Two Roads Brewing Company

Not a bad idea, but better one is:

Don't go to Two Roads until they start making better beer. Pretty mediocre stuff so far(regular offerings), although I enjoyed Igor on tap quite a bit.

 

exactly

 

Most if not all of the bars I've been too ar every happy to give you a tasting of a beer before you order it without any charge - It is enough just for a taste - and I think they do that at DogFish as well. It's a nice gesture which could lead to a sale. I think Two Roads has a solid line up. Cheers!

 

I'm pretty surprised so many people on here are so down on the actual Two Roads beer, I found their saison to be a really refreshing take on the style, their Road 2 Ruin is too expensive but hardly a terrible beer, their pils was interesting even if it wasn't my sort of thing and I thought their doppelbock and hefeweizen were respectable beers.

I do have to wonder how many people are just being down on them because they're a fairly large brewery with a lot of cash immediately out of the gate. Is this a contrarian sort of reaction we're seeing?

 

lol @ $6 staple pints. meanwhile, several miles away, NEBCO is insisting that you drink a free sample.

no offense, but read the posts harder. people are down on them for charging too much and having an unsatisfying "go to the brewery" experience. why would you think they're saying that to be contrarian? maybe it's more likely that they're saying it because it's their actual perspective.

 

I tend to agree. I think they're hitting 2-for-4 on their main line, which is respectable for a startup. I'm a big fan of the Saison for the price and ABV. Road 2 Ruin is pretty good -- I wouldn't buy a 6-pack over Sea Hag but twice I've found it at crappy sports bars with nothing else decent on tap. The Pils is meh. The White IPA is poor. (I extra'd one when it was brand new and I hadn't tried it yet, and I still feel guilty...) And Igor needed some work (way overcarbonated in my bottles) but was quite good on tap.

A lot of people, especially in hobbies like ours that laud the small and local, think that big = bad. I don't think that's necessarily true. If I can keep expecting to order a Road 2 Ruin when my friends drag me to the Black Bear to watch basketball, that's a clear victory.

 

meanwhile, they laud founders as much as hill farmstead, sierra nevada as much as NEBCO, etc. is it "big = bad" or is it that the market is very competitive?

 

RE: TWO DOLLAR SAMPLES​

With NEBCo being an obvious exception to just about every "rule" on how to handle a thirsty crowd, it seems like the days of breweries pouring thousands of barrels of beer down every willing gullet at zero cost are just about over.

Captain Lawrence received a bit of ire when they announced that they would be moving to a $2 "sample" pricing structure after basically handing over their tap lines to customers for the previous several years with no questions asked. This move was long overdue considering how abused this privilege had become over time (and especially considering that they now have a larger facility to feed and a much broader distribution range to cover). Granted, they still essentially offer "free" samples for customers who are there to purchase their beers/merchandise....which is really how it should be. Who can really say what will happen once NEBCo finally moves into a bigger space? Would you stop visiting their brewery if you knew that you had to pay $2 to taste their beers? If the answer is "yes", then you're clearly doing it wrong.

Two Roads was smart to start off on this foot as changing their tune down the road would have certainly alienated the customer base that they've spent all this time building. I'm sure their tap room is not exactly a barren wasteland (certainly not on weekends, at least), so it's obviously not a major detriment to their business.




Notice how I didn't bring product quality into the mix?

 

I don't think their beers are terrible, they're just average. If I want average beer in CT, there's already plenty of places to get it. For me, I'm 10 minutes from NEBCO, 30 from 2 Roads. I don't see any reason to go past exit 59..

I will say though...I did have their BA Henry's Farm, and it was excellent.

 

Capt Lawrence definately ruffled some feathers with that move. It wouldn't have been that bad if you were told that you'd have free samples "for life" once you bought the $2 taster glass. I can undertand from the economical side though. In reference to 2 Roads however, I was more talking to the point of having literally a "shot" of beer, maybe less, to see if you liked it and wanted a pint, not a full-on 4-5oz sample(s).

 

I definitely recognize there are serious complaints in here that have merit, but there also seems to be a lot of people just chiming with "their beer sucks" blanket statements, too.

 

I'm not down on Two Roads because they're big, I'm down on them because they've largely failed to live up to my expectations. Other than Worker's Comp, which I absolutely love, none of their other beers have impressed me. The Maibock was pretty good, the Pils is just fine, but everything else I've tried (including the expensive Igor and Conntucky releases) has been mediocre.

Combine mediocre beer with a seriously overpriced taproom and you wind up with a disappointing brewery experience.

 

Can't quite recall the fine print when I first got that CL glass, but was it really suggested that you'd be privy to free samples for life after throwing down $2? If that were the case then I'm surprised there wasn't some sort of class action lawsuit as a result of their policy change. Though, I'm also wondering if it was even legal to make that kind of offer in the first place...alcohol sampling in NY state is a dicey game as it is. However, I'm rarely not purchasing something when I go to CL these days, so I hold no issue with their new sampling policy (aside from having to manage a sleeve of poker chips whenever there's a bottle release).

I guess the issue here is the defined volume of a sample...something which a brewery such as NEBCo is a little more liberal at establishing. But then again, their space is tiny and seating capacity is limited which is the exact inverse of Two Roads. If NEBCo saw the kind of foot traffic that Two Roads sees then I would imagine that their sampling strategy would ultimately fall in line with a similar pricing structure per sample. Also, I can understand why Two Roads would be hesitant to start offering small 44ml samples so that you can decide what you want. With the $2 samples, they're making it worth their while as you sit there and hem and haw over which beer to get without them necessarily skimping on the volume. I get that.

To me, it just seems like we've been incredibly spoiled by NEBCo....so it's clearly a tough pill to swallow when a new local brewery is like "no, you're gonna have to pay me for that taste".

 

I haven't been to Two Roads yet so I can't speak to the size of their pours, but paying for samples is BY FAR becoming the rule as opposed to the exception. NEBCO is giving away profits by giving away free beer. That is, obviously, their choice and I am happy to partake whenever I visit. Of the other recently opened breweries in CT that I've been to ... they charge for the tasting.

 

Can't argue on their prices or the experience but to call their beers "mediocre" is very unfair. The Saison is amazing for the ABV, Road to Ruin is a good beer. I would never turn it down. The Pils (in cans in particular) is becoming a go to summer beer for me. Any of the one off stuff (Hefe, Igor's, Maibock, Doppel) that has made it to keg has been very good in my opinion. Can't argue that the White IPA is a swing and a miss.

Is the CT beer scene better with them (both for their beer and the potential to contract some out of state stuff)? I'd say that's a "yes". I wouldn't let other factors (bad brewery experience for some of you, potentially over-hyped expectations, other reasons) cause you to say mediocre beer. Maybe it's not, but I think a lot of people have other factors at play here and are not giving the beer it's due. NEBCO quality ... it is NOT but I'd take it over any other CT brewery that I've had.

 

You're right, mediocre would be to high of a compliment.

 

It also bears repeating that people who are sort of "in the know" had high hopes for two roads*.

i mean, if shaun hill decided he didn't like being a small business owner and became brewmaster at a mid-sized brewery, you're not going to hear praise if they release a $12 middle of the road IPA, or even if they release something as good as, say, wachusett larry or mayflower porter. the quaity-for-my-dollar scrutiny gets way more intense when you stoke expectation with a big resume brewer, for better or worse.

* (my expectations, at least, are still high. rome wasn't built in a day)

edit: p.s. i'm not inherently offended by "no free samples!" either, just pointing out that a $6 pint of staple beer from the brewery is idiotic, + like it or not NEBCO gives out free "samples" of better beer. quotation marks should be understood if you'd had samples from NEBCO.

 

How is it unfair for someone to voice their opinion on beer? You think the saison is amazing, I think it's very average. You think Road to Ruin is good, I think it's shitty. We're both entitled. I believe there's way better options on the shelf for me to purchase R2R. Bot, Hag, Flower Power...And Cambridge just started distributing in CT. Flower Child and Audacity are boner inducing beers. This is only my opinion, of course. I'm all for supporting local, but not at the expense of drinking better beer.

 

To chime in on the Two Roads debate, I'm kind of in Pahn's camp, where there are definitely certain things that annoy me about them, but I still am holding out hope they will evolve into a better brewery. I heard they were in the process of beginning their souring program (YES!) and it seems like they are beginning to push the envelope with their limited offerings and cask Wednesdays.

The nickel and dime-ing might be my biggest gripe too. I remain very impressed with their space, but have only visited once to drink (on the brewery's opening day) and once for the Igor release. The prices are steep and their offerings generally no different than what I can find in my local store/bar, although I know they are working on this. I spoke with one of their owners at a Gingerman event during Craft Beer Week and implored him to look into "guest taps" like a few other production breweries have in their tasting room. They brew great stuff, and if I could have a pour of fresh Evil Twin I'd be a mainstay in their bar. I don't know the feasibility of this in CT, but he said it was worth them looking into.

For their overall pricing for tasters, you've got two ends of the spectrum in NEBCO (free) and Two Roads ($$$). To use other CT locals as an example, if they could find a middle ground akin to the crew at Shebeen or Half Full ($5 for unlimited tastings of 4-6 beers) it would make everyone much happier.


All this being said, I hope the Two Roads people have found this thread, we are here for advocacy after all, and I'm sure they'll find some solid feedback here.