5 Brewery Red Flags, According to Reddit

Must be like $10 a cup these days then!

 

The $2 cup was in the late 70's. It's been awhile since I was at a raging "kegger", so I can't confirm the current cup rates!

 

I'd add old packaged beer to the list. If I stop by the brewery to pick up a 6 pack, I expect it to be fresh. Otherwise I might as well buy beer at a supermarket/liquor store/gas station.

 

But none of those are unique to breweries - they can all happen in any off-premise establishment and a few in any retail store.

"Dirty" glasses? Like lipstick or dried food from not be washed or improperly washed? Or just the same glass, refilled and given back to the original customer? (I never minded that, especially in places that only had frozen glasses and I didn't notice that until after being served).

Yeah, in the US, the Brewers Association's DRAUGHT BEER QUALITY MANUAL (pdf used to be online) says the same thing.

Yeah, I just ask for a "room temperature" glass. Most bars have them and when they don't, I ask them to rinse the glass under running water first to get rid of any frost and warm up the glass.
At one local place they remember my request and I was once greeted by "Oh, yeah, you're the guy (read: PITA) who wants a hot glass."
["Well, not exactly "hot" - I didn't bring my welding gloves or anything..." I thought to myself...]

 

If a place has a list of only IPAs, there is a chance that they might have one that is bitter and clear for me to drink.

 

This may seem more like a peeve than a red flag and perhaps it's simply a tell. But when I ask about a brewery and the first things I hear back from others is how good the food is...that tells me nothing about the brew. Even worse when again the peeps are blabbing about the grub and not the pub, even when asked about said suds by yours truly. I'd much rather dine at a place with a great beer list than a great place to dine that makes some decent but unremarkable suds. I know of two such brewers locally where the food is great, but the beer is not worth showing up for on it's own.

 

Well, that's a very easy thing to do! After reading your post I opened three of them. (no lie ) Convincing me about the sanity of BA posters is far more difficult.

 

Sanity? Now you're just expecting too much!

 

I'm not expecting it at all. I have a working mirror.

 

What do you all think of the beer touching the spout/spigot? Like when the beer is approaching the top of the glass being filled and the spigot is starting to go in the beer. It sort of erks me.

 

It irks some folks. Doesn't really bother me.

 

It would be my preference to not have the spout into the beer but as long as clean glassware is used in theory this should be OK.

Cheers!

 

Give it to me in the bottle

 

Out of that list, the major turnoff would be the dirty glassware. I'd see that as a symptom of bigger issues in their process/facility. Tap list is what it is. I'm minimally social with folks I don't know so a non-communicative bartender wouldn't bother me much, and I am not a card carrying member of the glassware gestapo. As long as the vessel is clean, I don't much care.

I am pretty critical given my background and profession. Forty four years in the fruit industry with experience in quality, sanitation, HACCP/Food safety, engineering, and facility management.

I have a hard time shutting off the principles I have to follow daily even though I understand its a different industry, so there's obviously personal bias here. But when basic good manufacturing practices are not being followed and the brewery looks like a poorly maintained dump, that's my red flag situation. Not to mention safety violations...

 

It's my understanding that the reason it's not ok is because the beer that is now stuck on the outside of the spout increases the possibility of attracting bacteria and flies. Now, if the bartender is sure to dip the spout in water or squirt it down with those ketchup-style bottles they use to rinse dripping beer off of a filled glass, then that's fine. But, once again, just get a flow control valve and you won't have to resort to such measures in the first place. Would I be a snob about it and tell a bartender all this after I saw them do it? Nope. Lol