Twisted Spoke

Interesting, I never noticed that update link either. However since updates need to be approved, I would assume they have to go through the business owner first (i.e. the account that originally created the place listing.) In many cases, I'm guessing business owners enjoy the attention drummed up by incorrect listings and won't be quick to approve deletions. So it isn't truly crowdsourced if it relies on one person to approve the updates.

 

I'm pretty sure no business wants to be accused of false advertising and bait and switch.

 

Oh come on, I see it happen all the time that a business updates their listing when they tap the BCS and don't remove it until weeks later. It seems fairly rare for a business to maintain the list on a daily basis and much more common for them to update it only when they have something special on offer. It's not false advertising because they can just say "oh yeah we had when we updated beermenus".

 

I have definitely seen instances where a bar would tap something special, like BCBS, and update it on Beermenus immediately to draw people in. They will then "forget" to remove it when the tap is out, yet will continue to update more of their bottles/taps.

 

What's worse than BeerMenu inconsistencies is going to Hop Leaf and seeing things like BCS, Cantillon, KBS, etc. on their physical bottle list menu all year long then rarely having them. I like Hop Leaf and all, but its annoying.

 

Voice your concerns with Michael, the owner. He's an amazing guy and would likely be very responsive to criticisms. I'm not saying the internet isn't interested in your comments, just that he's far more able to remedy your concerns.

 

Do people really follow beermenus this closely to get specialty taps/bottles? What happened to just going to bars you like?

Also, what the fuck happened to the Twisted Spoke 16 collaboration they were doing with Goose?

 

I live in the burbs and most of the bars I like are in the city. If I'm going to drive 45 mins to a bar, there are a LOT I can choose from. So if one has Parabola and the other doesn't, well that makes my decision pretty easy. Personally I don't use beermenus much (due to its unreliability), I rely on twitter, untappd, facebook updates, and of course BA.

 

To be fair, the menu does note that availability of those beers is not constant (they have short notes written in red by those beers)...

 

We are definitely due a great deal of the criticism thrown our way which is why we have been in the process of blowing up the whole menu and starting over. I had all of the Reserve list menus pulled a few weeks back rather than try to work with them as they stood. Beer Menus was not updated by anyone associated with us and I have no idea how this happened. One thing that I can say for certain is that Bait and Switch is utter nonsense and would be counter-productive. What would be the point of enticing discriminating customers to stop in and then piss them off intentionally? Just to sell something else and have them never come back? That is ridiculous. We don't do that and, frankly, I don't believe anyone else does it either. Furthermore, stating that Mitch does not care is dead wrong and offensive. Anyone who thinks that we are lazy has no clue and to suggest that having inaccurate menus is somehow indicative of anything else is misguided.

When we opened, over 17 years ago, there was no beer community. There were a few die hards (Quenchers, Hop Leaf, Map Room, Clark Street) begging for whatever we could source. When Greg Hall stopped by in 1996 and asked if we would like to try this new beer he had created, we said sure. He sent over a 1/2 barrel of BCS and we drank it mostly with Goose employees because no one was interested in trying a 13% beer for which we had to buy snifters just to serve it. Nevertheless, we got kegs of it every year after just because we enjoyed having it. In recent years, there is obviously an endless array of new beers available and we tend to get whatever we can, again, because we like it. This makes no business sense whatsoever, but we do it anyway. Every time a new beer comes in, it has to be stocked, entered into inventory, added on the POS, the menus need to be changed and, ideally, the internet updated. Draft beers are changed daily, sometimes multiple times on weekends. None of these systems are linked and it's not as though we have some IT department to do this stuff.

Within the last year, we simply couldn't keep the inventories and menus current, so we are starting over. Last week we built a new beer cellar so that all of the special stuff could be aged properly (55 degrees rather than the colder temps in the regular beer cooler) and so that we can finally get at all the inventory without having to climb over kegs, etc. On Tuesday, we are going to re-build our regular beer cooler and re-arrange how everything is stocked and we are buying auxiliary beer coolers so that we have the space available to offer many more of the special beers that we have not been able to put out yet. Following that, the menus will be reorganized so that they make more sense. Instead of having a bottle list, a reserve list and a barrel aged list, they will be combined and categorized by style. The draft list and the way that we change the offerings is also going to be changed so that, hopefully, it will make more sense, stay current longer and piss fewer people off.

Once all of that is done, we are going to do something similar with the whiskey list and then maybe even go back and make a workable web site. At the same time, we will stay open for the 110 hours per week that we always have and try to keep Twisted Spoke the fine neighborhood bar that it has always been. I apologize for the disruptions, but we are doing our best to correct them.

 

Sorta what Foobula said, but I don't use it for special releases. I just use it to see what the City bars have in store for me...I mean, I only have so much time off to use, so I'm gonna maximize my enjoyment however possible.

 

Didnt really think about it from that point of view, makes sense

 

Dunt is going to be nicer than I will. Check twitter, or call. Let's not get lazy, kids. We can blame proprietors all we want, but their jobs aren't simple.

 

So...that's the difference between checking one website (Twitter) and another (BeerMenus), when both seem to offer the same basic information being sought...?

Regardless, it's up to the proprietors if they wanna keep the public updated about their offerings, no matter the form they choose to go with. If they don't wanna day anything (Delilah's comes to mind), so be it. If they wanna update things like crazy (the Local Option boys seem pretty on the ball here, utilizing BM, FB, and Twitter), more power to 'em. I guess I just think that if you opt to do it at all, do it right or knock it off altogether.

And from a former retailer's perspective, calls suck. Straight up. If I don't know what a place offers, I'll either pass or, like real men, just go there and find out for myself.

 

Not sure how your post materialized out of the ether above previously-read posts, but there it was!

I'll agree to disagree on that point. I've seen it happen, and it makes sense, within the context of "there's no such thing as bad publicity." If a bar/liquor store gets its name out there, some would rather do that, even at the expense of pissing off a customer. I'm not accusing you of that, just saying that it happens for understandable reasons.

That's part of why I expect out-of-date beermenus, and would never make a 45 min trip based only on a beermenu listing.

I visited your place for the first time last week for Bourbon County, two nights in a row. I liked the vibe, and as I noted in another thread, was very pleased to find Boulevard Chocolate on tap which I hadn't tried before, at an amazing price. So I'm pretty pleased with what I've seen so far.

 

not sure why no one calls in advance? After striking out on the BCS rares listed on beermenus early in the summer, I've made it a habit to always call ahead.

FWIW, we did find one rare at a bar in chicago for $60 and it was glorious. too bad they only had one.

 

I think you found the bottle I was just about to order. I got there about a week late I was told. So disappointing.

 

Yeaaaaahhhhhhhhh, probably. The minute i posted up my review, especially noting I knew another place with BCS Rare available, I got pestered like crazy with BM's to the effect of "where?"

 

I called ahead at TS and asked whoever answered the phone about the vintage BCS they had on the menu. He put me on hold while he checked, then came back and said they had 07-11 in the bar. When I went 3 hours later, nothing. He obviously just picked up the reserve list and read off of that. Still need to educate employees as well. It wasnt a total waste as I got to try Soft Dooke and my first Cantillon.

 

Appreciate the feedback Cliff. I admit when walking into a situation like what you have with the beer menus at your bar, it is easy too feel like the establishment is being lazy or unconcerned about how it effects your customers. I also understand how quickly beers turn around and how much work it can be even just once a week to update all your menus. You did say you threw out the reserved bottle list which is great in my opinion, though it seems some people reported still seeing it as of Friday. I definitely look forward to stopping in again after these renovations and a more orderly beer menu. Of course the food is great and the bloody marys legendary and that is reason enough to stop in more often. Some people will always come for the beer though, so the changes are appreciated.