Fraudulent Taps?

Never heard of this but I've definitely heard of tap lines being crossed.

 

I don't think it was done intentionally. But more often beers get poured and mixed up when going to tables. I can imagine sometime keg collars on kegs fall off or get mixed up and the wrong beer is delivered. wrong beer tapped on the wrong line. etc.

 

You order a blue moon and its PTY

 

It's never happened to me personally, but I've heard of it happening here on BA more than a couple times. Some places' keg rooms are a mess and it can be easy to get the lines mixed up. Usually someone notices because they're served a Belgian tripel or something when they ordered an IPA and they can clearly tell it's not the right beer--then all sorts of hilarity ensues when the server insists it is an IPA and brings them a new pour of the same tripel again just to show them they're pouring from the right tap.

 

This is exactly how some bar was able to get me buzzed on Progress brewing blonde .. They just kept bringing it when I was asking for sculpin

 

Had it happen one time at a hole in the wall bar. The Only decent thing handle was Goose Island IPA so I ordered one of those. The bartender said, oh no, you don't want that, everyone who has had it has said it was a terrible IPA. She gave me a sample to try. I immediately recognized it as Goose Island Sofie. I let her know what it was and she said they must have sent the wrong key. Makes sense as there definitely no other keg lines it could have got mixed with. She told me she was sorry for the confusion and poured me imperial pints of it for $2 the rest of the night. Worked out well for me!

 

Actually, didn't a PDX bar have a Miller Lite on the tap list...but it was PTY?

 

It's happened to me once or twice unintentionally. No problem because it's a free drink after they find out

 

The tap lines may have been dirty. If not cleaned properly, or regularly, they can dramatically affect the quality of the beer.

 

Most (if not all) states have regulations that tap handles have to state the name of the beer or the brand - unfortunately, with brewers these days offering many different beers under the same umbrella brand name, a tap handle that only gives the name of the brewery is not much help to the consumer.

So, by accident or purposely (i.e., a bar illegally puts on a cheaper brand's keg), there are many cases of incorrect tap handles.

 

Hop Ranch is a winter seasonal and you say you tried it last summer? You had old beer. The best by May 15th you had on your bottle would have been close to the best by on that keg (one year earlier). Shame on them for mistreating it.

 

If anyone replies to you with "yeah dude, it was [Apex or Bazi]", I'm going to kick myself in the face...because I went to both of those bars this past fall, and while I don't remember seeing Miller Lite on either menu, I'm sure at the time I said, "pshh, I am NOT ordering that here" and ordered something to else.

 

This is what I was going to say.

 

Never heard of this happening, and would highly doubt an establishment would do this intentionally.

I have, though, been the victim of dirty tap lines. A couple months back I ordered a pint of Arrogant Bastard that was way off (note that I have had this many times before). When I politely informed the bar keep that something was amiss, she said that it was a 'strong beer and not for everyone.' Needless to say, I will stick to bottles if I ever return there.

 

In the specific case of Hop Ranch, there's been some talk here of the current beer being noticeably different than past iterations.