Mislabeling Beer at Bars.

Yeah, but where the analogy falls apart is that the police patrol the roads and use radar to catch speeders, while, it seems, most of the alcoholic beverage regulations are enforced only when there are complaints - well, other than under-age drinking and legal hours, etc. I guess there's more money in fines for those sorts of things than "Improper/Missing Tap Handle/Marker".

 

I agree that some regulation exist, but this enforcement doesn't seem to. I'm pretty sure tons of smaller brewers don't even make tap handles.

 

I was at Ale Emporium last week in the Castleton area of Indianapolis having a pint. Asked for the Lagunitas Doppelsticky which was labeled a doppelbock on their menu. My thinking was, "oh cool, Lagunitas made a doppelbock". I had a taste and told the lady she must've poured me an IPA because no way in hell was that a doppelbock. She pulls another pint to prove me wrong and I tell her there's no way that's a doppelbock. So I look it up on beeradvocate and it's labeled an Altbier which is a weird name for IPA. Either way, it was a good ipa but a shitty doppelbock.

 

I wish this were more uncommon than it is, but it does happen more often than you'd like to know.

What's probably more important is how many times this is done intentionally vs. accidentally.

 

I can't recall how many times I've seen a hastily-assembled "sign" taped over another tap handle in Minnesota.

Nothing inspires confidence in a bar's professional rigor like a smeared, incorrect chalkboard along with a thermal printout chit and its blurry watercolor marker scribble over a lucite Miller Lite tap.

Meanwhile, the proper tap handle is proudly displayed along with dozens of others above the bar...

 

It is not a doppelbock. An altbier uses a top fermenting (ale) yeast at cooler temperatures and it is lagered. Sticke refres to a stronger version made by Uriege. Lagunitas Doppelsticke refers to the Uriege and is double what Uriege is doing. They have amped up the hops a little bit and the alcohol. It is more like a very clean and smooth IPA than a doppelbock so you are much more right than the lady in the bar. I think it is much better than Uriege because it is much fresher than any Uriege you are bound to find in the US.

 

Will try to avoid the variation bandwagon but this exact occurrence happened during your timeframe locally. Even the owner--big craft beer guy could not figure it out. For the small sixtels, the only differentiating factor between them is the paper label around the top. We thought perhaps a bad batch of regular Sculpin (the grapefruit bit completely absent) with mixed up labels but after 4 or 5 really experienced tasters got ahold of it, compared to Sculpin as well, the conclusion was bad GF Sculpin.

Were wondering along the way if someone had inadvertently switched labels but honestly couldn't pin the result on another BP beer. I guess some bad batches get out of QA and make it.

 

Out for a meal with family a couple of months ago I ordered an Ommegang Cooperstown then got served the Abbey.
I called the waitress out and she looked at me pointed to the word Cooperstown on the bottle and went 'no that's the cooperstown'.
I tried to explain that this was the brewer's location and 'Abbey Ale' written below was the beer and she just laughed at me. It was a family meal so I just moved on but I felt it showed a real lack . She also described it as a light lager type beer, funny I wouldn't put a dubbel in that category.

 

That's on the distributor. One of my duties, in fact, at the distro I work for is to 'makeshift' a tap knob for Beer X if we run out of the proper knobs.

 

(Sorta) perfect thread for my bar experience last night. I just got a BMC vibe the second I walked in this place. To my surprise, they actually had a beer list, though it was riddled with misspellings. A few good offerings. Anyway, on the chalkboard, I see "Coming soon, Anti-Hero's Fistmas Ale!" Uh, what?

 

That's not mis-labeling, that's ignorance -- like calling it Anchor Steam Porter. Being on the chalkboard makes for an easy correction... you told 'em, right?

 

I did not. I wouldn't ever go back to this place anyway. Beer aside, the food sucked.

 

Zum Uerige makes a Sticky (Secret) Alt available twice a year, which is a little bigger and has more hops. Doppel means double in German. So Doppelsticky, Is the double secret Altbier. More of everything, tough it was malty compared to the other two when I had it.

Doppelbocks are strong Bocks, and must be 1.072 OG (16Plato) or more to fit into the Stark bier tax category. The Doppelsticky would be in that strength category too.

Yes, it was no way a Doppelbock, it was a Doppelsticky.

 

Good to know I'm not the only one who experienced it. I definitely thought something was off

 

Once ordered an Alpine(GF) Duet and they brought over some sort of brown ale in a giant stein. When I confronted the waitress about it, she said it was the correct beer. We had to get a second waiter involved- he knew right away this was not the correct beer, and brought back a giant stein of Duet. All's well.

 

Buffalo Wild Wings had "Tank 7's The Calling" on their bottle list the other day. I was excited to find out which Boulevard beer i'd actually get.