Need some advice

[Punity]

This might be the wrong forum but it is beer related.

Some of you know most don't that I recently brought back to life a fledgling nano here in my local county. It's a fun gig and now that most of our equipment is here and I can start brewing I'm having a blast.
However I have a ethical/business relations conundrum that I wanted some advice on.

It has to do with the only other local brewery in our county that happens to reside not 2 miles from ours. They've been open for a few years and I always knew they existed but never had any of their beers (I believe they distribute out of our county) and didn't know much about them. The owner and my partner have some not so friendly history with them refusing to refund some large sums of money, but that was in the past and didn't involve me.

A few days ago we were driving by and my partner joked that we should go grab a pint. I said that's not a bad idea we are new and some time had past since their last run ins, as we are the new kid on the block it wouldn't hurt to make nice and have a working relationship (we have a tap room and send customers to them if they ask about other breweries).

So we go in and grab some tasters my partner gets their ipa and the tender walks away he takes a sip and makes a god awful face. I was thinking he's not a fan of ipas so this must be really hoppy haha. He hands it to me and I swear to god this is the most rancid sour beer I have ever tasted in my life, nothing about this says ipa nothing even says beer. A few more tasters of different styles and its the same thing over and over again.

I thought alright well we have to get something because it'd look pretty bad if we just got up and left. So we order a pint of their stout on nitro and we get our pints. Same freakin taste, not as pronounced but still there so we both have the look of great there's a whole pint to finish.

After 10 mins of sitting there with barely anything gone out of both our glasses the tender offers us pretzels. So we go about with the following big gulp of beer handful of pretzels and so on until its done say our thanks and leave.

As soon as we leave both of us feel like crap and I have to go home. My partner and I both text each other later and we both feel sick and have pretty much wasted a day trying not to hurl. Ive had food poisoning before and would have gladly welcomed that in comparison to how my partner and I were feeling

So my conundrum is I can't in good faith recommend that place to anyone ever again becuase I feel it'll look bad on us if we send someone there and they get sick. But I don't want it to seem like we are bad mouthing a fellow brewery. I also don't want to have a brewery right down the road from us that is selling crap so I feel like I should tell them their product is best served to be dumped down the drain. How do you even begin to broach that subject? Im still getting shivers just thinking about the beer I drank.

 

[cheezydemon3]

Anonymous note?

Sorry! that is a tough one.

 

[unionrdr]

Well,for one if the wrong person gets sick from their beers,he could be facing lawsuites or worse,run in's with the FDA or some such organization. Take him aside with your partner & explain it to him. He needs to clean & re-sanitize his systems pretty bad. Maybe just needs new yeast.

 

[tokerlund]

You know, tap rooms and nano are the rage now. A lot of folks want to jump on that and make some money. Some do a more ethical job than others. I saw the same thing when I was in Vegas during the boom and now I live in North Dakota during the oil boom. Some folks want to jump on the bandwagon and make fast cash, some do it ethically others are just lazy. I have no time for the lazy folks. You have to realize that if folks go to a tap room for the first time and choose his over yours or anybody else, they give the whole industry a bad name. Boo to them. I guess if you feel like it would be taken with some open mindedness, give them a professional heads up, but if they get pissy, then don't worry. They won't be in business long. And that would be good for everyone.

 

[Rhumbline]

Any chance they recognized you?

You said there's bad blood...

Anyway, it's not an ethical problem at all. You can't in good conscience recommend them, so say nothing. If you're asked, find some diplomatic way to pass it off.

 

[Billy-Klubb]

if their beer sucks, it might be a lock for your brewery. they may have a huge base though since they were the only one around you for so long. we had that problem in the town I grew up in. the local had a huge fan base since they were the only one around for years, but their beer was horrible. i don't recommend them and actually steer people away from them if I can, even though I haven't lived there for years. life is too short to waste on bad beer and recommending them might hurt your reputation.

 

[Punity]

Any chance they recognized you?

You said there's bad blood...

Anyway, it's not an ethical problem at all. You can't in good conscience recommend them, so say nothing. If you're asked, find some diplomatic way to pass it off.

Its funny my wife said the same thing.

But the owner wouldn't come into the buisness while we were there and the guy serving us was a new employee.

 

[Punity]

if their beer sucks, it might be a lock for your brewery. they may have a huge base though since they were the only one around you for so long. we had that problem in the town I grew up in. the local had a huge fan base since they were the only one around for years, but their beer was horrible. i don't recommend them and actually steer people away from them if I can, even though I haven't lived there for years. life is too short to waste on bad beer and recommending them might hurt your reputation.

There was a rumor they were trying to sell their place but you know how rumors are.

And Im pretty sure that's the only thing going for them is loyalty because it sure as he'll ain't the product.

 

[Punity]

I guess ill just keep my mouth shut for the time being. Try and keep my customers happy and actually represent our area in a good light.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[BeerLoverHere]

Good business for you! Start charging a little more now because yours is better. If anyone asks for another brewery, tell them about the other one and that also you are not a fan because you can't be: you can't make money if you recommend somewhere else! Yours is better. Make it black and white and all about money/business if things ever get awkward. You started your business for you and your family. Any successful entrepreneur knows and does that well so don't feel bad. Word will travel real quick that their beer sucks (probably already has) and my guess is that they won't be in business for long. Be cordial and polite in passing, but since they've burned your co-investors for some cash in the past, don't trust them. Also, since they've been there 2 years/2 miles away and you've not had much of their beer tells me you aren't "friends" anyways. Keep doing what you've done in the past and very soon the other competition will have a boil over and flame out cause they don't pay attention. Survival of the fittest!

 

[Punity]

Good business for you! Start charging a little more now because yours is better. If anyone asks for another brewery, tell them about the other one and that also you are not a fan because you can't be: you can't make money if you recommend somewhere else! Yours is better. Make it black and white and all about money/business if things ever get awkward. You started your business for you and your family. Any successful entrepreneur knows and does that well so don't feel bad. Word will travel real quick that their beer sucks (probably already has) and my guess is that they won't be in business for long. Be cordial and polite in passing, but since they've burned your co-investors for some cash in the past, don't trust them. Also, since they've been there 2 years/2 miles away and you've not had much of their beer tells me you aren't "friends" anyways. Keep doing what you've done in the past and very soon the other competition will have a boil over and flame out cause they don't pay attention. Survival of the fittest!

Haha sound advice.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[Billy-Klubb]

There was a rumor they were trying to sell their place but you know how rumors are.

And Im pretty sure that's the only thing going for them is loyalty because it sure as he'll ain't the product.

that's exactly my point. on the question of recommendation, just don't. like already stated, diplomatically pass them off if asked. as an average consumer, I can be a jerk about crappy beer & breweries. as an owner, people will look to you for a well educated response from a diplomatic level. to show the consumers anything less than that may hurt you in the long run, no matter how great your product is.

 

[Punity]

The only reason I asked is ive never owned/operated my own buiness before and didnt know how to handle situations such as this. I'd ask my partner but he's obviously a little biased.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[Punity]

that's exactly my point. on the question of recommendation, just don't. like already stated, diplomatically pass them off if asked. as an average consumer, I can be a jerk about crappy beer & breweries. as an owner, people will look to you for a well educated response from a diplomatic level. to show the consumers anything less than that may hurt you in the long run, no matter how great your product is.

Thanks