Controversial Beer Opinions Thread

My trash man drives up to our curb, has an automatic arm swing out and pick up the trash can (I put out the night before), and auto dump it into the hopper. I have yet to tip him.

My wife hates a head on her beer, but I have been known to aggressively pour her brews. Last week, I aggressively poured her a Stoneface - Full Clip. Massive head.. pillowy..light. She gave me the look of digust, but I told her to sip/drink a taste... and she loved it. Always great when those moments happen.

 

Comparing apples to oranges here.

 

I personally find aging 99% of beers to be detrimental. Basically anything that isn't a barleywine or mixed fermentation sour...and I'm not sure aging actually helps either of those, it just makes them different.

 

Quadrupel + Age = A dreary brown grog

 

Actually minimum wage in the UK is more like $11. Irrespective of what the minimum wage is in your state, are the bartenders actually getting paid that? I always thought that was the whole issue in the US - that employers were allowed to get away with not paying bartenders/servers the minimum wage because they can make it up with tips.

And for the record although British, I always tip here in the US - usually too much. Still don’t (in a bar/pub situation) in the UK. Different countries. My father ran a pub for many years and worked the bar solo. He never expected a tip.

Also for the record I can’t stand the Royal Family. From what I can see it seems people in the US are generally more likely to be obsessed by them - I find it odd the amount of air time they get on US news shows (while at the same time a lot of international news of consequence remains unreported).

And finally - always been a big fan of yours @beertunes - you’re better than the “kicked y’all’s asses”, “bow to the crown”, ‘murica type crap. I don’t think marquis was saying anything that warranted that or implied he thought anything that would.

 

Not a national regulation - it depends on state labor laws, some have differing tipped-employee minumum wage rates and others require the full state minimum regardless of job:
Minimum Wages for Tipped Employees

 

Similarly, as an American, I always tip when in the US but when in the U.K. and several European countries, I don’t tip or at most leave the few coins from my change. “When in Rome....”

 

YES.

In WA, minimum wage is minimum wage. This is the very least your employer can pay you (which, by the way, is the most accurate view of how they value your contribution to their company). Minimum wage in 2018 is $11.50. Whether one is a host in a restaurant, seating people and giving them menus and water, or getting into the construction business by being a laborer, carrying stuff and making the coffee runs. I'm no employment law expert, but I strongly suspect that those states that allow tipped employees to be paid below minimum are "Right to Work" states, which tend to be anti-union, anti-worker, and pro-owner. Some states even legally allow owners to force "pooled tips' and allow them to to take a chunk of that.

Tipping is not the problem. Crappy labor laws, written by folks who receive "Campaign Contributions", from those who directly benefit from those shitty labor laws, is the real problem.

 

Yeah, I was in a certain mood. Ya should deal with me in real life some time. And, there was a certain level of self-deprecating snark in that comment that didn't translate. Shrug.

As I said to @marquis, I do appreciate his contributions, and I often agree with him, and, usually those times I don't, I find him thoughtful and eloquent. Things I cannot say about myself. Still, tipping is the American standard, and, to ease discussion in these threads, we should just accept it.

 

This is also a thing of which I have no comprehension. None. The county I live in borders Canada, and we get CBC TV here, and my compadres to the North do seem to be a bit Royal focused (they still have the Queen on their money), I love 'em, and I don't waste time on folks I don't like.

 

Wait a minute - those were Canadian dollars? Damn, I thought they were just Betty Crocker coupons and threw them out!

 

Well, depending on the vagaries of global economics, might've been about equal value. Same as the greenback about 10 years ago.

 

Sure, they can't physically stop you from leaving cash on the table. My assumption is that there's protocol in place for when that inevitably happens. From my experience at '7th Settlement' they are not hurting at all for business and the servers were first rate. Folks not coming in because of no tip policies? Why? Because they were hell bent on tipping? Or because they wanted to preserve their right not to? Every worker deserves a living wage.

 

I still can't figure out the right way to tip at breweries when I get pours, also get growlers, also buy bottles or cans. I mean I usually tip a dollar ea. for 64 oz. growlers. Do I tip less than that for smaller sizes? I always tip 20% for pours we get. And I don't think it is necessary to tip for someone going five steps to pull a bottle from a fridge. So figuring out the tip is kinda nuts

Tipping really does suck.

Add to that a friend of mine says we do it all wrong. He says tipping before you get service, not after, is more likely to get you good service than the opposite.

Tipping really is just a stupid way of underpaying a certain profession.

 

Yeah I’m pretty much the same as you. With cans/bottles at breweries (assuming you mean to go), I sort of bounce back and forth - depends on the place, who’s serving me, and my mood haha. But I don’t think you need to tip in that situ.

With growlers I tip the same (usually a couple bucks) regardless of size.

 

However, I have had stouts with coffee added in which the coffee addition actually made the flavor worse. If it completely covers up all other flavors coming from the beer, and it just tastes like an iced coffee, what's the point? Regardless of the flavoring added it should not obscure the beer's natural essence.

I've also had barrel-aged beers (one or two) that really didn't gain from the process, they just got too boozy and the alcohol taste came to the fore. I like beers that hide the ABV well... if they smell and taste like Everclear has been added to a Guinness that's not a great thing either.

 

That's why I prefer the European way, where they just pay people a living wage and don't tip. I do know that we usually tip very well for home delivery for a few restaurants around us, and now we usually get our food faster (and hotter) than we used to. Apparently they like to come to us first now.

 

Just picked up bottles at Hill Farmstead on Sat. They don't give you an opportunity to tip on your CC purchase, which makes it easy. I agree, that it's not necessary to tip on cans/bottles.

 

Like I said, folks like to express gratitude or displeasure. A no-tipping policy seems like it would eventually lead to a huge case of half-assery. Why work harder if you're not going to get paid more?

 

I've long thought that there are cases where you tip for next time, not this time. Staff chats, both among themselves, and with the staff at other places