Brewery Pet Peeves (2023)

For me at least, that's because getting a paper menu is quicker and simpler. I can have decided what I want to order in less time than it takes to get out my phone, open it up, scan the code, wait for it to load, and then start reading. Compare that to picking up the menu and start reading. And, people are tactile creatures, we love to touch things, feel something tangible.

 

This encapsulates my pet peeve around this issue. At this point in my life, most visits to breweries are early in their day and it's usually fairly quiet. I'm not looking for a personal cicerone service to walk me through a tasting menu, but when the bar tender seems pained to leave whatever their doing on their phone and can then barely muster acknowledgement of my order I'm certainly not eager to return.

 

I like trying lots of brews so flights are my go to. Breweries that don't do flights or even half pours are on my don't return list. And another pet peeve is breweries that have fixed flights, usually their year-round brews.

 

Would fall on the side of your service level is more a function of management / ownership, primarily on the staffing side, though at times do see a people management and training issue.

Breweries / Bars: I've seen a drop off in operating hours and also staffing, part a function of rising minimal wages and part the challenge to hire and retain good staff, especially over the past three years with all of the BS closures and requirements. Many times I see staff juggling multiple roles and working their ass off if there is a good to heavy crowd. You may see phone lookers at times, but would say that is the exception rather than norm, at least the places I go.

Also believe most people tip the same regardless (some great, most decent, some poor). People even admit they rarely go below 15-20% with poor service on BA threads, bad incident(s) the only way they would go under 15-18%. Tips are primarily a function of daily handle. If a place is properly staffed, you will likely get good service, if staffing is bare bones, you'll likely wait and it's likely not the fault of staff not caring.

Las Vegas: My quantitative / analytical side findings matches up with observations over the decades. The city has the largest percentage of direct service industry jobs. The State Gambling Board publishes an annual Gaming Abstract report listing revenues by gambling and service area, employees, visitation/room occupation, etc.

The numbers prove there are far less employees per patron/visitor over the three plus decades I've been going. CET has primarily check in kiosks with long lines, cocktail service is less frequent, and the bartender has been replaced by a machine and or the cocktail waitress pouring her own automated drinks, which have been switched from call and good beer to well and AALs for the most part on the casino floor. There is plenty of profit to still adequately staff the hotel and gambling sides, but greed and senior management fueled debt are the primary reasons for this drop off in staffing above and beyond positions being automated.

It's the same when you go to a big box store and are shifted to self-check out machines, going to a large corporate store and having few if any staff available to help on the sales floor, etc. "Do more with less", employees get less, senior management gets the most with a bit trickling down to shareholders.

 

Definitely, this is the issue with ordering ahead of time online to drink. It's obviously easier and quicker to just go up and ask for a beer. Rather than going online, looking through the list, picking the beer, putting the order in...etc.

Again, not a MAJOR issue, but a minor annoyance. For me a QR code is very easy and I don't mind it. But I can completely understand your viewpoint as well.

 

I'm not particularly well-traveled, but I've eaten in several places around the world where the servers did not work for tips. The service I got at these places was good to excellent. Perhaps they knew I was an American and were on their best behavior because they know some Americans still tip even when in countries where it's not necessary? I don't know. But, in my experience, the service at places where servers do not work on tips is just fine.

 

Someone let me know when the “Patron Pet Peeves” thread gets rolling…

 

But why don't you have crayons for my kids and which of your beers tastes exactly like bud light?

 

Wait, did I click on Tequila Advocate?

 

"Well, sir - we are a small, recently-opened brewery and can't yet afford to please everyone BUT we do have crayons that taste just like Bud Light!"

"Yeah, my kid took a bite out of one of those, spit it out, crying, 'Daddy, it tastes like FOG!' "

 

Not exactly a pet peeve, but how much extra you end up paying for the fancy BCBS bottles?

 

Or when you see what they are going for 50% off clearance a few months later after paying the over retail premium Goose puts on them at Prop Day…

 

Go on...no seriously, this would be good to know. Might be good for some of us to know what annoying crap we all do at taprooms.

I'll start! Flights...

 

Heard back from what I presume is an owner

Maybe I'm the asshole, but this still feels like horn tooting, especially knowing how little they pay their BOH staff

Hi Norseman — The owners have created businesses and jobs for thousands of people in Utah for nearly 50 years.

One of these businesses provided affordable homes for thousands of people when only higher priced options were available. That business only started after several personal sacrifices and risks were taken by the owners. There are countless stories of homeowners taking the equity from their homes and starting their own businesses and improving their lives.

The reserved seating isn’t a ‘flex’, and the money the owners would make from paying customers in those seats won’t make or break them. It’s safe to say only new employees wouldn’t necessarily know who the owners are, so arriving incognito isn’t an option.

The owners simply would like to sit in their preferred seats anytime they visit the restaurant they built. We wholeheartedly and unquestionably believe they’ve earned that right.

We do appreciate your business and genuinely hope you continue to visit us.

 

Yes we're being douchebags, but we feel entitled to it because we claim to have done lots of good for the whole state. Plus, we're so rich we don't give a shit about losing a few paying customers at the restaurant we built. It's really just built so that we have preferred seating guaranteed should we want it.

The practice of permanently reserved seats would have annoyed me, that response would keep me from ever going there again

 

If it wasn't literally my favorite spot only 10min away, I would stop going. But like I put in my review, the staff, food, drinks,service aren't the issue

 

Not sure if this has been mentioned but a peeve of mine recently has been breweries that either 1.) Don't have valid (or any contact information on their site)
2.) Have contact information but a call goes to a message only to be never responded to or an email goes unanswered.
I don't often have to call a brewery but if their site isn't clear on their hours or whether they allow dogs (sorry, had to go here) I want to know before I make an effort to go there. This mostly comes into play when we are traveling and plot a stop along the way. If it is too warm out, the pooch can't stay in the vehicle so I need to know he'd be allowed on a patio at least. Or better yet, indoors.

 

I emailed a brewery recently to ask a question about their beer. They never responded. Then I mentioned that they never responded in a thread on here and that apparently inspired someone who works there to message me and tell me to email them at another email address. That email address doesn't exist according to Gmail and when I messaged the person back to that effect they just never responded.

It's wild how bad some companies are at the most basic customer communications