Bar etiquette question

If I ordered it and it was bad, I'd point it out to the server/bartender and let them know as such. If they wanted to taste it to confirm then hopefully they’ll do the right thing and get you a different beer. I enjoy beer too much, and the cost at some places can be too high to drink something bad just because. You might actually be doing them a favor in pointing out to them a quality issue with one of their beers.

 

Here's what I do, YMMV. I order another beer and leave the bad one, still full, sit on the table. An attentive waiter/waitress will ask if something is wrong with the beer you're not drinking. You can then politely tell them that the beer is bad/infected, without being overbearing or being "that guy".

 

If there's diacetyl in it, then that's how the brewery made it and is beyond the control of the bar. If it was infected, that may be another story. For me, this then falls under the "I don't like it" category, which is the worst reason to return a beer. You may want to contact the brewery, but they probably already know what it tastes like.

Also, bitching about diacetyl will instantly out yourself as a beer-nerd, which will probably work against you in most settings.

 

Do you eat food with off flavors? Do the same with a bad beer as you would with bad food.

 

One place nearby has something on the menu to the effect of: We will gladly refund you if a beer is spoiled, but not because you don't like it. Not all beer is for everyone, we'll help guide you to a beer you'll like.

It's more polite than that, but I think the way it should be. If it's spoiled, you should be refunded like anything else.

 

I respectfully disagree. There's a difference between "not liking" a beer and a defective beer. A diacetyl bomb is a defective beer. Similar to any other retail establishment, the bar should stand behind the product it sells and offer an exchange/refund for any defective product sold.

Additionally, diacetyl can develop due to improper storage and/or serving methods, which is definitely within control of the bar. At the very least, the bar needs to be made aware of the issue to correct the problem for future patrons.

 

As an owner I can tell you that it would be helpful to point it out and you would absolutely get a refund. It would be nearly impossible to test each beer every day to make sure it's OK, and so beers that have gone bad will likely go undetected until it gets to the customer. It saves us from continuing to serve that same beer to other customers, some of which may not know what they're tasting, and just assume that they don't like that particular beer, or worse yet, turn them off to craft beer. In most cases, businesses can get compensation from the distributor for a beer that's gone bad, so no harm no foul. If you're at a joint where they get offended by someone mentioning a problem, then they're uneducated themselves and shouldn't be in the craft beer business.

As far as the "I don't like it" comment, nothing makes smoke come out of my ears faster. I have a very comprehensive and informative beer menu, and presumably well educated staff, and to have someone push a beer away and proclaim "I don't like it" rubs me wrong in too many ways to count. That is, of course, after tasting it myself and finding that it hasn't gone bad. I will begrudgingly refund the beer in the interest of good business, but the whole "I don't like it and therefore shouldn't have to pay for it" mentality is just wrong. We offer free tasters as well as beer flights as further measures to avoid this situation, but it still happens.

 

Some people are just jerks in this world unfortunately.

 

I wouldn't ask for a different beer or a refund if I simply didn't like the taste of the beer. That's the gamble I take when trying a new beer. I would ask for a refund or different beer if the issue was obviously the fault of the bar/restaurant.

That's more of a general rule for me. I'm not commenting on your specific situation.

 

I've had this and once I was told my taste must be off because the other people ordering the beer had said nothing. I've never gone back, but later I actually appreciated the point to an extent here because the more mainstream craft beer drinking population is just as much part of the problem sometimes.

 

It depends on how "retail" the establishment is. By that, I mean that if it's a chain sports bar where the servers are hired primarily because they don't mind having their asses hang out of their shorts ... well, I'm probably not going to try to discuss beer flaws. I'll put the bad beer aside, order something from a bottle and recognize that the $4 I'm eating is a good investment on not getting my nachos spit in for being "that guy."

However, I will say something if it's a brewery or a legit tap house because my belief is that -- while the bartender should, but may or may not, care -- the owners most assuredly care that their reputation for serving good beer remains intact. I had an experience last month where the beer clearly tasted like cleaner. I quietly -- and away from other customers -- asked the bartender if he wouldn't mind checking the beer he'd just poured because I truly thought it tasted like cleaner (I didn't say, "This tastes bad," which is meaningless). He poured a splash, tasted it, made a face and apologized. He tried the other beers on the tap cluster and the other three were the same way. One of the distributors had been in earlier that day to clean lines but didn't purge that set completely. He was appreciative that I'd pointed it out.

 

I've had this happen too. Any time it did, it got dumped and replaced with something else. No problem.

If they don't handle it this way, they're only hurting themselves.

 

Unfortunately the idea is that any perception on your part may not be shared by the bar itself. You may be more knowledgeable than the wait staff or the bartender, or you could just have a beer in your glass that has liegitmate flavors in it that you do not like. That is the reason I love BA and the craft beer culture. Ok so you are out $8 or whatever your pour cost you. BUT, you can gain quite a bit of knowledge from asking questions about your experience.

The only beer I have had that tasted of infection was a locally brewed and bottled beer. The infection tasted like sour grape jelly in a peanut butter and chocolate stout. It's difficult to remember what it tasted like but before I know that was not supposed to be there, I was told "this is infected." Was there any kind of scum ring around the neck of the bottle? Did it gush? That is for bottled beer.On draft I would not know what to look for other than that sour taste.

 

I much rather prefer a customer saying something about...just my take....passive aggressive customers are the worst

 

Not totally true. Diacetyl can also be caused by dirty lines. Often, it is the lines, and not the brewery, that cause butter bombs.

 

How is that passive aggressive?

 

What I'll sometimes do is ask the bartender if the beer is supposed have this flavor, and to try a taste. Often they'll try some, and say "nope, that's off". You can let places know you have concerns without being a dick. Be calm, keep an even voice, and ask, don't tell. But definitely say something.

 

If you taste something, say something.

 

Well, just leaving the glass there. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you're a jerk or anything. I just prefer that a customer say something directly to me, instead of leaving the glass there. 9 times out of 10 I would ask if they like the beer anyway...same goes for food. If someone doesn't eat their food, but they also say everything's fine then go write a negative review about it online. That crap bothers me, ya know? Just say you don't like it...it'll be fixed on the spot. Comes off as passive aggressive to me. No offense intended, just my opinion.