Bars, stop with the "House Beers". It's not 1998 anymore.

Discussion in 'Beer Talk' started by Andwoo, Feb 5, 2013.

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  1. Andwoo

    Andwoo Initiate (0) Sep 21, 2010 Texas

    This topic rarely gets discussed but it's one that deserves some attention. I'm in beer sales for a craft brewer and see this all the time. I'll set the scene:

    Me - "Excuse me, what's the (insert bar name/made-up name here) Brown Ale?
    Bartender - "It's our special house beer."
    Me - "Oh cool. Do you guys brew here?"
    Bartender - "No, I think we get it from somebody or something."
    Me - *walk in the back cooler to discover it's just some brewery's regular beer, but they made a special handle for them with their silly name on it*

    This drives me crazy and it's not good for the industry. Most craft brewers put in a lot of work, money, time and support into building brands and brewing good beer. When a bar/restaurant agrees to carry your beer, they're essentially partnering with you to help grow your brand and to make some money for themself because, hopefully, those brewing efforts have reached a point where it helps the bar's rate-of-sale and brings them profit. When you see a "house beer", it's not because that's what the brewery wanted, it's because the bar's beer buyer has such a large ego, that they could care less about supporting a brewery and more about having their "fake" beer on tap. It's selfish. Some breweries cave to it because the volume is lucrative, but it does nothing for their brand. Oh, and it SUCKS FOR THE CUSTOMER! You don't know what you just paid for! Craft beer is about much more than just good tasting beer. And good craft beer has such a better story to tell than "Joe's Bar Brown".
     
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  2. vacax

    vacax Initiate (0) Jun 3, 2008 California

    I really don't understand what you're getting at here. How are they not supporting the brewery that they are contracting the beer from? If the brewer didn't want to do a contract brew they wouldn't do contract brews. There is nothing fake about a contract beer. They are real beers made by real breweries for real places. If it wasn't mutually beneficial they wouldn't do it together. Firestone Walker does some excellent contract brewing in particular.
     
  3. devlishdamsel

    devlishdamsel Initiate (0) Aug 1, 2009 Washington

    It's been years since I have seen this locally. I'll have to kill the establishment on a review if I see this again.
     
  4. NickMunford

    NickMunford Pooh-Bah (2,094) Oct 2, 2006 Wyoming
    Pooh-Bah Society

    It doesn't sound like the OP's talking about contract brewing, but a bar just hijacking and renaming an existing beer.
     
  5. reverseapachemaster

    reverseapachemaster Zealot (722) Sep 21, 2012 Texas

    Is this just a gripe about contract brewing?
     
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  6. stupac2

    stupac2 Pooh-Bah (2,031) Feb 22, 2011 California
    Pooh-Bah Society

    I had some great house beers in Belgium.
     
  7. Lutter

    Lutter Initiate (0) Jun 30, 2010 Texas
    Deactivated

    Alamo Drafthouse does this with Drafthouse ESB, which is made by Real Ale. It's exclusively made for them however.
     
  8. JoeyDankNug

    JoeyDankNug Initiate (0) Aug 4, 2011 New York

    A lot of times the breweries are in on this.if you have a beer with the name of restaurant in it,you sell a lot of it.even if its shitty.the average person at a bar/restaurant doesn't care what it is.they order it because its the house specialty beer.but I agree,it sucks
     
  9. jmmy3

    jmmy3 Initiate (0) Nov 30, 2010 Massachusetts

    Contract brewing didn't cross my mind once while reading this thead. I think OP was pretty clear, don't you people read?
     
  10. Andwoo

    Andwoo Initiate (0) Sep 21, 2010 Texas

    If a brewery decides to actually brew a special beer for an account (which has got to be really hard unless you have a little 10bbl system or something), that's a totally different thing and can be really cool. You don't see that too often because many breweries don't have a pilot system to use and probably wouldn't dedicate a full brew on their normal set-up (probably 50-100bbl system) for just one account.

    I'm talking about when I see "Joe's Brown Ale" on tap and walk in the cooler, look at the keg, and realize it's just one of the brewery's flagship beers. I see this all the time. It's usually a sales tactic (and last resort) for a brewery to get their beer on tap. Trust me, the brewery would much rather have their brand be known that it's on tap than some made-up brand. Many craft breweries absolutely refuse to sell their beer as a "house beer".
     
    Stockfan42 likes this.
  11. Andwoo

    Andwoo Initiate (0) Sep 21, 2010 Texas

    Right. And I think that's awesome if they're truly making it just for the Alamo. I just wonder how difficult it is for their brewers to brew on such a small and possibly inconsistant scale like that.
     
  12. Xul

    Xul Pooh-Bah (2,115) May 18, 2008 California
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    From the OP:
    If not contract brewing, then what is he referring to? If the breweries "cave" to it, it's clearly not just a bar selling a given craft beer under a different name (which would likely run afoul of state labeling issues).
     
  13. JoeyDankNug

    JoeyDankNug Initiate (0) Aug 4, 2011 New York

    Happens all the time in the restaurant business.when u goto a restaurant for food they don't tell you what brand it is.it says french fries not McCain French fries
     
  14. Xul

    Xul Pooh-Bah (2,115) May 18, 2008 California
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    I'm pretty blown away that you work in the beer industry, yet seem to have very little understanding of contract brewing. Firestone Walker does quite a bit of it, as vacax said, and they're not doing it on a 10bbl scale...
     
    maltmaster420 likes this.
  15. Andwoo

    Andwoo Initiate (0) Sep 21, 2010 Texas


    Not at all. Contract brewing is a whole other can of worms. Talking about bars only agreeing to carry somebody's beer if they can call it their own name. Just think it's bad form on the bar's end. Hoping other BA's notice this and realize it's generally never the brewer's ideal way of selling at retail.
     
  16. Xul

    Xul Pooh-Bah (2,115) May 18, 2008 California
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    By your standards, where does contract brewing end and this "calling it their own name" begin?
     
  17. Andwoo

    Andwoo Initiate (0) Sep 21, 2010 Texas

    I think we've got a couple different ideas of what "contract brewing" is here. And I wasn't initially referring to contract brewing. Are you saying that Firestone Walker, for example, brews Union Jack and sells it to a bar and then gives them a tap handle that says whatever the bar wants it to say? Like "Joe's IPA"?
     
  18. reverseapachemaster

    reverseapachemaster Zealot (722) Sep 21, 2012 Texas

    There are quite a few bars that have beers contract brewed for the bar under their own recipe. Is that what this is about, or is this like some guy putting on a keg of newcastle and calling it the house beer?
     
  19. Andwoo

    Andwoo Initiate (0) Sep 21, 2010 Texas

    Yes. Exactly. Just saying, unfortunately, this happens more often to smaller craft brewers and not Newcastle. The small brewery gets sales out of the deal but nobody knows what they're drinking, therefore, not growing the brand of the brewery.
     
  20. Lutter

    Lutter Initiate (0) Jun 30, 2010 Texas
    Deactivated

    Alamo has 5 theaters alone in Austin, 3 in San Antonio, 2 in Houston, and 3 in foreign states. I'm sure they go through quite a bit.
     
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