Steady Habit Brewing

Disappointed with my visit today. In at 2:45, maybe seven people in line with multiple growlers (some clown had at least six). Waited 10 minutes with no movement. Jon was filling, one dude wiping growlers and one running samples. Would have been an hour visit. Was really craving Jon's hops too. Definitely need to work on an efficient system.

 

The CT limit is 304ish ounces and the reason isn't simply a legality it is also to keep things moving, common courtesy is still a thing; if the individual did indeed have six 64s that should have been addressed by the establishment.

That said I am not sure how efficient you want the system to be. Customer #1 wants four 64s and a 32 of BeerX only, tap is taken and so is the filler's time. I could see two people slinging samples but that is all taken in to account as well, in regard to dispensation/bottom line which adds up pretty quick. My understanding is that they are a very small operation catering a popular product to a growing customer base. I am sure they are also open to feedback, how would you suggest an improvement on the growler filling efficiency process? Sans help, they have three people staffed for the time, those are the business constraints.

 

No one can argue that the quality of their beer is great, and the logistics of their operation is a joke. They may not care but I know of a few customers they have lost for good. I'm not one of them...

 

Easy. Assuming things haven't changed there. Set up a system where you can prop up growlers, let them fill and go onto filling the next one. I know they are very small batches, but they must have more than one keg of each type of beer, so they could potentially set up more lines, and have multiple taps for each beer. Last time i was there, jon was filling one growler at a time, standing there holding it waiting for it to fill, I understand how the growlers are filled is important to him, he uses tubes to bottom fill the growlers and reduce waste, but there has to be a way to speed it up. Look at treehouse (i know hard to compare the two) one person fills 3-4 growlers at once, and they have 3 people behind the bar, thats the reason they can fill 300+ growlers a hour. Even nebco who are a little on the slow side has this figured out. I have nothing against steady habit, i love what they are doing and wish them the best, but there is most definitely ways they could improve their system even with just one person filling growlers, and only having small batches. Supposedly they will be moving to canning, which will be a huge leap in effeciency, but I believe there are steps they could take in between that leap to be more efficient. I personally don't have a problem with how long it takes to get beer there, I have a problem with the fact that they are potentially losing customers because I want them to succeed.
Not trying to be argumentative, just some constructive feedback.

 

They are dreadfully slow, plain and simple. I've waited 40 minutes with only 2 customers ahead of me. It is because they fill one growler at a time and don't seem to have multiple taps for each beer. They also don't move too fast in general or seem to worry about the customer much at all. You barely get a Hello when you walk in. I want them to do well and think their beer may be the best in the state, but the customer service/experience is awful.

 

In the area and thinking about swinging by this place for the first time this afternoon to grab a few samples and a growler. Are the waits outrageous? Would prob be getting there around 2.

 

Definitely didn't take it as argumentative, in fact your reason for concern is spot on. I don't like to see any small business close if it is truly willing to grow and keep the product and experience at a suitable level.
I could see them only wanting to tap one keg at a time, that could leave a variety of partially filled kegs at close. Also, unattended fills will overflow plenty of times even when trying to keep watch and it sounds like their batches are fairly small so I assume they're trying to make every ounce profitable. The setup sounds like NEBCO's previous building on a good day, when there was an auxiliary set of hands it was hugely helpful when a keg kicked or the CO2 was empty... but some days you were definitely spending some time in line.
Feedback of any type is important and I hope they take conversations here as constructive and in looking at their business practice are open to examine new possibilities. When you're this small I'd say it is the best time to really iron out kinks and test whether you really want to pursue the venture as a whole because scaling up is a completely different game.

 

With the shit show that Tree House has become and NEBCO haven fallen off of late, I think I will be visiting Steady more on the reg. From what I can tell from the few times I've been and some posts here I take it it's better to get there early and be one of the first few people in line. Is that a fair assumption? I think I am going to head over there tomorrow.

 

LoL @ NEBCO falling off. Growing pains because of new equipment=falling off. Bot is still the same. Most recent batches of Supernaut are the best it's ever been, and everything at the Prime 16 tap takeover was amazing. Cracked a bottle of this year's BA IST, and it's maybe the best vintage of that as well.

 

I usually go on Fridays at 3:00 and there's usually 0-2 people in line. I don't think NEBCO has fallen off, but i think my palate has changed and I don't really get excited about their beers anymore. SH >>>> NebCo imo

 

I, too, get the criticism for the wait and overall customer experience, but it's also never bothered me (maybe because I drive an hour to get there and don't want to turn right back around). I know Jon just a little bit—I roasted the coffee for Last Drop—so I could see how he may not come across as friendly because he's not as outgoing as some of people working at breweries. He's just a pretty humble dude that takes his work very seriously. It's concerning that the experience might turn some people off because the beer really is fantastic. So I agree that it should be addressed, but am hopefully the increased capacity and possible can runs will improve things overall.

 

NEBCO overall has definitely fallen off. Could absolutely be the new equipment and increased capacity and it could also have something to do with Tree House and Trillium just being so amazing. Like Skleice said, whatever the reason I'm just not overly excited about their beer like I once was. I picked up some Geek Nip on Saturday and it's what I remember FBD tasting like back in the day. Last few batches of that have been fairly mediocre, IMO. Locust and Yolis' are shells of their former amazing selves.

 

Just stopped at SH. Honeymoon is the shit! Go getcha some. Seriously. I snagged some Coalesce too....

 

Anybody down there? I hear operations have smoothed a bit...

 

Today around 5pm three people in front of me. Out in about 10 mins chill relaxed and great beers.

 

Anybody get in on the memberships? Thought pricing was very reasonable for potential benefits.

 

I did. It'll be interesting to see whether it's worth it. Pic on Instagram shows new fermenters going with some Geek Nip! Hopefully cans soon.

 

Did you get confirmation? I know Jon works about 23 hours a day, just haven't seen any updates.

 

Can someone fill me in on this membership? I do not have Facebook and for some reason I can not click on their Facebook site without a lot-in...

 

Here's the big ol' wall-of-text as posted on Facebook: