A "PSA to the old school breweries" from Chris Lively, Ebenezer's Pub

Discussion in 'Beer Talk' started by Todd, Feb 22, 2020.

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  1. Todd

    Todd Founder (13,254) Aug 23, 1996 Finland
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  2. Beer_Stan

    Beer_Stan Initiate (0) Mar 15, 2014 California
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    Buyer's remorse? Mayhaps he shouldn't have gone with the "reputation" and bought based solely on his sense of taste. I know a lot of people who literally HATE certain styles and there's no variant on earth that can convince them that the beer style is good and worth buying. Whatever the beer is, I'm sure he won't have much trouble selling it to whomever wants it despite his personal tastes.
     
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  3. MattOC

    MattOC Pooh-Bah (2,100) Jan 13, 2013 Massachusetts
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    He didn’t buy solely on reputation. He does say in the video that he and his staff enjoyed the beer so I would figure they’ve had it before.
     
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  4. cavedave

    cavedave Grand Pooh-Bah (4,145) Mar 12, 2009 New York
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    Am I the only one who got the feeling that if this happens again he won't be so shy about naming the brewery?
     
  5. zid

    zid Grand Pooh-Bah (3,058) Feb 15, 2010 New York
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    I listened to the radio edit version and it was only 2 seconds long.
     
  6. TongoRad

    TongoRad Grand Pooh-Bah (3,848) Jun 3, 2004 New Jersey
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    He did mention fermentation problems, so I think he's complaining about flaws.
     
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  7. Beer_Stan

    Beer_Stan Initiate (0) Mar 15, 2014 California
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    Then that's shitty and he should get all his money back. I apologize, I wasn't in a position to watch the video and probably should have reserved commenting until after I had. Pardon.
     
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  8. TongoRad

    TongoRad Grand Pooh-Bah (3,848) Jun 3, 2004 New Jersey
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    No problem . He was still being maddeningly vague about it anyway, and relied on the word 'shitty' too much :rolling_eyes::slight_smile:.
     
  9. rgordon

    rgordon Pooh-Bah (2,677) Apr 26, 2012 North Carolina
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    It looked like and sounded like a hungover scatological screed. I kinda don't feel sorry for him. I need to know more......
     
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  10. Coronaeus

    Coronaeus Grand Pooh-Bah (3,708) Apr 21, 2014 Canada (ON)
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    Maybe shit is one of the ‘adjuncts.’
     
  11. honkey

    honkey Maven (1,326) Aug 28, 2010 Arizona
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    I'm not saying he's definitely wrong, I don't know the guy, but I've seen several instances where retailers have said similar stuff about other breweries and they were just ignorant and the brewery got slammed for no good reason. It sort of happened to me once where I saw a review of one of my beers saying it tasted like cinnamon starburst. It was a DIPA. I messaged the retailer and he told me he cleaned the lines and there was something wrong with the keg and sent me a link to a phenolic compound that can cause the flavor. I told him to take the keg off and refunded his money. Brought it back to the brewery and it was completely fine. I went back and reviewed his draught list and sure enough he had a cinnamon beer on for the week before. He went so far as to claim he cleaned his lines before admitting his mistake. It's no secret that there's a lot of bad beer out there right now, but it should be noted that without giving specifics this video doesn't do any good and should in fact call into question the retailer's credibility based on the frequency with which retailers are the ones that actually screw up.
     
  12. hopfenunmaltz

    hopfenunmaltz Pooh-Bah (2,611) Jun 8, 2005 Michigan
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    Ebeneezer's pub in Lovell ME is a Belgian centric place. I've been there, some years back. As it is Belgian beer focused, would anyone guess that the shipment in question was bottled beer? Go online, they have cooler doors full of bottled beer in large bottles.

    @Todd -maybe you can level people up on who he is?
     
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  13. zid

    zid Grand Pooh-Bah (3,058) Feb 15, 2010 New York
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    @honkey - As usual, your post was a good one that adds a lot to the conversation, but it should be noted that the reputation of the bar has been extremely high over the years and that the man in the video has been "knighted" by the Belgian Brewers’ Guild. However, his language in the video was unbecoming for a beer knight. :wink:
     
  14. honkey

    honkey Maven (1,326) Aug 28, 2010 Arizona
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    I'm aware of his reputation. However, the video was unprofessional and lacked any details that would give credence to his claims. In all honesty, it sounded like an amateur complaining about beer without real knowledge of the subject. It's easy to believe that he is above that level based on reputation, but with the lack of professionalism displayed here, it gives reason to wonder if that's the case.
     
  15. honkey

    honkey Maven (1,326) Aug 28, 2010 Arizona
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    To add, I also wouldn’t be so adamant about calling out brewers if I was the owner of a failed brewing venture myself during an insane boom in craft beer throughout the nation.
     
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  16. StJamesGate

    StJamesGate Grand Pooh-Bah (3,462) Oct 8, 2007 New York
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    He said it tasted like they got a new brewer who just didn't care.

    Is that a metaphor or a hint?
     
  17. anfield86

    anfield86 Pooh-Bah (2,594) Nov 21, 2006 New Jersey
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    I have really mixed feelings about this. I’ve always wanted to go to Ebenezer’s. It’s been on my list for decades now but I just haven’t gotten around to it. I have a ton of respect for what they’ve contributed to the US beer scene (and those contributions are immeasurable) and I still really want to stop by someday.

    Having said that, if I were to read a transcript of his video without knowing who it were coming from, I would presume it was a 21 year old Tiktok cruising’ Zoomer who just started drinking craft and is amazed to discover that you can get burned from shitty bottles. I can appreciate his perspective, blowing $4k on toilet water would piss me off too; but he certainly could’ve addressed the issue better. Protecting the brewery in question doesn’t help either. This all just comes off as a bunch of whining/manufactured drama.
     
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  18. Jacobier10

    Jacobier10 Grand Pooh-Bah (3,090) Feb 23, 2004 New Jersey
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    I have no issue with him speaking his mind. This is a guy who has run a very successful establishment for many years and knows his stuff. He just spent $4k of his hard-earned money on an inconsistent product and is rightfully pissed off about it. Something tells me this isn't the first time it's happened to him. There is a lot of overpriced bad/mediocre beer out there at the moment and it sounds like he's been on the wrong end of it one too many times. Was the rant unprofessional? Maybe. But he clearly felt the need to vent and did it without calling out anyone specifically.
     
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  19. ArrogantB

    ArrogantB Grand Pooh-Bah (3,224) Jun 9, 2006 Colorado
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    Looks like he was hitting the bourbon and dab rigs pretty hard the night before he made this
     
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  20. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,181) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
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    Hopefully Chris Lively directly (e.g., made a phone call) contacted the brewery to discuss his issue? Perhaps he did so and the result of that conversation was it prompted him to post this video?

    It would be useful to know more details here.

    Cheers!
     
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