The stupidest comment on your beer

[motobrewer]

I'm with the hearty portion of meat on this one. As a bartender, it's your JOB to at least know something about what you're serving. It's like going into a restaurant, and asking the waiter what's good on the menu, and getting a response of "I dunno, all I eat is burgers and fries." I'm not saying you need to be a beer sommelier, or be a graduate from the UC Davis Brew School, but you should at LEAST be able to tell the difference between a dark beer and a light one.

bah.

not every bartender is a professional bartender.

the lady tending bar on weeknights as a second job to support herself probably couldn't give two sh*ts on what SRM denotes a "dark beer". and I won't hold her to it.

 

[mattd2]

Yep every German I've seen subjected to our BMC beers says the same thing "this is like piss water" seriously I've heard this basic insult at least a dozen times over the years.

So far the only German other than me (well I'm half) to try my brews (a stout) said that it was a lot thicker and heavier than he liked, and I should work on making a good Export instead. Not really ready to try lagers.

Reminds me of the joke - Why is BMC like having sex in a canoe .....................
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Because it is F**king close to water

 

[user 40839]

bah.

not every bartender is a professional bartender.

the lady tending bar on weeknights as a second job to support herself probably couldn't give two sh*ts on what SRM denotes a "dark beer". and I won't hold her to it.

Like I said - they don't have to be a professional, but I would expect them to know SOMETHING about what they're doing. It's part of the job. I mean, I know some bars don't hire bartenders, they just hire a pair of boobs to stick behind there (I used to work with one) but even so - we used to give any new bartender a an hour or two before their first shift to get acquainted with how to pour a beer (as opposed to wasting it down the drip tray because all they can do is pour foam), etc.

She might not give two sh*ts about a beer's SRM - nor should she - but she should know the bloody difference between a Guinness and a Bud.

 

[user 22118]

Guinness is Irish and Bud is a plant native to Humboldt County? That's the difference right?

 

[MeatyPortion]

bah.

not every bartender is a professional bartender.

the lady tending bar on weeknights as a second job to support herself probably couldn't give two sh*ts on what SRM denotes a "dark beer". and I won't hold her to it.

You know what? The economy being what it is she should absolutely care about what advice and service she's slinging. If she doesn't: fine, I'll take my business elsewhere. Seriously. I will absolutely hold an employee to it.

 

[Pommy]

Gotta agree with the argument that if your getting paid to serve drinks you should know at least a bit about what they are. When we were in the local brew pub (one of only a few in my area) my MRS asked the bar manager if the bitter he poured was on a nitro setup and he could only answer, "its an ESB." My mrs isnt into brewing but picks up bits and pieces and the bar manager of a brew pub should have answered a lot better than that.

 

[lostmind]

Bud's a MUCH different animal in Europe than it is here. It actually tastes like lager, as opposed to the American version which tastes like, erm, nothing.

I've never drank a bud (at least, I can't recall ever drinking one). I have had coors, boring. Kokanee is boring as well. MGD, Labatts, etc - all pretty much the same. Never liked 'em, never tried more than once or twice.

But yah, my german friends come to Canada and buy budweiser. And laugh that they can buy hacker blah blah and a bunch of other german beers here for $4-5 a bottle when it's $0.50 euro back home for them

I miss germany...

 

[jiggs_casey]

Gotta agree with the argument that if your getting paid to serve drinks you should know at least a bit about what they are. When we were in the local brew pub (one of only a few in my area) my MRS asked the bar manager if the bitter he poured was on a nitro setup and he could only answer, "its an ESB." My mrs isnt into brewing but picks up bits and pieces and the bar manager of a brew pub should have answered a lot better than that.

Agreed, however... Most bartenders are making what, $8.00 - $9.00 an hour? Minimum wage in Missouri is $7.25 an hour, I think... I would think that most people in the bartending business view it as a 'job' and not a 'career'.

 

[motobrewer]

You know what? The economy being what it is she should absolutely care about what advice and service she's slinging. If she doesn't: fine, I'll take my business elsewhere. Seriously. I will absolutely hold an employee to it.

that's fine. all i said was it's snobbish. which it is.

 

[MeatyPortion]

that's fine. all i said was it's snobbish. which it is.

Snobbish to expect a worker in a service establishment to assist you?

 

[user 40839]

Agreed, however... Most bartenders are making what, $8.00 - $9.00 an hour? Minimum wage in Missouri is $7.25 an hour, I think... I would think that most people in the bartending business view it as a 'job' and not a 'career'.

Officially, they're actually making less than that - when I was tending bar, I was getting $2.20 an hour, which basically paid my taxes and my insurance. (I literally would get a check every week for $5 or $6). It was all about the tips, which - if you know what you're doing - can be very healthy. I was pulling in about $200 on an average night in cash from the Irish bar I worked at, $300 on a Friday or Saturday. (This was after tipping out the bar backs, wait staff, kitchen guys, doorman, etc.)

that's fine. all i said was it's snobbish. which it is.

No. It's not.

 

[Schlenkerla]

Snobbish to expect a worker in a service establishment to assist you?

What's even more snobbish is to order a pint of Stella Atrois and expect to get it served in a 16 oz glass.

We got the beer served in a nice looking 10oz Stella glass. Stemmed in all...

We argued with the beer-nazi (old hag) who said Stella is served in a Stella glass.(Period - No other way) She totally dismissed the fact that a pint is NOT 10 ounces. The sign said "Pints of Stella - $3.00"

She was in no mood to discuss it or comp us beers.

 

[MeatyPortion]

What's even more snobbish is to order a pint of Stella Atrois and expect to get it served in a 16 oz glass.

We got the beer served in a nice looking 9oz Stella glass. Stemmed in all...

We argued with the beer-nazi (old hag) who said Stella is served in a Stella glass.(Period - No other way) She totally dismissed the fact that a pint is NOT 9 ounces. The sign said "Pints of Stella - $3.00"

She was in no mood to discuss it or comp us beers.

See, that's what I'm talking about. I don't expect a bartender or server to bend down and kiss my ass but if I bring up a point like that and they stonewall me then I'm going to get angry and probably never come back. In this economy why would they want to do that?

 

[Schlenkerla]

See, that's what I'm talking about. I don't expect a bartender or server to bend down and kiss my ass but if I bring up a point like that and they stonewall me then I'm going to get angry and probably never come back. In this economy why would they want to do that?

I agree - BTW - I changed the oz to 10. The glass has a fill line on it, ".3L" which is 10.14 oz.

At the time I argued that it was about 9. Six oz. is worth bitching about in my book.

The place was a hotel bar, so they could give two $hits, since they were the only gig for miles. I should have bitched to the manager.

 

[user 40839]

I agree - BTW - I changed the oz to 10. The glass has a fill line on it, ".3L" which is 10.14 oz.

At the time I argued that it was about 9. Six oz. is worth bitching about in my book.

The place was a hotel bar, so they could give two $hits, since they were the only gig for miles. I should have bitched to the manager.

That's just shooting yourself in the foot. Like I said, bar folks depend on tips, and crapping on your customers isn't the smartest way to get paid. Considering what bars get their kegs for, even $3 pints of the Stella brings in $360 a 1/2 barrel, which is a healthy profit. (Obviously, that's oversimplifying, since it doesn't include the lease, liquor license, etc. etc.)

 

[MeatyPortion]

I agree - BTW - I changed the oz to 10. The glass has a fill line on it, ".3L" which is 10.14 oz.

At the time I argued that it was about 9. Six oz. is worth bitching about in my book.

The place was a hotel bar, so they could give two $hits, since they were the only gig for miles. I should have bitched to the manager.

Yeah, I hear you. Usually I'm pretty even keeled about what I get served but that would probably annoy me. The only other time I really bitched about something was when I got served a Rochefort 6 with no glass at the Cooper's House in downtown Madison. I asked for a glass and the guy gave me a shaker pint so I said "don't you have a goblet?". I got something resembling a goblet and the bartender was actually pretty polite about it; he obviously didn't know.

Now you might say "so what?"; well, if I'm paying 9 bucks for one bottle of beer in a bar that touts itself as having superior beers and service then I'm going to request that it be served properly. Otherwise, I'm going to The Paradise and slug down some cheap swill at a third of the price.

 

[bniesen]

I have to post this one, came from by sister-in-laws husband who only drinks Steel Reserve (nuf said).
Me: I started brewing my own about a year ago.
Him: You have a distill!?! How do you get the alcohol in there.
Me:No, you don't need a distill. You just need to pick up a book and read how to.

The best compliment from SWMBO concerning the same BIL
Me:I don't want them staying here! He'll drink all MY beer and YOURS!
SWMBO: You know he doesn't like "good" flavorfull beer, just that ghetto-crap-in-a-can.

 

[sambogi76]

We must have one of the most misunderstood hobbies. I give up letting people try my brews.... "not bad" as they take a drink and sit it down and forget it. Im getting tired of all the other stupid comments.

 

[FromZwolle]

We must have one of the most misunderstood hobbies. I give up letting people try my brews.... "not bad" as they take a drink and sit it down and forget it. Im getting tired of all the other stupid comments.

whenever people see you drinking your homebrew, make a sour face after every sip. that stops anyone from asking to try it.

 

[Schlenkerla]

whenever people see you drinking your homebrew, make a sour face after every sip. that stops anyone from asking to try it.

Imagine your life where you only have eaten Wonder Bread. That is most people when it comes to beer. We are breaking out pumpernickel, rye, sourdough, and wheat in Wonder Bread World of beer.

 

[sambogi76]

Imagine your life where you only have eaten Wonder Bread. That is most people when it comes to beer. We are breaking out pumpernickel, rye, sourdough, and wheat in Wonder Bread World of beer.

good analogy!

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Imagine your life where you only have eaten Wonder Bread.

Well... sadly there are many people who only eat Wonder Bread. [shudder] It's just as sad as the number of BMC loyalists.

 

[MeatyPortion]

http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=Na9bY9gmhw4&feature=related

 

[FromZwolle]

Imagine your life where you only have eaten Wonder Bread. That is most people when it comes to beer. We are breaking out pumpernickel, rye, sourdough, and wheat in Wonder Bread World of beer.

i like my beer like i like my bread, homemade. some people will never get that, which is fine, but i'd rather just avoid the stupid/insulting/ignorant comments in the first place.

 

[bdleedahl]

at party I just poured my Brown ale in a glass with a nice 1 inch head on it...

friend: Wow, terrible pour man
(friend proceeds to rub oil off his nose and stick his finger in his drink to reduce the foam in his red plastic cup of bud lite)
me: you're an idiot

 

[Grimster]

i like my beer like i like my bread, homemade. some people will never get that, which is fine, but i'd rather just avoid the stupid/insulting/ignorant comments in the first place.

I recently took up baking bread. I miss the good breads from Germany and I can't get them around here, well, I can get some of them, for $7 a freaking LOAF.

I have my laugenweck and my bauernbrot down to a pretty good imitation of the real thing. I make a mean tortilla (not German but I like Mexican food too) and a kickass homemade pasta (ok I like Italian too).

Life is good when you have homemade bread and homemade beer.

 

[remilard]

I was at a bar a week or two ago with my friend who is also a homebrewer.

My friend to the bartender: "Do you have any dark beers?"
bartender: *she starts naming almost every beer they have (mostly light lagers)*
My friend interrupts her: "None of those are dark. Do you have anything dark?"
bartender: "We have Sam Adams." (referring to the Boston Lager)
Me: "That's not a dark beer."
bartender: "It's dark to me."

Boston lager is dark. It certainly isn't pale. If you wanted a black beer, you could have described it better.

 

[Grimster]

Boston lager is dark. It certainly isn't pale. If you wanted a black beer, you could have described it better.

True, to most of the BMC drinkers I know, any beer you can't read the newspaper through is "dark". I prefer beers so dark you couldn't even hold one up and watch an eclipse thru it

 

[remilard]

True, to most of the BMC drinkers I know, any beer you can't read the newspaper through is "dark". I prefer beers so dark you couldn't even hold one up and watch an eclipse thru it

Not just BMC drinkers. Belgians, Germans, French etc explicitly call beers about as dark as Boston Lager "dark". Really only the US and UK make opaque beers.

I think to most reasonable people, Boston Lager is dark.

If you want black or opaque, then using those words is more descriptive.

 

[Grimster]

Not just BMC drinkers. Belgians, Germans, French etc explicitly call beers about as dark as Boston Lager "dark". Really only the US and UK make opaque beers.

I think to most reasonable people, Boston Lager is dark.

If you want black or opaque, then using those words is more descriptive.

Good point, I don't recall seeing any beers in Germany darker than a Bock really.

 

[dino2gnt]

I just finished reading all 87 pages of this thread (and this is my first post), but I just wanted to share that I haven't had anyone ask me these silly questions. All of my friends and family enjoy the beer I make, even if it isn't their preferred style.

At the worst, they'll drink it because it's free when they are at my house and no one should complain about free beer. ;-)

 

[imaguitargod]

I just finished reading all 87 pages of this thread (and this is my first post), but I just wanted to share that I haven't had anyone ask me these silly questions. All of my friends and family enjoy the beer I make, even if it isn't their preferred style.

At the worst, they'll drink it because it's free when they are at my house and no one should complain about free beer. ;-)

First off: welcome!

Second off: give it time...you'll get a dumb question asked of you sooner or later

 

[RKW]

Great thread going here. I got a couple to share.

I should have seen this coming since I left a 1/2 sixer of Rahr Ugly Pug Porter over at my BIL's house one time and he asked me a few days later if I "really drink that stuff, it tastes like old stale coffee." Meh, anyway I made an Orange Hefeweizen at a quaffable ABV and I brought him a few to try to see if he liked them. Couple weeks later we're at a baseball game and I ask him about them, and he says, "It was pretty good, tasted like Coors Light except stronger. You know, like a regular Coors prolly tastes." All I can do is stare blankly. Then my phone dings and I look and SWMBO, who was sitting right there, had texted me this: LoL, he compared your beer to coors. He doesn't get beer from me anymore.

Second, I was visiting my best friend since 5th grade and after I had given him and his wife a tasiting tour of four of my beers he invited me to do the same for his dad. So we're over at his pops house and he mentions the beer to them and his dad starts to talk to me about it and the following conversation ensues: (paranthetical commentary)

Him: So do you make Lagers or Pilsners? (Harmless enough question so I try to redirect)
Me: Well, Pilsners are lagers, and I don't lager yet, it requires a pretty cool enviornment or a fridge dedicated to it. I actually brew [he cuts me off].
Him: No No No, Lagers have bottom fermenting yeast and pilsners have top fermenting yeast. And all beer is seperated into those two categories. (That miffed me a little but I love the guy so I roll with it)
Me: Well, you are right about the lager yeasts, but again Pilsners are lagers, I actually brew[cut off again](and I'm thinking who's the effin brewer here?!)
Him: Well I saw a Good Eats episode about this and Alton Brown (whom I have great respect for and his homebrew episode is what got me started in this obsession/addiction) says that all beers fall in two categories[I cut him off]
Me: Which are Lagers as you said and ALES which is what I've been trying to say that I brew!
Him: oh oh oh, yeah that's right, ALES and Lagers, so which do you brew?
Me: *sigh

On the up side they were really enthusiastic about my beers and I got a lot of really good feed back from them after we got the knowledge battle out of the way.

 

[ZWood15]

Roommate's SWMBO: "Wow, that's really good! Its hard to make alcohol, I'm impressed" in reference to apfelwein...

All I did was mix some **** together and wait a month, but thanks!

 

[brewthunda]

Roommate's SWMBO: "Wow, that's really good! Its hard to make alcohol, I'm impressed" in reference to apfelwein...

All I did was mix some **** together and wait a month, but thanks!

She compliments you and you go and post this on a stupidest comment thread? What an ass.

 

[RKW]

I'm with Brewthunda here. And I've seen a few posts about people commenting on how hard it is to make beer, while brewers know the process is pretty simple.

I've always been an advocate of preserving that particular misnomer. The more complicated they think it is, the better it makes me look.

 

[user 40839]

Another chiming in with brewthunda - it actually *is* hard to make good tasting alcohol, and when a chick compliments you on doing so, it hardly ranks alongside the "stupidest comments on your beer". Making fun of her about it kinda does, tho...

 

[Pivot]

hahahahaha

owned

 

[Schlenkerla]

Roommate's SWMBO: "Wow, that's really good! Its hard to make alcohol, I'm impressed" in reference to apfelwein...

All I did was mix some **** together and wait a month, but thanks!

Let her drink about 4 or 5 of these then tell us what she says. Then it might excusably stupid. :cross:

That's a compliment no matter how ignorant she may be about the process.

 

[Superkabuto]

Me: "Dad, do you want to try my new imperial stout?"

Dad: "Ok." Drinks.

Me: "What do you think?"

Dad: "I like it. It doesn't even taste like beer. If you didn't tell me this was beer, I wouldn't know what it was."



Uh, thanks. I think.