Bottle service at taprooms

In my experience, bottles are in addition to draft, not a replacement for draft. I tend to see it "beer bars" more than breweries, but of the breweries, they tend to be more high end brewers, not the neighborhood places. Shrug.

 

Never been to a place like this before. Sounds potentially expensive.

 

'Bout 25 years ago I toured Ommegang in upstate NY. Pretty nice looking brewery from the outside but the inside at the time was kinda confusing and not much to look at - I think they were renovating it - disappointed to only look through a window at the open fermenters (understandable on a sanitation level but, damn, that's not how Schaefer did it in Brooklyn for visiting German brewmasters!).

And then we went into their temporary tasting room and I was shocked to be served from open, half-empty bottles that had to have been opened the previous day since ours was the first tour of the day! No draught. Uncool in my opinion.

They did have some nice plastic and cork caps to seal theit opened bottles, one of which I bought (99¢ or something, maybe the cheapest piece of breweriana I'd purchased since I bought a Coors Light pencil as a joke for my Coors-Light-Only B-i-L in Golden, CO).

Unfortunately, it only fit the Belgian-style large bottles Ommegang used at the time, not regular crown-capped 22 oz. or quart bottles and it eventually broke - found it the other day in a drawer in my Kennedy tool box.

 

I'm okay with bottles or cans if there is no draft version of a certain beer currently available. I think small breweries that have a small brewing system may have a more difficult time with their brew scheduling so they run out of some kegs and substitute with the cans. Nah, it wouldn't even bother me to see it in a large brewery either.

 

I like the idea because I like to pour my own beer.

 

One of the main reasons I go out is because I want beer on draft. Draft beer, in my opinion, tastes better. Maybe it's all in my head. I don't really care. Point is, I want draft. And if a bar has my all time favorite beer in bottle/can and a mediocre beer on tap, I'll take the mediocre beer eight days per week. So if a brewery had draft as well as cans/bottles, I'll go for the draft. If a brewery had cans/bottles only and no draft, I wouldn't visit them in the first place or walk out if I learned of it upon entry (assuming, of course, I was going by myself and walking out wouldn't have ramifications on anyone I was going out with).

 

Many small breweries have a difficult time with draft beer. I know this first hand. It is one of the bigger problems faced by independent draft system installers.

They are a bit too proud to admit it, having set up an entire brewery and managed to get people to pay for their beer, but a proper draft system does require more knowledge than most small brewers might want to realize. Not landing on the moon level of knowledge but let's face it Mr./Ms. Head Brewer. The only system you ever attempted is the one out front, and that one ain't working so hot is it?

A draft system also costs money. Money that has other priorities in a small brewery. The same holds true for some successful mid sized establishments as well, because the owner started small time and there is a lot of momentum involved.

Packaging the beer in kegs is another hurdle that often times is inconsistent at best and can sometimes be a major QA issue. This leads to funny draft pours and frustration with their draft system in general. So don't fix it, don't expand it and just pull bottles or cans from the cooler in the back. The margin is much less but again, they are making money so who can say they are doing it wrong?

If you do find yourself in a tasting room with bottles or cans, feel free to mention that you prefer draft beer and eventually they'll get it.

Cheers

 

Just to double-check, those breweries had zero tap handles in their tasting room?

Cheers!

 

If a small brewery is incapable of acquiring the knowledge to properly serve beer on draft I personally would not have much confidence in their ability to properly produce beer. Maybe they don't understand their brewhouse either?

Bill, can you please provide more details here? Does a keg packaging line differ drastically from a can/bottle filling line? What QA issues are unique to keg filling in comparison to can/bottle filling? For example, are the TPO values typically higher for a keg fill vs. a can/bottle fill? Are there differences in the level of sanitation that can be achieved? etc.?

Cheers!

 

Maybe. The answer to why some taprooms favor bottles is my opinion and there may be other points of view. Consider too that if a brewery has a 6 tap system and 12 beers they want to sell that's 6 beers from a can. Same for a tavern, restaurant etc.

A lot of good brewers have systems that are pretty sucky to be blunt. A lot of dumped foam. Too much waste. Just not properly set up using second rate (cheap) components. It's not just at tasting rooms but often. The solution is to live with it because it is too much effort to install the proper length of choker, maintain the proper temperature, set the appropriate gas pressure.
All 3.
If the brewery has a distributor and the distributor offers a good deal on a system, which may or may not be legal depending on the location, let's be honest and realize they aren't getting a Mercedes. Not even a Buick. But can't argue with free, right?

Bottling lines can be simple or sophisticated and run into the tens of thousands of dollars or more. No matter what, you'll always get 12 ounces from a 12 ounce bottle though.

Kegging beer can also be done with a reliable set-up but many times the brewery is just trying to get the beer into the keg. Kegs are re-used and though they are cleaned with caustic they will never be as pristine as a new bottle. And the inside is quite difficult to examine. This is why the unpasteurized beer should be kept cold, always. If you have problems kegging your beer you have 15.5 gallons of difficult beer. If it continues you have multiple pallets of difficult beer, some of it out in the market. By the time you find out it can be a bad situation.

All of this is multiplied when lousy kegs are dispensed from a crummy draft system.

So, it is not all that surprising to see small tasting rooms avoid kegs and stick with bottles.
Cheers

 

FWIW every brewery tasting room I have gone to (and it has been a lot) has served their beers on tap. I personally have never been to a tasting room where they solely serve their beers by the bottle/can.

Thanks for you response to my queries.

Cheers!

 

Me too. I don't know of any that don't have any kegs but most do have a selection of bottles as well.
The margin on kegs is really good at a bar and at the brewery it is staggering. That pays the bills. Don't have to transport, bill the account, collect empties, lose kegs or really mark down the product at all. It's all upside no downside. If a brewery can keep a tasting room somewhat busy they are raking in massive money.
They should have more tap lines!
Cheers

 

Since you are in the business you likely know the answer to this: at brewery tasting rooms are the draft beers always served from kegs? Do breweries/brewpubs have the ability to serve draft beer from a serving tank (or something similar)?

Cheers!

 

No draught will never get my business. Shrugs.

 

Of the 31 breweries in Central Oregon, only 1 (Bend Brewing) utilizes serving tanks instead of kegs. I don’t know if that ratio holds for the rest of the country, but my personal sense is that serving tanks are pretty rare.

 

Here too. At Westbrook you can buy hard to get beers, but they pull back some if their beers, but they have to be consumed on site. Expensive too.

Blackback Pub in Vt had bottles of Cantillion for $30, but had to be consumed on site as well.

Never seen an all bottle place how easy would that be, I could open up a garage and sling beers.

 

Yes, bright tanks can be used and it used to be a lot more common. Not so much now, because it is an inferior compromise. We have specified some designs and its always a ridiculous Rube Goldberg. The price is stupid and the benefits just don't add up. And no guarantee your system will work very well either. Oh. And your tanks are not rated for pressure either. So no.

I know of some places that will attempt to use the bright tanks for draft beer but it is a really bad idea. Initial consultation is "do what you want, but don't do that." And sometimes followed by "best of luck, we can't help you here".

The only positive is savings on kegs and the actual kegging process, which is not insignificant. But, if you can't afford a few thousand for the cooperage and you are planning to open a brewery, well, you need more money. As much as we love to be on the new brewer team we also know bad decisions or poorly thought business plans are not a recipe for success. But, if that is your dream feel free to charge at windmills all day and night.

Bright tanks are just that. Kegs are for dispense. And the web of draft lines that snake through your brew house are a nightmare. Not to mention that you have married expensive tanks to a draft system with tentacle attached. How about you keg some beers and get an under bar kegerator? You haven't thought about actually getting beer into a glass in your own tasting room but you have t-shirts and a very active Instagram? Hmm.
So that's how that goes. For us anyway.

Cheers

 

If your in Charlotte you gotta hit Resident Culture, they always have 3-4 beers they draw right from the Brite tank, can’t get any fresher than that, an interesting place imo. Big, pet friendly, kid friendly, food trucks. If you hate kids and dogs this isn’t your place especially on the weekends.