Worst Brewery Experience?

Original Smuttynose, many years ago. It was really hot, the tour was long and boring and we got no samples until the end of the Tour, and when we did get the samples it was only two, (2 Oz.) pours....not a great experience.

Close second was Bucket Brewing, in R.I. we ran into the "Brew Bus" which is always "fun". all the server did the entire time we were there was tell us how much he hated working at the brewery..awesome stuff...

 

I would say brewery for not handling special releases well but that's just my take. It should also be noted that I am not a huge Treehouse fan but that's more for the controversial beer opinions thread...


Aside from small breweries with not good to terrible beer, my least favorite experience had to be at Stoneface. I enjoy their beer though not overly excited about their new space but last time we went, we brought back some beer as we usually do. When we started drink them a couple days later, we noticed that one of the IPAs was almost 3 months old! There was no sign or anything noting that they were old. I'm not even getting into the big freshness debate but when I go to a brewery, I expect things to have been canned fairly recently. I emailed them to let them know and they said they knew but thought it still tasted good. They said they'd send a check to refund the cost of the 4 pack but made it seem like there was to be accepted. If they want to let people know that it's old but still good then fine but I don't go to breweries to get old beer. There's plenty of stores around that can take care of that.

 

Of the six breweries I've visited so far (Brothers and Pale Fire in Harrisonburg, Blue Lab and Devil's Backbone in Lexington, Great Valley Farm Brewery in Natural Bridge, and Creek Bottom in Galax), I'm glad to say I haven't had a bad experience at any one of them. Actually, they were all good enough that it's basically impossible to pick a "least-favorite brewery visit" from the bunch.

I'm sure things could potentially be different if I ever tried to visit a brewery alone (anxiety/panic attacks in crowds-of-total-strangers situations will do that), but so far it seems like as long as I visit with friends/family and the beer is somewhere between decent and amazing, a brewery visit will be a good time.

 

Ah, Smuttynose and Stoneface. And Henniker, too. New Hampshire beer. Our motto could be 'we will serve no beer until it's sat on a pallet in the warehouse for three to four months.'

 

Another crowler story:
Last year, I went to a fairly new brewery doing a locally-hyped can release. This was maybe their second-ever release and the turnout was larger than expected. They did not see the need for a limit and many people in the front of the line were buying 6-10 4-packs of the cans, provoking much angst for the people farther back. Fortunately, I got my 4-pk and sat down inside with a pint, entertained by the people-watching in the line. The cans ran out soon after, and the brewery offered to fill crowlers for everyone in line. My buddy was 3-4 people back when the cans ran out. Well, the dude right in front of him politely asked for 20 crowlers, and they proceeded to fill all of them without flinching! In disbelief, my buddy got out of line, ordered a pint, and sat with me for about 30 minutes as we watched the mule get his order fulfilled. Watching him lug a shit-ton of crowlers out of the brewery was also entertaining. My amusement soon turned to pity for those still in line. Needless to say, the brewery learned from this experience and they now run outstanding releases all the time.

 

Ha! It's sad but true. Luckily I live pretty close to Henniker so I can take care of all my fresh, pretty good beer needs there.

 

Unsure where you are in the state, but I'd also check out:
Harrisonburg: Three Notch'd, Restless Moons (aka Wolfe St)
Lexington: Heliotrope (when it opens... I'm on the lookout)

 

This happened to my wife after a visit to schlafly a few years ago.

Wife went on a tour with her girlfriend. They were pouring beer to sample and gave my wife a beer that was half head. Being from the "country" we always had a good way to break up those bubbles. Pinch your nose with your finger and thumb to get a little oil on it. Then swirl the finger in the billowing head to pop them fast and reduce the head.

So my wife does that and the tour guide see's her. He made it a point to call her out in front of the entire crowd (20 or so people). He really ridiculed her for doing that and belittled her for quite some time. Calling her disgusting and saying no one should ever do that to her beer. He went on and on how now the beer is contaminated and how gross it was. She was super embarrassed.

So yeah, it is kind of a hoosier thing to do, but who is he to tell you what to do with your OWN beer. It's not like she did that to someone else's beer. If I would have been there I would have lost it. Probably would of poured the beer out on the ground, called him a fucking asshole bully and walked out.

If he was that offended he could have privately "lectured" her or at least made a joke about it. He handled the situation completely wrong.

 

I feel like I have a mediocre experience at breweries any time that I go and they either:
1) don't have any imperial stouts on tap, or
2) don't have multiple beers that I wanted to try on tap

Sometimes in these cases, I just leave.

My worst experience, though, that I'm still a little salty about, was a certain place known for their sours in Vista, CA that I'll not name for obvious reasons, where I wanted a crowler of one of their sours. When I approached the bar after entering, I asked for the crowler and a pint of one of their IPAs. The beertender asked me "Do you want the crowler now?" Of course I would prefer yes, but I responded with "Doesn't matter, I guess", so I ordered the IPA with the intention of getting the crowler before leaving. When I was leaving, I approached the beertender and asked for the crowler. He replied that he could no longer provide me with one because there wasn't enough left. I didn't see hardly any other people in the brewery at the time so I could only think that he either didn't want me to have one or maybe they were running low.

I guess it's partially my fault for saying I could get it later, but I don't really like that he asked me if I wanted it now if that's what I was ordering and there was the potential for it to run out.

Just a stupid, missed opportunity, I know, and it's just beer. I still really like their beers so I'll continue to go.

 

Oh hey, I had no idea there was another brewery opening up in Lexington! Will definitely have to look out for that one, I live less than 10 miles away so it'd be an easy trip to make.

 

Mine was recent, it was at eel river brewing. I bought a crowler, was super excited to see that they had a new crowler machine and didn't bother to look at the pricing. Crowlers start at 8.99$ minimum, they sell their standard line up for 9.99$ a 6pack. I happened to buy a crowler of their standard porter which also happened to be the 6 pack of the month, meaning it was 7.99$ a 6 -pack, and not only did the bartender not give me that heads up (I could've had 72 oz for 7.99 and instead I bought 32 oz for 8.99) but the crowler I got also leaked slightly.

This would've all been what it was but I then went on to send them a message letting them know that I got a leaky crowler, and letting them know that I had been a long time customer who stuck with them through the time their house yeast got infected and they were putting out super inconsistent batches trying to redial it in, and that I wasn't that mad but would appreciate if they let folks know the economics of crowlers (their pricing is not super well posted) and I wish Id been directed to just buying a six pack. The real shittiness of it was that they never responded at all. I have communicated with a few different breweries over the years and they have all responded to me, varying degrees of apology/restitution, but the baseline is they all responded. Eel River never even wrote back to say thanks for the message. garbage customer service

 

100% agree. You make kids stand in a line in the rain, there better be a Disney or 6 Flags ride at the end. Making kids suffer so dad can get his overpriced booze is fucked up.

Everyone’s got their own take on parenting and a lot of it is subjective, but if you are ok with this, your take is objectively bad.

 

I have to agree, a beer line is no place for kids, good weather or bad. They have every right to cry and bitch they're uncomfortable.

 

Your experience of living in Germany should have prepared you by now for the world's worst customer service.

 

A couple, not that bad.
One is at a prominent South West Louisiana brewery. Drove about 1 hour round trip off of the freeway to go there coming back from vacation to find out they only had their core 3 beers on tap Amber, Wheat and some other beer, none of their pale ales, or infamous IPA. I was somewhat pissed that they didn't at least keep some of that back for the taproom. Will never go back there again, not worth the drive. My daughter did appreciate the tour, as she is in the industry and turned a 15 minute tour into a 30+ one by constantly asking questions about their setup.
The other was a brewery in the panhandle of Florida. We went there a few times and had a good time. One night we went and someone in the group wanted a Bud Light (they had guest taps) and they asked me to try it, as it tasted weird. Sure enough it tasted like it had mint in it. When I took it up to the register the bartender told me "yeah someone else told us that, we don't know what is wrong with it". That was the last time we went there, that night several of the beers tasted off and I suspected it was draft line issues.

I think the first experience has been the one that stays with me as it cost me an hour of drive time for a somewhat subpar experience even though my daughter enjoyed it (hardware freak).

 

Yeah I know exactly who you’re referencing here and they’re pretty terrible. I wasn’t in the area during their heyday so my only points of reference are 3 trips over the last 5 years, beer mediocre to bad and food so so to mediocre...

 

Huh? You got some oxidized beer— complained to the brewery - rejected multiple attempts by the brewery to make it right - and are now butt hurt because they didn’t do what you said you didn’t want them to do? Huh?

 

Didn't want to name it, though I have here in past. It's been for sale for a couple years, if you have a spare 3 million lying around. I have dreamed often of brewing in that all copper brewhouse and making some righteous beer there.

 

Hands down New Belgium, Fort Collins. First, there was a hell of a long line for the tour, second the guide needed to take a Valium cause she was peaking and freaking the whole tour, third way to long a time hearing about there new French casks for sour beers that were drain pours and finally, the beer served seemed flat and old.