Corkage Fee for Beer?

[Phunhog]

It is pretty common, at least in CA, for restaurants to charge a corkage fee if a customer brings in a bottle of wine to drink with dinner. It is usually around 10 dollars. Does anybody know if you can do that with beer? Let's face it a lot of really good restaurants have pretty crappy, or at least very limited beer offerings. It would be nice to bring in a bomber of something unique and/or special and enjoy a nice meal with it. I think it would also go a long way in showing that craft beer is important to diners. Thoughts??

 

[dnslater]

Interesting question, I look forward to the responses. I assumed they allow you to bring your own wine because of the importance of the wine industry in California.

 

[Beezy]

I have never heard of the fee. I know some places are byob. I don't think they charge but this is places with no liquor license. For me though I don't go out to eat often but when I do I look at the tap list before the menu lol. Ideally good on both ends tho.

 

[Phunhog]

Maybe it is a CA thing....My brother is a winemaker and we will bring a bottle of his wine for a special dinner. Assuming of course that the restaurant doesn't carry his wine. It got me thinking......why not do that with some sort of special release from a favorite brewery that you will probably never find in a restaurant.

 

[chezhed]

Years and years ago in the South you could brown bag in certain restaurants in dry counties. They sold setups at a nominal upcharge, about 50 cents more for anything that wasn't your normal beverage, tonic water, etc. Of course nobody homebrewed beer......
Local pizza place would let me bring in beer and didn't charge. But this is I guess Lousiana and drinking seems to be a right, not a privledge. Its going to vary immensely by location I suspect.

 

[vinyl_key]

Depends on where you go. I've had corkage fees for beer at one place, and none at another.

 

[bigbeergeek]

I work at a fine dining establishment her in good old California. We charge $16 for corkage, as our restaurant has a wine list with over 1000 bottles on it (we are known for our wine selection which spans several decades). At any rate, if a customer brought in a bottle of special beer and wanted to enjoy it on premises, I would charge them a corkage without thinking twice about it. You are bringing an outside beverage into an establishment that sells food and drink, so your carry-on beer is cutting into their profits. That money has to be recouped somewhere, hence the corkage fee. I'd call the establishment first and make sure BYOB isn't going to insult/upset the sensibilities of the restaurant's management/ownership, then bring that tasty brew to dinner and laugh at all the jealous BMC drinkers.

 

[Bierliebhaber]

I was so thinking this was Canada-CA not California-CA, because I thought the craft brew industry/market in California would not allow for poor beer offerings at any place serving good eats. I think the only restaurants in Portland that don't offer craft brew are McDonalds, Burger King, Taco Bell, etc.

 

[bigbeergeek]

I was so thinking this was Canada-CA not California-CA, because I thought the craft brew industry/market in California would not allow for poor beer offerings at any place serving good eats. I think the only restaurants in Portland that don't offer craft brew are McDonalds, Burger King, Taco Bell, etc.

Not every person in CA want's good beer when they eat good food. So it goes.

 

[Phunhog]

I work at a fine dining establishment her in good old California. We charge $16 for corkage, as our restaurant has a wine list with over 1000 bottles on it (we are known for our wine selection which spans several decades). At any rate, if a customer brought in a bottle of special beer and wanted to enjoy it on premises, I would charge them a corkage without thinking twice about it. You are bringing an outside beverage into an establishment that sells food and drink, so your carry-on beer is cutting into their profits. That money has to be recouped somewhere, hence the corkage fee. I'd call the establishment first and make sure BYOB isn't going to insult/upset the sensibilities of the restaurant's management/ownership, then bring that tasty brew to dinner and laugh at all the jealous BMC drinkers.

Thanks!! Nice to know!!

 

[Airborneguy]

BYOB is very popular in NJ because liquor licenses are tightly controlled. I do not believe you can bring outside alcohol to a place that does sell alcohol though. I've never been charged a corkage fee at the places we've been to, but again, they can't sell alcohol so they probably can't charge anything in relation to alcohol at all.

As a side note, BYOB really makes going out to dinner cheap! I had never done it until I met my wife and she's brought me to a few great restaurants that we would have had big checks at had it not been BYOB.

 

[pauljmccain]

Moral of the story: someone needs to open a reverse-biergarten.

 

[motobrewer]

all of this is illegal in wisconsin....

 

[DregAddict]

It doesn't seem very economical for the patron if they pay a corkage fee for beer. In Vegas, we have a similar system as the OP in regards to wine corkage fees. If you bring in a bottle that isn't on the restaurant's wine list, they will charge you a $10-15ish corkage fee to drink it in their establishment. For a nice bottle of wine that could be $50+ retail, and potentially much more, this is economical for the customer, because a similar varietal and vintage might be 150+ per bottle off the restaurant's wine list. But even if the corkage fee is reduced for beer to say $7-8, there are not too many beers that are expensive enough to make paying a corkage fee a wise choice versus picking a beer off the bottle list.

 

[Jsamp]

I work in a restaurant that charges the corking fee. I need to ask if wine like bottles of beer could be included just out of curiosity. It does make since to charge a corking fee in my opinion. It would be like taking a house salad to your favorite restaurant and asking them for their dressing.

 

[BrewBrain]

I was so thinking this was Canada-CA not California-CA, because I thought the craft brew industry/market in California would not allow for poor beer offerings at any place serving good eats. I think the only restaurants in Portland that don't offer craft brew are McDonalds, Burger King, Taco Bell, etc.

Wine is definitely still king by miles in California. You're likely to see Blue Moon and possibly Fat Freaking Tire if you're lucky. I rarely even see a California beer for craps sake. I usually drink wine or water. I like wine, but usually by itself. Beer goes much better with food IMO.

 

[Beezy]

Thats crazy I thought there were as many breweries in Cali as the rest of the country combined? Most bars here look at you stupid if you ask for a dark beer or an ale of any sort but there are good bars just have to know where to go.

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

all of this is illegal in wisconsin....

False. Corkage is prefectly legal in WI but falsly represented incorrectly by some places. It is legal and a decent place who is serious with themselves will cork a bottle for you. That said, it isn't entirely common. Many places aren't willing to do it, or heard it is "illegal" from someone or another.

$16 is a ridiculous amount to charge for corkage. That is a joke. The only people who bring in bottles (in any decent drinking state like WI) are people who will be eating well and paying a bunch anyway. Plus you can always refuse corkage. If someone brings in a Franzia box, just say "we don't do that here". But if I bring in something special, that you don't carry, and you want to charge $16 to pull the cork, you are getting a ****ty ass tip. That $16 is coming right out of your tip. Sorry man.

Corkage is cool, and savy places will be cool with it. I have never rocked a beer, but it would be interesting to see hwo it was handled. I would call ahead, and just give them a heads up. To me, it likely won't be worth it unless the corkage fee is really small (<$5), but who knows.

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

Actually, know that I think more, $16 isn't too bad. I think I have paid that. My bad, the crazy sauce came out of me there....

 

[Jsamp]

Actually, know that I think more, $16 isn't too bad. I think I have paid that. My bad, the crazy sauce came out of me there....

Besides the companies charging policy should have nothing to do with the tip you give your service staff. The service of the staff is what matters. Im going to charge a corking fee for anyone that comes in. I can afford to lose a tip but I cant afford to go without an income.

 

[eastoak]

beer revolution in oakland sells bottled beer to go and charges a few bucks when you buy a bottle of beer and drink it in the bar. you pay, say, $6 for a bottle of pliny, then $2 to drink it. lol

 

[Airborneguy]

I can definitely understand a place that serves alcohol charging a high corkage fee. Afterall, the markup on alcohol is huge, and it can be the biggest source of income for a lot of restaurants.

As I mentioned earlier, my only experience with this has been true BYOB places, where they don't have an alcohol license. Legally, they can't profit off of alcohol at all, so no corkage fee. But, it does benefit a good restaurant because a person can eat there twice for the same amount they would spend on one meal with drinks.

I can bring the exact same bottle of wine to a BYOB restaurant for $15 that a place with a liquor license would charge $50 or more for.

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

The advantage of a corkage fee is not in casual diners. The only time a corkage makes sense is for a special occasion or a special bottle. In both cases, you want people to have a special experience in your restaurant, so the nominal fee makes sense. No one brings in a cheap bottle to a restaurant.

WI, to my knowledge, has no BYOB food places. Who doesn't have a liquor license? Silly southerners

 

[Airborneguy]

Who doesn't have a liquor license? Silly southerners

NJ has some weird system where a certain locality - town or county, I'm not sure which - only has a certain number of liquor licenses. So basically, a place can't get one unless they get it from another place. It's almost like the taxi medallions here in NYC. I've heard ridiculous stories of restaurants paying another restaurant over $300k to get their liquor license. Because of this, BYOB's are fairly common in NJ and very popular.

In NYC, pretty much anyone can get a liquor license. Hell, I looked into the licenses for a brewpub and it would only cost me about $1500 a year!

 

[Phunhog]

The advantage of a corkage fee is not in casual diners. The only time a corkage makes sense is for a special occasion or a special bottle. In both cases, you want people to have a special experience in your restaurant, so the nominal fee makes sense. No one brings in a cheap bottle to a restaurant.

WI, to my knowledge, has no BYOB food places. Who doesn't have a liquor license? Silly southerners

That is exactly what I am talking about! If my wife and I go out to a nice dinner I don't want to be stuck drinking something I don't really like. It isn't really feasible for most restaurants to carry "special beers". I think it would be totally worth it to splurge on a 15 dollar bottle of beer, pay the corkage fee, and have a really nice experience. If the restaurant balks.....bring a Belgian and tell them it is "Belgian Champagne"

 

[SDCore]

False. Corkage is prefectly legal in WI but falsly represented incorrectly by some places. It is legal and a decent place who is serious with themselves will cork a bottle for you. That said, it isn't entirely common. Many places aren't willing to do it, or heard it is "illegal" from someone or another.

$16 is a ridiculous amount to charge for corkage. That is a joke. The only people who bring in bottles (in any decent drinking state like WI) are people who will be eating well and paying a bunch anyway. Plus you can always refuse corkage. If someone brings in a Franzia box, just say "we don't do that here". But if I bring in something special, that you don't carry, and you want to charge $16 to pull the cork, you are getting a ****ty ass tip. That $16 is coming right out of your tip. Sorry man.

Corkage is cool, and savy places will be cool with it. I have never rocked a beer, but it would be interesting to see hwo it was handled. I would call ahead, and just give them a heads up. To me, it likely won't be worth it unless the corkage fee is really small (<$5), but who knows.

If you're gonna get mad and NOT tip a waiter for corking a bottle that you bring into the establishment then as a manager I would tell you to leave and never come back. I have worked in many restaurants and you're gonna make it the waiters fault? It is not his decision to charge you, I'm sure most people would love it if you drank you're bottle without paying. That's just incredibly unfair to fault the waiter. That being said, from California I know plenty of places that serve good food and good beer, but I've never been turned down from bringing in bottles of wine or bottles of beer. They do charge a different fee, at least the places by me will, for wine and beer. If you're going to bring in your own alcohol to a place that serves that, therefore taking money out of their pockets, since they then assume "hey he is bring in a beer/wine, then the customer could potentially have wanted some of our liquor." To me it's the same as bringing your own food to a restaurant.

 

[Phunhog]

Yeah...I would NEVER bring in beer to a restaurant knowing that they sell that particular beer. That is just disrespectful and tacky. However I know a lot of really good restaurants that have pretty awful beer lists, almost like an after thought. They just assume you will have wine or cocktails.

 

[rexbanner]

I have been wondering this myself for a long time. I would have no problem paying around $15 to bring in a nice beer for my table to share for a special occasion. I have a strong dark and tripel going right now. I probably wouldn't bring anything weaker to a restaurant, it's kind of a waste. I would think that a restaurant wouldn't care if you brought a beer rather than wine, but you could just bottle it with a cork and no one would notice.

 

[Jsamp]

I would think that a restaurant wouldn't care if you brought a beer rather than wine, but you could just bottle it with a cork and no one would notice.

I think people keep forgetting that when they bring a bottle into an establishment the establishment still provides the services to serve that beverage. You are also enjoying that establishments environment or else a person wouldnt select that place for a "great dining experience with my hand selected bottle". Try taking a bottle into Burger King and see what happens.

 

[rexbanner]

I think people keep forgetting that when they bring a bottle into an establishment the establishment still provides the services to serve that beverage. You are also enjoying that establishments environment or else a person wouldnt select that place for a "great dining experience with my hand selected bottle". Try taking a bottle into Burger King and see what happens.

Who's forgetting that? I said I'd pay. I agree with you.