Controversial Beer Opinions Thread

Fair enough. I usually go and sit at the bar, which I think we all can agree should be kid free (though it's not always). Unfortunately there isn't very many "kid free" taprooms or decent bars around here, so I just take my chances wherever has good beer that day. Not something I feel strongly enough about to get mad or avoid a place completely. But it's fun getting on here and bitching about my first world problems. Gotta love the controversial opinion forum.

 

That is the six hundred pound gorilla that folks who drag their kids to taprooms won't acknowledge. How do you rationalize driving buzzed with your children in the car? This topic has been popular on many pages for many years, and I always ask. Earlier in this thread, in response to the same question, a parent who drags kids to taprooms replied, basically, he can handle his buzz, and he's more worried about me driving buzzed on the same roads as him.

 

It's just one of those things people don't like to talk about. I kinda understand why, most people have done it, but parents get held to a higher standard (which honestly they probably should. Responsibility is part of parenthood) I'm no saint myself, so I can't go too hard on em, but it makes for a good point in an argument

 

Bottom line seems to be driving buzzed doesn't differentiate between having kids in car or just you the driver, both very dangerous and I think 99% of people on this site can at least agree with this, if nothing else. And let me be clear, not just a beer with some dinner, 2 hours and 3 or 4 beers buzzed.big difference.

 

I was a bartender in a really cool spot back in mid-70s in Greensboro, near universities and music venues, with an amazing eclectic and often "famous' clientele, and we really had no rules. Dogs used to wander in looking for homes, also bikers, old hippies, sea shanty singers, drug-addled know it alls, and young students/girls from all across North Carolina and beyond. The drinking age then was 18 and everything was perfect and cast for some type of control. We opened at 3 P.M. and some folks brought kids around early. There were no big show dogs, just rescued mutts, and the aforementioned straggler dogs, which were loved. The place was so peaceful and self-regulated that it still makes me proud. The Pickwick was one of the greatest pieces of my education...and memories.

 

So, as I've mentioned before, I used to be an OTR trucker. If I wasn't driving 250k+ miles a year, I wasn't really working. When ya drive that much, ya see some shit. Honestly, while drunk drivers are a serious issue, they are such a small percentage of the driving population as to be a non-risk.

All you folks who think you're great drivers, because you never got so much as a ticket, ever look in the rear view and see what havoc you've caused?

I love y'all, but, damn few of you fuckers can actually drive. Drunk or sober.

Maintain lane control. Use your signals. Leave space ahead of you to stop. Don't cut others off. Stay safe, help keep others safe. Don't be a dick. Pay attention.

Driving is, literally, the most dangerous thing most folks do, and few actually treat it seriously. None of us want to die on the roads. Let's all do what we can to not kill each other. OK?

 

Indeed.

 

Annoying kids suck. So do people who see taprooms as a place to spew vulgarity. Sorry, but drinking beer does not have to go hand in hand with being vulgar. Being vulgar is just as much a social crime as annoying children.

If your kids suck, leave them home. If you spend too much time in taprooms, get a life.

 

GTFO that is NOT what I said. I said when I go to a taproom with my children, we act responsibly. That means, one of us doesn't drink. Maybe we split a flight of beers (yes, two people splitting four, 2 oz pours). Quit that shit, man. You said it the first time (something like, "I've noted you drink and drive with your kids") and I ignored your ignorance and lack of reading comprehension. To bring it up again to bolster your point is bullshit.

"Drags kids" ... again, FOH. Get off your high horse.

Edit: Exactly what I wrote: "Mom and dad are happy to have a beer or a flight at a brewery we like." A beer. A flight.

 

I find it amazing that the guy who swears at children is the assumed responsible one, while the parents are assumed to be drunk drivers. It's like we have taken Uber, walking and public transportation and tossed them aside as reasonable means to move people around

 

Guys didn't you hear? Parents are the "drunk terror" out on the road. Makes sense no? Two adults with their offspring in the back seat who need to be home to put them to bed by 7pm - a perfect storm type of recipe for disaster. It's the single guys in their 20's travelling to breweries solo that are the natural pillars of responsibility. Given their age and the associated wisdom / disposable income that peaks in your early to mid-20's, they no doubt ensure they're chauffeur-driven everywhere

 

So the moral of the story is, everyone takes public transportation after having one beer at the taproom of their choice. Especially parents... them millenials just swerve from one bar to the next cursing at every child on the way.

Seriously though, there are good and bad examples of people everywhere, parents or not. I don't think many on here were trying to demonize a group of people, but somehow it got there on both sides. This seems to be a mangled mess of a conversation at this point, probably best to do as rozzom suggested earlier and let the subject lie for a minute.

 

100% agree with you. Being a dickhead is not a function of your willingness/ability/desire to procreate.

To be fair though (and if I'm wrong and I missed them, then someone please post the offending posts) I think it's been overall pretty one-sided. No parents have come on here saying they should be entitled to take their kids to any brewery they want, at any time of day, and that their kids can and should behave however they want - even if that impedes on the enjoyment of other customers. Most of the parents appear to have been pretty even-keeled, and have just pointed out that in the right circumstances they do enjoy taking their kids to breweries.

But on the flip side they've put up with many accusations of being irresponsible due to a combination of perceived drunk-driving and/or taking their kids to non-appropriate places. As well as being told that breweries by default are adult-only places where said "adults" will do whatever is necessary to make families feel unwelcome - even if that directly contravenes the brewery's own policy/desires around children being present.

There seems to be a misconception with some people that brewery=bar and kids shouldn't be welcome. The same people seem to say that restaurants are a place for families. But in reality a brewery is not by default a bar. Sure - some purposefully approximate one. Parents shouldn't take their kids there. But some are much closer to a restaurant. In many cases they are (by design) even more kid-friendly than most restaurants. So why (assuming the children are behaving, that it's the right time of day, and that the parents are responsible with their own alcohol intake should there be a need to drive [something which I cannot understand is so regularly brought up vis a vis parents in particular - it should be paramount for anyone]), should families not be allowed and welcome to go to places like that without having to defend themselves on the internet?

I'll bring up another specific example. Technically it's a cidery, but their tap room also pours several beers from local breweries such as Sloop, Suarez etc, and point is they make and serve alcohol on premise in a "tap room" like any brewery - Westwind Orchard in the Catskills. They have a large outdoor area with handcarts to pull your kids around in. There's a basketball court, table tennis tables and foosball tables where kids can play. There are tons of kids toys inside and out the taproom. The owners are an Italian guy and his (I believe American) wife. They also make amazing pizzas. They have regular movie nights and live music. They live on the property and have kids of their own. Very clearly by design they want their place to be accessible for families. Why would anyone have a problem with people taking their kids there?

For the record yes I am a parent. But a fairly new one, and I've had this debate on BA in the past, before having kids of my own, and have taken the exact same stance. Also I live in Park Slope, Brooklyn - which is the global epicenter for super fucked up entitled parenting. So trust me - I know, I KNOW, there are some absolutely shit motherfucking parents out there that have no consideration for others. I also know what it's like to want to get away from kids and drink with other adults. Maybe I'm just lucky that where I live, that option is also very well catered to.

I just think this whole debate is a non-issue. It all comes down to being a responsible, considerate person, irrespective of whether you're also a parent or not.

 

I must have read between the lines too much somewhere I guess. Yeah, considerate people with quiet kids were never my target of ire. This convo got way off the tracks, nothing I can say will really fix it.

 

That's the thing: a lot of people don't think their kids suck and can do no wrong.

 

I don't notice the good ones because they're not bothering me. I do notice the bad ones because they're annoying the fuck out of me.

Dead horse beaten.

 

And a lot of adults in tap rooms are assholes.

 

That could go for people in general, but alcohol does bring out the worst in some people (no idea why "angry drunks" drink if its such an issue).

 

Yeah, people in general are assholes. One kind of asshole in taprooms are tables of 4 or more that want a bunch of samples before they order a beer when the place is packed. Buy a flight or take a gamble people.

Edit: god I hope you guys don't love samples, I've pissed off enough people today haha.

 

Samples, no. But you may have just unwittingly rekindled the argument from 35 pages or so ago about flights!