Equilibrium Brewery

Volunteerism needs to be stamped out is obviously your point, since why the f*** else would you care?

Not to worry. I agree. Volunteers are evil.

I am gonna get after my representative in the NYS legislature and get him to do something about these volunteers IMMEDIATELY. Before you know it folks will be volunteering all over. I'm gonna start with my town because our firefighters are fucking volunteers, and that is just WRONG.

 

Totally agree. Some volunteers in my town were actually building houses for veterans. We need to put an end to this, starting with folks who would donate 2-3 hours of their time on a Saturday morning to help a small business.

 

This thread now has people comparing #linelyfers to firefighters... I'm out. The entitlement some people in this thread feel for lining up weekly at the crack of dawn is insane. "My chair claims my allotment!" This terrible trend has spread to other breweries and is incredibly sad.

Is the guy handing out the tickets at EQ really complaining about the ridiculousness he helped spread not working at another brewery? Someone should tell him to speak up instead of complain about in on a beer forum...

 

Cracked the stout Monday night, I liked it a lot. To me I think I try to judge straight stouts against straight stouts (adjuncts like bourbon and coffee I personally put in a different class). In that context, I thought it very good (my wife liked it less than other stouts). A really roasted flavor, low on the "watery" mouthfeel that some stouts bring, but not much viscosity either. For local straight stouts, I think it may be a bit stronger roast flavor, maybe a bit less dark than double negative; both of which come to mind to me as very solid local stouts.

Hard to believe how much hate there is out there; the original poster made a complaint/observation in what seemed to me a pretty innocuos tone, even taking blame himself for not checking (we all can space out sometimes when confronted with a scene like that). Then, the issue was raised with the brewery because of this complaint, people apologized and the brewery is immediately fixing things to stop this issue going forward. Hats off to the original poster for not taking all the bait after his post!!
As far as the lines go at Eq, my understanding is that outside of this issue (fixed from now on), the system has worked very well (check this very thread predicting doom and gloom when it first started). People get there when they want, there is no cheating/cutting, the brewery tries to ensure that if you get there by opening you will get beer. No neighborhoods trashed. Given what happens at many breweries and all the complaints about the systems, all lines cause complaints (what if OH basically guaranteed that if you got there at open you would get a decent amount of beers? people would be very positive on it). The line system (now with better information) seems to work very well at EQ. And the brewers have been very customer friendly about any issues-- "exploding can" issues or this issue.
Whether or not a brewer needs to hire more staff is a private issue; most beweries do not seem to hire someone for managing their line. My understanding is that this line process is self-initiated and self managed and generally works, so maybe the brewer should hire in other areas if hiring is mandatory or desirable.
The issues on drinking early, getting there early and the free food seem to trigger people. People can partake in this scene or not; it is after all a brewery and the drinking is taking place in a specific place owned by the brewery by adults. After all people can still get beer by getting there at line opening and avoid that scene. Or can pick up a ticket earlier and do what you want until the line officially opens.
Cheers!

 

Great response @ScottKramer, certainly more level headed than mine. You are right that most breweries don't hire a "line manager" but they have now had to put their staff in charge of things like tickets. Thats just the nature of the beast. This type of ticketing system creates entitlement. The earlier you show up the more beer you get. I don't think this should be encouraged or spread to other breweries, which it seems like it is. I heard people at Other Half complaining about it last week, along with people complaining about there not being space heaters "like at EQ." Someone even asked me where the "share table" was. People have started placing chairs outside of breweries before they even close the night before. Just look at whats happened at Angry Chair and Sand City. Neighbors are going to get tired of this nonsense.

Anyway, I'm hoping someone will update this thread with how dHop8 changes over time, its a really interesting concept I hope they continue to play with.

 

Yeah, but the fact that it works at Eq (the location is very different than OH) should be seen for what it is. Much of this wouldn't work in an urban place like Brooklyn, or a town like Northport, but that has very little to do with Eq. The people who want that at OH are not being realistic if thats the case! And I guess they will allot staff to the line to the extent there are issues-- clearly brewery staff are buying and installing tents and heaters, but they are just letting the line self-police which may even be better overall. And I they hired someone for design, I believe a local very talented photographer who make their beers look so beautiful on social media and even done some original can designs!

I think the debate on "full allottment for line waiters" vs partial allotments for later vs "cutting all limits to much less than a case" vs "let everyone max out" has been beaten to death on the OH thread and not sure we can solve that! And even in that, at nearly every release you can show up at a decent time at Eq and get the full allotment. In fact, many of the people getting there super early don't even max out, they are there to all hang out and eat and bottle share!

Back to Dhopt8: I have a few and will post as I try. On the beer front, I am intrigued by what the preferred drinking window is for these Eq DIPAs and what people think. I tend to wait at least 2-3 weeks for OH, maybe even more; Grimm has indicated similar for them. However, Eq honestly seems to not hold off that well beyond a certain point (maybe a month?), more so than nearly any local beers I've had-- I've had no exploding cans but sediment and other issues when it goes too long. So I typically wait a week to drink them, and try to finish within the month. So next week I'll let you know!

 

I'm with you in that I typically age my IPA cans for a few weeks before I drink them.

I have cans of Fluctuation from both the 2/3 release and the 3/3 release in my fridge. I drank a can of each when I got the 3/3 release and I was surprised by how much the 2/3 release had fallen off. While both were very good, the 3/3 release had a lot more going on.

 

This is a really stupid debate. The brewery is implementing a ticket system, they should control how they are distributed - I imagine they will solve this in the next release or so. Even if some people show up earlier than staff, if tickets are still being handed out by volunteers within an hour of open, that's an issue.

This is a BUSINESS that generates tens of thousands of revenue every Saturday. Leaving paying customers with a bad taste in their mouth risks them not returning, along with friends/family not coming in the first place that would have otherwise. Any short term costs of having an employee there early would be more than offset by the long-term benefit of a stable and growing customer base.

To this commenter who had the audacity to relate a dude handing out tickets while drinking beer at 7am to a volunteer firefighter - you should be absolutely ashamed of yourself.

 

They hired ten people, I'm guessing you know this, so please stop pretending like they're not paying people to do work.

Honestly I don't care at all about the line conversation, for me this has less to do with EQ and much more to do with this sense of aggrievement people seem to have over a brewery taking gov't money / tax dollars. I don't think that would be happening without the NYT article, and because I think this is an encouraging trend that should continue I think it's unfortunate that some people in the beer community seem opposed to the concept.

There are still a lot of people in the political world that question whether or not it's useful to make public investments in craft breweries, and while we shouldn't paint the brewers as saints and hold them above justified criticism it seems like an unmitigated, positive development that governments are willing to invest in craft and that this is having a positive effect on small towns. If you don't like the way they run the line, fine, whatever, but it's really not a good look to keep bringing it back to the gov't $ any time you don't agree with their business decisions.

 

Just curious-

if they have someone hand out the tickets.. why not have a designated area with a ticket dispenser like a deli at the local supermarket?

Everyone knows to go there...everyone grabs there one ticket?

I also am uneducated and not sure if they have done this in the past and people took advantage.

 

The first article I read was months before the NYT article. I'm not pretending theyre not paying people to work... They aren't paying these people. Its a fact. You can ignore it all you want but that doensnt make it any less true.

I think its fantastic that they got this grant, and its great that they got such a great deal on their space. I just think they're screwing everything else up. They have no taproom because they couldnt get along with their business partner. I understand why the Tapped people cut ties. Id be pretty annyoed if my partner would rather give away parking lot meat than say to beer buyers "hey go grab some food from our rsetaurant RIGHT OVER there."

How is it not a good look to suggest to owners that they should pay the person handing out your beer release tickets? Its yours and my tax dollars. Do you know how many NY brewery's open up with any grants for free buildings and still manage to pay people?

Why does everyone in this thread take it as a personal attack anytime someone makes a
suggestion about how to make the brewery better? Does it affect you when is suggest paying somoene say.. $150 every week to run a line?

 

You have mentioned this point multiple times now, as if it's some indication of EQ's shortcomings, and it's absurd. Have you been to Tapped? Have you checked their Yelp reviews? Have you had their disgusting, chewy chicken? In my experience, Tapped is a very poorly-run restaurant with subpar quality, and EQ did well in absolving ties and focusing on their brewery instead. I am certainly not alone in this thread of having a terrible Tapped experience and having a great EQ experience (I don't wait in line, ever; I usually show up around 1pm and get whatever I want, which makes the whole fiasco about ticketing odd to me; if you don't like the ticketing and early drinkers, just show up later).

The primary reason for the split was quality standards, and the fact that many patrons were confused upon visiting "Equilibrium" and expecting multiple EQ beers on tap, when in reality the restaurant only had one or two on at a time and could really care less about their dedication to craft beer or quality service in general.

You act as if Tapped is some holy grail of customer service and cuisine, and that HOW DARE Equilibrium wish to cut ties with such an upstanding establishment.

Like, your gripes concern cutting ties with Tapped and not being clearer about ticketing. OH THE HORROR. We get it; this brewery makes you butthurt. Feel free to make another 5 posts stating the same point, as if regurgitating nonsense will somehow convince people.

 

you would think he kicked your dog the way you went after him here..

 

I'm not one of the line regulars, but I've been to Equilibrium a lot just to buy beer and that restaurant sucks. It's overpriced, the food is mediocre, and it's completely not worth going to now that have only have 1-2 EQ beers on tap at any given time. Regulars were telling newbies to avoid the restaurant and go to Holy Dog way before the split became official regardless of parking lot brisket bribes.

 

and you would think EQ kicked his dog considering he's made four posts basically stating that EQ is a "shit show" with his two reasons being that the ticketing could use another person and they cut ties with Tapped. you act as if I personally attacked him, whereas I'm only attacking the points he put forth (that EQ sucks because they cut ties with Tapped, and how awful it is to give out free food before Tapped even opens).

like, we get it -- he hates EQ. how many posts do we need stating the same exact thing and acting like Tapped is some holy grail of cuisine, when it's probably the shittiest eating establishment i've been to in the Hudson Valley?

are we supposed to actually feel bad for Tapped that someone is cooking FREE food next door? like, give me a break. if Tapped's food wasn't such garbage maybe people would opt for them instead of the parking lot grill and Holy Dog.

even when EQ/Tapped were together, this thread was filled with suggestions for people to skip Tapped and eat at Holy Dog instead, because Tapped's food is so bad.

not to mention, Tapped was never even open at the times that the EQ line had a grill. they grill breakfast meats and stuff at 10-11AM, when Tapped isn't even close to opening. so again, your point makes utterly zero sense and just comes across as whining without basis in fact.

 

Cakehouse sounds like he'd be so much fun to hang out with

Actually, they never had a taproom. They tried to take a shortcut by allowing the restaurant to run it all through their liquor license. It backfired and now they locked themselves into a bad lease in a building they own.

 

Putting differences aside for a moment, I think we can all agree that the most concerning matter throughout this entire discourse is grown adults unironically using "butthurt" in 2018, right?

 

Yikes, not even sure where to begin.... They have ten employees, are you saying they are all volunteers and do not get paid? Using a volunteer for a very small window of time opens them up to this blanket criticism... seriously?

It's not a good look because asking for a line referee does not help the community, it helps those who feel aggrieved by the way EQ runs the line. I don't feel personally attacked, I just think it's a very self-serving suggestion to insist that taxpayers are somehow owed line managers because the brewery received government assistance. The owners do a great job of confining the drinking / sharing to the premises and personally I do not want them spending tax $ so nobody cuts in line, that is insane to me.

 

@Mineo I didnt mention anything about tapped expcept that i understand why they would want to cut ties. If their business sucks too then sure, dont go there, but why wouldnt EQ want talk to the restaurant about their issues if theyre partners? I mean isnt that what yall are talking about doing here? Discuss problem to make changes that resolve the issues, rather than just cut ties?

I never said I hated EQ, I said they have some problems and are running their business poorly. What drives me nuts is ridiculousness people like you spew in this thread anytime someone makes a less than stellar comment. You act as if i personally insulted your family. Calm down.

This is entirely my point. They took a shortcut and it backfired. Now were all forced to drink in a parking lot because of their poor decisions. American tax dollars at work.

I'll say it one last time. Only at EQ would people think paying someone for working for them is "insane".

 

I wonder how much liability they are opening themselves up to by telling people they can party in thier parking lot? With or without a brewery employee there. It is however better than the alternative of people partying in the city streets, though the PD is right across the street.