Does your local bottle shop have a token 'that guy'-type employee?

Wash down your sorrows with some Heady Topper and you'll be fine in the morning.

 

Hell no. I'd tell him to fuck off.

 

I just wish we had a bottle shop around here. New one opened up but it's primarily a wine joint that's kind of piggybacked the term "Craft beer" along with it.

They DO have some Rochfort 10 on the shelf. But I don't trust the condition. Dusty, in the sun more or less, no packaging around it - loose bottles.

I've often wished I could open a proper bottle shop or beer bar but $$$$$$.

Know the type tho and have dealt with them in the past. You might want to put them in their place with the old Ronnin technique. "WHAT COLOR IS THE MALT HOUSE AT SIEBEL?"

 

I have asked about the age of a Hop Stoopid once had been met with huge, as-if-accused-of-murder eyes. I am sure you work hard for money. Pay for what you want.

 

Yes.

They exist at beer bars too.

And especially at faux beer bars.

 

Definitely - stopped into a beer bar when traveling recently and the guy working the bar was that type. He felt the need to tell everyone that came in about his cicerone and about how he got beers in that nobody else in the state had on tap (not true). As people came in he would explain his cicerone, ask them to name 3 or 4 beers they like, and then he'd give a recommendation. Without fail, for 6 people in a row, his recommendation was Sixpoint Resin - even if they liked stouts.

 

I have run into folks such as that from time to time. I tend to let them feel important and like they know everything then just blow it off and be on my way. People such as this are not worth my time, allowing them to continue to irritate me well after the fact is giving these people much more due than they deserve.

 

Not really at any of the shops I normally go too....but there is an owner/barkeep of a "beer" bar, near me, that can be a real sonofabitch.

 

Not a bar but a local homebrew shop. Owner and tenders alike insist that keeping their yeast unrefrigerated is acceptable and many other sophomore mistakes. Always know more than you though.

 

Liquid yeast?

 

"Sir, if you really were as smart as the way that you act, you wouldn't act like such an asshole." This line works wonders in certain situations.

Luckily all the places I shop for beer are filled with great folks, but there are a couple of liquor stores from whom I buy wine where I have seen people like OP describes.

 

not local, but i asked an employee in austin if they by chance had (512) barrel aged pecan porter bottles and the dude without even looking at me in the face responded "512 has never bottled a beer so i dont know what youre talking about". -_- seriously?

 

512 has bottled a grand total of 3 beers, all are very limited (all sold out within a few days) and with not much fanfare. So I would give that guy a break.

 

I almost got into a shouting match the other day with this dork at a local bottle shop who kept trying to convince me that 'Little Sumpin' Wild'' and 'Little Sumpin' Sumpin'' were the same exact beer. I saw only LSS in the cooler and saw that there was a case of LSW waiting to be stocked on the floor. He kept shoving Little Sumpin' Sumpin' in my face and pointing to where it says "UN-LIMITED" on the 6-pack and saying "Look, it's LIMITED! Take it!"

Finally the owner walked over and informed him that I was right and took 3 seconds to open the case and hand me 2 6-packs.

Grumble grumble.

 

Yeah, if it wasn't one of the "core" liquor/beer stores in Austin (Spec's Brodie, Whip In, South Lamar Wine & Spirits, Sunrise MM, Central Market, etc...), it's quite possible he didn't even see it. Very limited and self-distributed. Sold out the same day it was released.

 

I've noticed that some in the industry don't like it when knowledgable customers come around.

 

Glad to say we don't have anyone like that at the bottle shops I go to. Now, as for "that guy" who refers to various beers as "bad ass"...him I have seen at quite a few local beer shops/bars/gatherings.

 

Nope I would just ignore him. I an into some types in bars more than stores, plus I never ask and I do not care about hoppy so I never care if its old beer. Its better than it used to be here, we used to have 2 and 3 year old beer on the shelves..

 

At one of my local shops, if anyone has a beer question or requests that the clerks or (other than the main) beer guy can't answer, they totally talk down to you with "well our beer guy isn't here today, but he's the only certified cicerone in New England (which isn't even true), so if anyone could answer your question, it would be him, so if you want to leave your name and number..."

I got douche chills when I heard it the first time, and when they pulled that douchy shit on me when I asked if they had a specific Baltic Porter in stock- I just rolled my eyes. Like you need to be cicerone to know if you have a certain brand in stock - and no customer could ever possibly have the same or more knowledge about beer as your certified cicerone. <eyeroll>. Meanwhile if you talk to the certified cicerone yourself, he is totally the opposite of the elitest billing they give him - he never plays the cicerone card, doesn't talk down to anyone, just treats everyone with respect and honesty.