Do (successful) breweries give a damn?

I emailed a bunch of breweries about how to get into the industry the correct way. They all replied within 1-2 weeks and some with in a day or two. They were all very helpful and professional. They ranged form small to large breweries.

The list included:
Stone
Modern Times
Fat Heads
Great Lakes
Green Flash
Telegraph
Russian River
Firestone Walker
Avery
Mike Hess
Alesmith
Half Acre
Revolution
Port Brewing
Sierra Nevada

Browine points to Alesmith for being the most informative and Fat Heads for being the funniest/truthful.

 

I should hope they do but at the same time ready to do their own thing without being swayed by what's "popular". All about balance. At least that's what i'd do if i had a brewery

 

Email seems to be they way to go. I email Austin BeerWorks probably more than they would like but they always respond timley and respectfully. That's one of the reasons they continue to get my business.

 

What have we learned here?

1. Social media is not the best way to contact most breweries, no matter how much the OP wishes this was the case
2. Most breweries do not have the resources to dedicate full-time to social media
3. It's widely agreed and has been reinforced in this thread by people in the brewing industry that email or phone calls are the best way to reach out to them. I'm 2 for 2 on emails BTW and one was to confirm that the brewery knew they had exploding cans. That's not a lot for 10 years of being a beer geek...maybe I'm just low maintenance?
4. Facebook's new policies for businesses are shitty
   
5. Most successful breweries do, in fact, give a damn

Am I missing anything?

 

Right not a big difference but still. Also a refund is available to him he just refuses to travel to the brewery from Milwaukee to get it despite having no problem traveling from MKE to purchase the beers in the first place.

I get what your saying but if a brewery is trying to make it up to you and you refuse to accommodate them hard for me to side with you and not the brewery especially since I have done this transaction with O'so (returning/exchanging beer) a couple times in the past with ZERO problems despite the fact I don't even own a car, I live about the same distance away as this guy, and both my returns where for a much larger some than his.

This guy basically wants his d**k s*%ked for having tasted beer he didn't like I think that's what he's unhappy about. And all it took to set him off was an automated response he got from mark's email to notify him that he is away from it for the time being.

I'm not calling you out or anything but I don't think even fully understanding the situation from both sides makes this guys exchange with O'so defensible.

 

Which they offered him, and he refused.

 

We will have to agree to disagree. I saw none of his responses as being set off. A little testy certainly. Remember it looks like his 3rd or 4th attempt at communication was responded with a canned away response. I would think any business would see this as unacceptable communication. I would not travel 2 hrs to return beer either. The brewery has no obligation to offer more than they did. However, this seems to be a known problem with the beer. I would not think sending the guy a check is out of line. If this was not a known defect (common complaint) about the beer then no way. Since I actually did not research the problem with the beer, my opinion hinges on the fact that it is a common complaint that the brewery is well aware of. If I bought a barrel aged beer and it was sour (even if pleasantly soured) I would not be happy.

 

This post from one of the other threads should clear some stuff up.
O'so/Funk Factory 4/4 release

 

Just wanted to chime in with a recent experience I had with Ballast Point a little over a week ago. I wrote the local sales rep to let him know that a large quantity of 4 month old Sculpin cans had been sitting on the shelf of a rather large liquor store in Houston. He responded back in under 2 hours and offered to send me some Sculpin for giving him the heads-up.

Sure enough, a few days later I get a package with a 6 pack of Grapefruit Sculpin (only ten days old!) and a handwritten card, thanking me for my support of Ballast Point. I stopped by that liquor store this past Tuesday, and the entire stock of cans had been replaced with fresh beer. I bought all 3 six packs that were on the shelf.

This is a shining example of how a business should treat its customers. I was already a huge fan of Ballast Point, but from now on I'll be sure to go the extra mile and spread the Ballast Point gospel to all that would listen. If anyone from Ballast Point is reading this, give James a raise!

 

That thread seems to have the same difference of opinion on how they should handle it as this thread. It seems the info was given to those that complained. Others in the thread seem to think that the presence of acetone in the beer would have been a good to thing to know before they bought it not after buying a beer at a ticketed release party.

 

I think they do, I've had issues with NoDa twice and both times they contacted me within two days and fixed the problem. I completely support them in their growing pains.

 

Stone emails me back. Always.

 

It's not about how big they are. I've had a question for rinn duin brewery that I asked through their website. They are in toms river NJ. 30 minutes north of me. Small brewery. Never heard back. Some people just can't be bothered I guess

 

@thelostabbey

 

The only ones I have ever contacted (via email) were Ballast Point, and they responded in a couple of days.

 

I made a comment about the laughably out of date Stone beers here on BA and was messaged within a few hours by a rep.

 

Yeah lost Abbey gets a thumbs down from me lately.

 

Is that the "controversy" about the witch on the label?

 

As far emails and quick replies, Sixpoint's customer service is awesome along with Great Divide they were both quick and respectful when had issues with an online order or a beer question/issue.

Also emailed Devils Backbone about a mixed variety 12 pack I bought and 8 of the bottles were their Shwarzbier. Not that I don't love that beer just was expecting an even balance obviously. They were prompt and polite. Said they couldn't send me beer but offered to send me a few glasses and thanked me for letting them know about the issue.