.

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

Maybe it's a location thing,

Location is important even if the beer is not brewed on the premises, as far as cask beer is concerned. You could go to five different pubs serving casks from the same batch and find them all very different according to how well the casks are kept. Many inexperienced pub owners all over the world don't pay due attention to the importance of storage.