2016 Washington Hop Mob Roadshow

Yeah, I agree. Mostly because if I'm paying cash, I don't want a handful of dirty coins. Brouwers had died, and it's unfortunate

 

Will Brouwer's still have most of the beers on tap Friday (today) after the kick-off?

 

In the past, the beers from Brouwer's events stay on until they are gone. Looking at today's menu, they still have the majority of them:

http://brouwerscafe.com/draught.pdf

 

so, i just want to be perfectly clear: my pricing comment was in reference to hop mob only. i didn't mean to bring out everyone's pitchfork. your specific comment... i think your anger is misdirected. you're correlation of price increases with obamacare is at best, ridiculous. there's plenty of cheap beer still to be had around town, and as you mentioned, you'll go elsewhere. me too.

so, that said: i will gladly pay for beer that keeps people working at a livable wage. i find the folks at brouwers exceptional at what they do. i recognize that their pricing might anger some, but may be overall good. brouwers hasn't had much staff turnover in the past few years and they've been consistently great when i come in. i'll continue to drop in, even if it means a couple extra bucks.

 

You made the right call... did you end up going to Copper Hog? Were you sitting at the end of the bar? I went to E-station first simply because I wanted a half-growler filled. The place was packed and I literally got the last of the 2x4, it blew after 27 minutes!?! I met Jeremy Tofte's dad and sister at E-station, nice people. Then we all went to Copper Hog after that but I was sitting at the bar at the Hog once I got there.

I'm new to Bham and would love to meet up for a beer sometime... let me know.

 

Wow, blast from the past! How you doing man?? You still smoking cigars?

 

I was there maybe 6:15ish-8ish. We were sitting at the 4 top table with the bench, just back from the bar. Jason, Justin, Nick, Dan (and towards the end, Dan's new lady friend) were together. Was hoping the Asterisk would show up, but, no such luck. Tried the Hubert, Shaolin, 2x4, and IPA. Maybe it's just me, but I'm not getting the hype behind this brewery. Good solid beers, certainly, but nothing that gets me excited. Except for * of course.

 

Is Brouwer's staff really that great? I've had some exceptionally bad experiences there (and as annoyed as I was to be kicked out of my spot at the bar yesterday I wouldn't say that was as bad as some of the others) and service has always been a reason for me not to be a regular there.

I've definitely noticed that you get far better service there sitting at the bar versus sitting...well anywhere else. That was part of the reason I left. I wasn't about to fight my way up to the bar yesterday and then wait awkwardly until someone noticed me every time I needed a beer.

 

I've had the reverse experience: every time Ive been at a table, service has been great. When at the bar, it's a 50/50 shot at having some inattentive knucklehead deign to serve me, or having a good, competent bartender.

 

Brouwer's is the worst beer bar in the city from a customer experience standpoint.

 

my experience... you get far better service sitting at the bar. most of the times i'm at brouwers, it's before 5pm and it's quiet. the last time i tried to go after 5pm, they were at capacity. i don't even think they allow standing behind the bar anymore.

but to answer the question, i think brouwers staff is great. they seem to check off the boxes i need. friendly, enthusiastic about beer, and they're generous about sharing/tasting.

 

Brouwers is hit or miss. I've had great service but I've also been ignored in favor of friends or other "cool" people even though I got there first. Crap shoot.

 

As long as I'm served timely, I don't particularly care about the other aspects of "service". For what it is, I think the food is great. Big advantage over the competition for me. The pricing gets more terrible every year, unfortunately

 

Yeah, I don't need bar/waitstaff to hang out and talk with me. Take my order, bring me my food and drink and we're good.

Sadly I've been flat out ignored at the bar while everyone around me is taken care of.

 

Bullshit. One of the reasons we like the PNW is that it's not Chicago, NYC, Philly, or Boston. Even up here in my small city, at the 2x4 event a couple nights ago, a 12oz pour of 2x4 was $8, and $10 for a pint. Ain't no beer worth that. But, it'our (consumers) fault after all, we're the ones opening our wallets.

 

2x4 was $6 at Toronado.

 

The pricing on the hop mob event was

$7 at brouwers, $8 at pinebox, and (of course) $5 in Portland

 

A couple things: A "double" IPA isn't double a regular IPA, often they're barely double an ISA, ABV-wise, they don't use double the ingredients, and it doesn't take significantly longer make. Don't even get me started on the concept of a "triple" IPA. These terms started getting used for hype and marketing reasons. The term Imperial, for any IPA over about 8% ABV worked fine for a long time. A brewery wants to present a beer as a "Triple IPA", that sumbitch best over 18%. Add in the fact that you can pretty much always find an equivalent beer at a better price, and there's no reason to board the hype train.

They're charging these prices because we've demonstrated that we'll pay them, and more. We perpetuate that line of thinking by participating in "events" like 2x4 Day and Hop Mob. I was recently happy to learn that the much despised 22oz format, long popular with consumers, despite being a terrible deal for the consumer, been dropping rapidly in sales. The price per ounce value just isn't there. I'm wondering how long it will be before we start to see the pendulum swing with these draft prices. When a 22 of a big stout, in the 9-10% range, costs the same as a 22 of a 5-6% IPA, that seems to shoot a hole in the theory of "more ingredients=more price".

Sure, I'm probably just tilting at windmills about terminology and pricing, but, the dragon that is 22s has been wounded, if not slain, and I see no reason to let up on the next dragons in line.