Bad Breweries/Brewpubs Remain Open

The only brewery in my area is really bad. I assume they're only still open because the local bars/bottle shops do their best to support them. I don't know if anyone is a "fan" and buys their beer regularly. Don't think that's possible. I think that once all the beer drinkers in town have tried their beer, they'll be gone, unless they improve substantially.

 

100% Truth.

 

Just because a brewery doesn't brew a Heady, Pliny, KBS, or some other extremely hyped beer, doesn't mean it is a bad brewery. BA's have a much higher set of standards than the typical beer drinker and there's nothing wrong with that, but with that goes a lot of bashing from the high horse from some of the more dramatic members of this community. We've all had bad beer from bad breweries, but when a brewery stays in business despite your biased opinions, it's probably because people actually do like their beer,food,service, etc...

 

Table service just needs to be "adjusted". haha - my quick fix is to sit at the bar. Always fun to sit at the bar anyways.

 

There is a brewery by me that stays open yet has my personal record of drain pours. Go in there they're always full... Don't get it.

 

We have a brew pub that has consistently less than mediocre beers, time and time again. They stay open because they have the best patio in the city and are located right on the river. Always packed in the summer. Heck, I even go there once in awhile for lunch because of the view. And yes, i choke down one or three of their beers. Location matters I guess

 

Hilton Head Brewing Co. in Hilton Head and River City Brewing Co. in Jacksonville are the two worst I have been to. Both had beers that tasted like a bad homebrew, and the overall feel of both places was greasy and cheap.

 

Not a Bacchus fan? I was there and not offended by any of their beers

 

Why lousy brew pubs stay in business or grow:

Simply put, brew pubs are the "in" place to dine right now, whether its families, singles whatever.

Instead of taking the ball team after the game to Pizza Hut or Chi Chi's (1970's/80's era), now its lets all go to BJ's (or name your brew pub of choice) so the parents can unwind and get some beer while the kids eat overpriced chicken fingers and mac and cheese.

 

I too don't feel standards are in the decline. Actually for food options, most people now are paying a little extra $$ for freshness, organic etc. Restaurants like Chipolte, Baja Fresh, Tender Greens (CA), etc. are replacing McD's and the $1 poison menu. More organic grocery stores succeeding etc. Craft beer vs. adjunct. Most every facet in food and beverage, we're willing to pay a little more for higher quality.

 

As Flashy noted above, Gettysbrew was definitely the champ.

 

The special bombers are pretty good...but yeah the normal lineup is wack

 

If they were truly awful, I doubt they'd stay open for long. There's just a ton of mediocre breweries/brewpubs, though many on BA might deem them "awful."

 

Brewpubs will definitely straddle the line between the Beer Advocate and the average beer drinker. I think Iron Hill is a great example of that in the PA-NJ-DE area where they have a large profile and do quite well without much hype.

 

Well said. Had to give you props above and beyond the mere 'like' button.

 

Diamond Bear. All of their beers seem really uninspired and lack complexity. They aren't awful, but I've never had a beer from them that made me want another, and I don't even pay attention to their shelf at the liquor store anymore.

 

Their Porter & Two Term were good bottled, mind you that was a few years ago. Yeah, I would try any , new & unknown brewery over those guys. they've had a long time to dial in & haven't.

 

I posted earlier in this thread that some breweries receive good reviews because the reviewers are new to craft beers and don't know any better than to give a good review because of a lack of a comparative basis. Case in point: I re-visited a brewery this week that I had visited a couple of years ago, which was just a few weeks after they had just opened, and I felt their beers were sub-par at that time. I did not write a review back then because of the newness of the brewery and recognizing that a brewer can have difficulty up-sizing the recipe from a small to large scale. On my visit this week I found that the beers were still sub-par, but this brewery enjoys a Very Good rating on this site. I just hope that the reviewers that gave good scores will wake up and realize that their reviews are flawed, and that they will go back and change their rating to reflect reality.

 

It's the Ringwood yeast. Lots of breweries in NE using the stuff - I can't understand how any of em stay in business

 

So often this is dependent on an owner that is willing to either lose money or make no money at all. That being said, it is surprising how many places can afford to pay an owner $75k+/year with really bad beer. If you're the only game in town, and your clientele simply wants local, you don't have to make good beer to stay afloat. More and more of these places are at risk as the number of breweries climbs well above 3,000 though. Good established breweries have nothing to worry about at all. It's the crappy one's that should be shaking in their boots because their business plan that worked for a decade will no longer work because the business plan was based on ZERO competition.