Devil's Backbone

[Saboral]

So for Father's Day my wife and two month old son took me brewery hopping in Nelson County, VA. We had brunch at Wild Wolf, went to Devil's Backbone, then to Blue Mountain.

This was my first time visiting Devil's Backbone which for me was a big deal as they were my favorite Virginia brewed beer. Well we went to their base camp brewery and while the beer was great the service ruined it.

The bartender was great but the waitress was downright nasty. To start with they don't have a clearly marked entrance and you can't tell where the hostesses are. You go in and a bar table opens open, like most normal bar patrons you assume bar tables are seat yourself. So we grab a table. After waiting for 15 minutes the waitress comes over and finishes busting the table and just mentions that she's not going to get us off the table. So apparently this also meant she wasn't going to serve us.

A nice family noticed us and gave us their seats at the bar when they finished. The bartender was way overwhelmed (she still did a good job).

The beers were good, as expected, but the whole environment wasn't relaxing in the least. Atmosphere can definitely effect the impression a beer leaves on someone.

 

[Bigbeavk]

Sorry to hear you were treated like that. We did the same little weekend tour a while back and enjoyed all of those places. Maybe you could drop them a message to let them know they have a problem employee. It's sad that sometimes an employee gets stressed and can ruin a reputation very quickly. We had great service when we were there.

 

[Saboral]

I think I'm going to try it again on a non-holiday weekend. I just wish that brewery restaurants would have a separate area for people who just want to taste beer. Having a big restaurant with a small bar at a place people are coming for tastings results in the restaurant service effecting opinions of the beer. Not to mention it just being very crowded and noisy. I'll continue to drink DB, but I hope my next experience there is better.

 

[Punity]

Contact them and just voice your opinion as a brewer sometimes it takes people commenting about a poor experience to make me step back and look at our procedures and if there is anything that we can change.