Reasons for Not Patronizing a Brewery

I had an experience at a brewery that makes me never want to patronize the establishment. I will try any beer once, good, bad, or ugly. I was in Oregon for work and walk into this place and tried two flights, 10, 4oz samples. The last beer I tried was infected and bad. I saw someone coming out of the back and I inquired about the beer. I learned a few minutes later, that person coming from the back area was the brewer. I was gregarious and genuinely wanted to learn more about the beers they made (never before have I ever been treated like this, most times they are more than happy to talk shop). The man kindly obliged my few questions. Then, I asked about this beer and if it was infected, and what the intended flavor profiles were. The questions and answering session abruptly ended and told me I was full of shit and did not know what I was talking about. This entire time I did not accuse anything, I just wanted to know if that was the case. Anyways, I left politely and never bought any more beers from that place.

 

ABC’s beer is bad lol. Their food, however, is very good. That’s probably how they stay open honestly.

 

My friends and family refuse to eat there. Too many bad experiences.

 

Agree to disagree. I'd argue that black metal is defined by the style of music / vocals. Not the themes.

You could have a Christian band that plays a black metal style of music. Now, that's probably less common than black metal bands with theme of satan, the occult, etc. But again - agree to disagree, I suppose.

 

Ate/drank there multiple times when I lived in HBG. Can’t say it was ever a bad “experience” even though I did say the beer was bad.

 

Nascar comes once a year. Trust me, that's not typical Watkins.

Most races are rather not commercial events with famous drivers. There are a lot of very wealthy people who maintain a fleet of exotic cars, a staff of mechanics, a few tractor trailers and an entourage of people to make it all happen. They sometimes drive up in some incredibly expensive and rare car, race for a weekend, then go back to pushing around other peoples money and not paying any taxes. Their people make it all happen.

You can be a the Sunoco next to who knows pumping 93 into an Enzo. Which is something I have experienced. Come up to a Ferrari club weekend. Amazing. The spectators at Nascar are another thing all together, but that is not a typical Watkins race week. The Porsche Club of Long Island or the Ferrari club of Boston is more like it.

Cheers

 

I've spent a fair bit of time at The Glen, both the town and the track. I was asking if the confederate flag was in one of the racing themed bars in the area. It's only been the last couple years that NASCAR has started to tone done the rebel links and images. It was not unusual to see Confederate themed promo material from breweries that tied in with the NASCAR theme.

 

Interestingly enough, over in the Hop Butcher thread in the Midwest, someone commented how he heard "Hop Butcher is really jazzed about this years Simcoe crop". I'm hoping it was a joke, but I'm sure it's really just rationalization for buying the same HB beer with just a name change over and over again.

 

Former ABC employee checking in. None of this surprises me. Was a fine place for a paycheck to help pay my way through law school (especially in an area/time when breweries were rarer), but the food and service were middling... beer a little less than middling.

 

May I ask which city the brewery was in? I have been to a couple that have served infected beers. One tried to pass off a horribly infected batch as a wild ale. Another had a couple casks that should've been pulled but refused.

 

I will not, I want to respect that brewery. Maybe they were having an off day. The only information I will give is the route from Corvallis to Sweet Home is its location.

 

If by wild ale they inoculated the beer via a coolship open to the environment wouldn't wild ale = infected?

Cheers!

 

They didn't. They brewed a bad batch of beer that got infected and tasted horrible. Rather than dump it they tried to sell it as a wild ale.

 

Any breweries that sell 3 month old iPas from their cooler

 

Many are

 

I've been there a few times. The atmosphere is nice and the food is ok. The beer isn't bad but it is certainly nothing to write home about.

When I'm in 'da Burg, my only obligatory stop is Al's on the West Shore. The food ain't great at Al's but the beers are lights out (both theirs and the selections they carry from other brewers). I remember when Al's was in the dilapidated strip mail that's a stones throw from their updated digs. Frankly, I preferred that dump to the new sanitized scene, but I get why they moved.

The other place that I like is Shady McGrady's. Not a brewpub but a great neighborhood beer bar with a top shelf selection.

Prior to Covid, I found myself in Harrisburg 4-5 times a year for work, But, I haven't been there since late 2019 because I've been taking care of business remotely. That's likely to continue at least for another year, so I'll be missing out on the beers of the mid-state until then.

 

PS: I'm definitely higher on Troegs than you, but we agree that their Nut Brown was a superbly tasty beer. I haven't had that in a loooooong time.

 

So. Back in the mid-late 90's, I was an OTR driver. Our company had a drop lot in Mechanicsburg, and a full yard in Aspers. As it worked out, I got assigned a run that took me from my town, to Mechanicsburg and back, every day. Well. I like sprint car races, so, that was fine with me. It was this era, I discovered OG Troegs, when they were still up by the railroad tracks in H'bug. I would smuggle cases of the Troegs mix (IIRC, Pale IPA, Brown, and ESB) home with me, and when I would take weekend race trips down, I'd bring more than a case. Been a fanboi ever since.

 

This is the least shocking thing of all time. I went to college in the Albany area, and a local bar put huge Trump signs all over the walls as he was running the first time against Hillary. Place was shut down in 3 months.

 

Brewery that will be left nameless called my id fake and snapped it in half... I was 22 and it was my real id. Cost me $20 odd dollars and hours of my time at the DMV contimplating revenge. So far the only scheme I have come up with is to never give another dime of my money to that place. Sadly they are still going strong.