Russian River Rant

ha!

 

Agreed, for every Russian River that refuses top expand there are 10 small breweries that suck, or at the very least are inferior- and they are happy to fill the vacuum. And these breweries are in danger of becoming the face of craft beer, not breweries like New Glarus or The Alchemist. Hill Farmstead seems to be expanding though, every time I go there, there is construction going on.

 

^^^^This x1000. Exactly right. They can't win. You're either too small or a "sell out." No other way around it. I live right near Southern Tier and everyone has complained forever that they are too small. With the recent selling of a big stake of their company, everyone is now calling them sellouts. No win situation.

 

The best way to deal with crowds while visiting a small, popular brewery to always plan for them to be crowded. Know what you want and prepare to wait for it.

My biggest advice for folks trying to avoid crowds at breweries like RR, HF, Alpine, FF, TG:
Plan ahead. If you don't want a crowd, talk to people and figure out what day/time they advise visiting. Gone are the days when you can just roll up to a popular small brewery and walk away a few minutes later with a case or some growlers. But there are certainly times when the lines are shorter.
Even then, plan for a line. Prepare your guests or family for a line. Include "line time" in your plans.

That being said, every brewery has days/times where there are no/very short lines. It might mean hitting them up on a Tuesday at 11:30am, but if no wait is important to you, that's what you have to do.

 

Visited a tiny craft brewery in Northern Minnesota this summer (two 100 gallon fermentors). Housed in a new 5000 sq ft shed cut into the forest. Nice clean little tasting room. Decent beer but probably could never produce more than enough for a few big parties. They were trying to sell the place for $500k.

 

I have only had one dealing with Vinnie directly and he was as nice as could be and went over the top and beyond what was necessary to remedy a problem I encountered with Sanctification bottles. No doubt, there are a lot of brewers and owners of certain establishments who think that they are offering up the fountain of youth in their bottles. A lot of a-holes who will be looking for work if/when the craft "hobby" normalizes a bit and their beacons of commerce are kicked to the curb. There are plenty of places to direct frustration and anger at; RR and their owners should not be included in that group.

Send a note to Vinne and I trust he will offer up his honest and direct feedback to your concerns and experience. I bet you will be happy at the end of the day and more understanding to some extent.

These are good people who deserve their support. Trust me, there are a lot of other tools that could care less what you think and figure they have all the answers. Vinnie and squeeze are not 2 of them.

 

Don't go on a weekend? Just a thought? say maybe...

Tuesday?

 

I was there in March with no issues, sat right down, ordered the 18 beer sampler, left with a box full of bottles, and server was plenty nice. Sounds like a bad day.

 

To be fair, they removed roughly 3 tables to get that counter in place, and it has made getting bottles much easier. It is true that they are busier and there are usually lines, but you can usually time it so you don't wait too long (or not at all).

 

Pretty sure the "tiers" he was talking about are in terms of distribution, not necessarily quality.

 

You're assuming OP doesn't work.

 

I have enough sense to know, that going to RR on a weekend is more than likely not going to fly... unless you perhaps live in Santa Rosa

So that's what you gotta do.

 

Mr. Rembrandt's paintings have become so popular that he's blameworthy for not producing more of them.

 

no there are Not 4 tiers of distro: he was ratings beers.

 

this is the perfect response. Expanding a brewery takes mind-boggling amounts of money - unless the OP is prepared to pony up $3m of their own money, they should go on a Monday instead

 

What you gotta do and what you're able to do are completely different things.

 

Well we'll just have to disagree then. Regardless of whether you intended your remarks to apply to RR in a thread that starts with a criticism of RR for not expanding, or whether you are thinking of the other breweries you mentioned, there is absolutely nothing at all wrong with a business having a defined market and sticking to it in being successful. There is no slap in the face to one's customers, there is only exercising one's right to refuse to undertake or engage in onerous activities simply because someone outside of your customer base doesn't like the way you do you business.

 

so it doesn't seem any different then Three Floyds on a weekend. Waiting to get in, waiting to buy beer to go. I know that s what to expect on the weekends so I get there early before they open to ensure I can get in and out.

 

i completely agree. went to RR 3 or 4 thanksgivings ago and loved it. recently visited RR in Aug and had no desire to stick around. the "bouncer" asked us if we wanted to buy anything but insisted we make up our minds outside without even entering because they were "backed up". He wanted my buddy to make a decision on buying a shirt without allowing him inside to see what they even offered. Needless to say...he didnt get a shirt. We got our bottles and growlers filled and got outta Santa Rosa as fast as possible to salvage the day. in my opinion, RR is overrated and has turned their back on the craft community and just become snobs. We headed to Lagunitas on the way back to the bay and omg was that place awesome. Great atmospehere on a Sunday, live bands, huge beer garden and in my opinion better beer selection! also dog friendly. I dont think RR would allow a dog to even look at their spot. Moral of the story, head to Lagunitas before RR, you wont be disappointed like it appears everyone is getting with RR.

 

I think the two hour drive part of the OP makes that suggestion a bit of a challenge, but the bottom line with RR on the weekend now is that you have to be there right at opening or you will be waiting.