Help at the beer store: That awkward moment when...

The best was when I was at store here and "the beer guy" thought a 9 month old Port Wipeout was still fresh and hoppy. Obviously he knows nothing about beer.

I often give people advice while shopping, and once I even saw someone again at the same store and they thanked me for my advice. Great spreading the word about great craft beer

 

Is something wrong with Irish Dry Stouts? I'm not sure I understand the implication here.

 

As mentioned, whats the prob? Sounds like something I'd pay 7 dollars on draft for.

 

Probably because an Irish Dry Stout that doesn't come in a full pint seems a little pricy at 7 dollars. I think most bars charge silly prices anyway, but I'm a cheapskate when it comes to single servings.

 

One thing I can't stand is when people try to 'help' by being completely condescending and snarky... and then turn out to be spouting inaccurate "facts."

I was looking for Weihnenstephaner's Dunkelweiss, and a local liquor was like "We have Korbinian, it's the only Dunkel that Weihnenstephaner puts out."

2 things... Korbinian is a dopplebock that, to my knowledge, has no wheat malt, or not enough to qualify it as a '-weiss' of any kind. Yes, it says "Dunkel Starkbier" on the label, but that just means "dark, strong beer..." so, uh... yeah, I guess it's a dunkel in that it's dark.

And the second thing, Weihnenstephaner Dunkelweiss does exist, and I don't know how a store can carry every other Weihnenstephaner but not know that kind exists.

Anywhooo, we talked for a little bit, and I maintained that while Korbinian is Dunkel in the German descriptive sense, it's not a Dunkelweiss. Finally I had to get my phone and pull up the web because he kept swearing up and down that this was the only dark beer they put out. When I showed him proof of the Dunkelweiss he STILL maintained it didn't exist, said maybe it was German only.

I went up the street to Majestic and they had it.

So, I guess my point is, I'd rather have the people at the store be honest about their ignorance and not try to help me by just pulling "facts" out of their ass. If you can't help me, don't fake it just to sell beer. And I think that if anyone is in a situation and hears people offering inaccurate suggestions or advice just to move product, it's kind of a part of the whole Beer Advocate thing to step in and (politely) offer a correction. Sure, it may not be your store, but misinformation is a large part of the reason that so many people have such a one-sided ignorant view of beer in general.

Stop the madness.

 

Haha for me the problem is one of the stores I shop sometimes calls on me when I'm shopping to help customers who ask questions they can't answer, or look for recommends. Usually goes, "There's Dave, he's a homebrewer and knows beer better than me. Hey Dave..." I haven't asked for employee discount yet, but next time I'm going to.

 

I was commenting the other day to my wife that I can't believe people who's job it is know less than me about beer (and it is only a 'hobby' to me).
The last time I went into a store I asked for Parabola and the guy said "Never heard of it".
Have some pride in your work.

 

Happened with me just yesterday as well, some dude and his girl had everyone in the store looking for NN. I politely interjected that its seasonal and that this store had sold the last of it quite some time ago.

 

It was delivery day at a local store and I was browsing. I heard a guy timidly ask an employee stocking if they had any coffee stouts. The employee responded with "Uh...well this one is kinda chocolatey and coffeey I guess. Um..." They were standing next to a palate of Breakfast Stout. I pointed to it and said "Breakfast Stout". The employee brushes me off with "Yeah yeah that's a cool beer too. Anyway..." And continues to pull suggestions out of his ass and then walks away. The guy was left looking confused and looked at me like wtf was that? He asked me about Breakfast Stout. He was enthusiastic and receptive to my suggestions and left with 4 or 5 different beers.

 

I misspelled WEIHENSTEPHANER several times...

 

The awkward moment I have is when I'm standing in line with 3 sixers of craft beer and the Budweiser rep asks me if I want a sample of whatever sludge they are promoting. Well, must be awkward for them when I keep declining and ignoring their offers.

 

In my experience, liquor store employees are more typically low-wage retail workers than people accepting a low wage in order to work with beer.

To some extent, at least, expecting the liquor store clerk to know all about Parabola seems similar to expecting the guy working the grill at Burger King to know all about kobe beef.

 

As a beer buyer for a store I think its amazing when customers help each other out, not because I'm lazy, but because sometimes people don't wanna take your advice. They think your just trying to sell them on something to get it outta the store, but when they hear a non employee say how good it is, they feel a little more relieved .

 

No. I expect someone who works at Burger King to know what is on their menu

 

Then I'll have to assume you're happy enough with liquor stores whose list of products is no longer than a Burger King menu.

 

I just wish people would take pride in their job. I dont care if you are a CEO of Microsoft or a Liquor store worker. We all know about Parabola and it's not even our job.

 

For 11oz? Trust me, that price point is not the norm here in So Cal. I can get a Double IPA from Pizza Port in a 16oz. for 5$. I had a 10% abv Wee Heavy from Rip Current's pilot batch, 16oz, for 6$. The rule is sours/rare imports/strong ales are what are served in smaller glasses and are pricier. An Irish Dry Stout brewed in the county doesn't qualify and is going overboard, imo.

 

True enough, taking pride in one's work is a very worthy quality, and a clerk in a craft-oriented (i.e., upscale) bottle shop should certainly know his or her beer, but regarding all the general liquor stores with a less focused inventory (and a less well-trained, well-compensated staff) I think that's expecting a bit much.

In effect, many of the people on this site are (at least aspiring) connoisseurs, and connoisseurship doesn't always pair up seamlessly with general retail.

(And here I am on Memorial Day arguing as if it's May 1st, international day of Labor. I think I need a new calendar.)

 

It's not a "rule".
Its based on ABV in most places in order to not over serve you. You fail to mention what dry stout?

 

I stopped counting after looking at BK's breakfast menu, which I thought would be shortest. It had 84 items in 9 different categories, and they were composed of multiple ingredients, or came in multiple sizes in the majority of those.

So yeah, it would be nice if they could remember beer in their store close to as well as fast food employees.