Biggest beer pet peeves

trading whales for Dark Lord hot sauce

 

I call that situation "The Deschutes." Looking especially at you, Abyss.

 

If they can sit at a table, so can you. First come, first serve.

 

Pretty sure he doesn't want anyone else hitting the button for his hot wife.

 

I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned so maybe it's just me:

Deceptive labels/descriptions/name of beer...like when there is a large picture of a particular fruit on the label but there is MAYBE just a hint of it in the taste, if that. Did the brewer really intend for the beer to taste the way it does, or did the pilot recipe not translate to mass production and they just released it anyway?

I think I have a decent understanding of styles and adjuncts...but sometimes I am very disappoint.

 

I actually went to a brewpub a couple of weeks ago that handled that problem really well.

Everything on-tap was on a sheet of paper the bartender handed me. I marked an X next to each one I wanted in the flight, and she poured them in that order and arranged them so. If I got lost, I just had to look at the paper (and remember what the previous beer was - I suppose it's still not foolproof, but at that point it's more a problem of the drinker).

 

I'll add another pet peeve. Plastic labels on bottles, the kind you cannot remove. I like the water-based adhesive paper labels. Probably more recycling friendly, but more friendly on me reusing the bottles for homebrew.

 

People that walk into the store off the street , ask if we have any Cantillon, then leave when I say no.

Ya know what jerk...I did have some, but I'm not selling it to some douche that won't even bother to look at the hundreds of other bottles on our shelves.

 

This.
I've received a couple of growlers that were shipped to me that were taped. I didn't mind getting out a knife to slice it off if it meant the beer might have been fresher than otherwise. This stands in start contrast to having to use a sharp-as-hell- chef's knife to whittle away a crapload of pretentious wax in order to get at a bottlecap beneath. Yeah, still looking at you, Abyss.

 

Dusty bottles

Getting a "uh...I don't know" from the bar tender in the BREWERY. You job is slinging a product for the direct company it is made from. You should know a thing or two like what ABV or style it is at least. Also at that same brewery they happend to be out of the beer I was looking for (Not a problem at all as I understand that they are a business and their main products are what people are coming in for. So they are more likely to be out.) Then I looked in the fridge for bottle to go and there was a bottle right in the front and the bartender said "uh... that's not for sale". What the cuss?

 

I'm confused by the wax hate. I don't recall (the few times I've removed it) that it was that big of an issue. I think I just jammed a bottle opener under the wax and pretended it wasn't there, or peeled it off with my nails. I waxed caps once (to look pretentious, yes, but, it was for a silent auction), and it's annoying cleaning up after the wax there, too.

 

Deschutes really overdoes it. I've had waxed bottles from other breweries that weren't as bad, but still kind of annoying. The wax on, say, an Abyss or one of the Black Butte Anniversary variants is thick, plentiful and requires whittling that sends chunks of wax sailing off into the corners of whatever room you are in before you get enough off to use a bottle opener. Not to mention the shape of the top of a bottle lends itself to the occaisional slip of a sharp knife towards fingers trying to hold the bottle still enough to keep things from being too shaken up.

If it served a vital purpose, I'd not mind it, but it's purely decorative wax dumped on top of a bottlecap, which does a better job of keeping the contents fresh than any wax/cork combination ever could.

 

I think he's talking about the whole legality thing. I can't remember which state he was in, but in my town the local Liquor Control folks really freak out about the underage in places that are supposed to be 21+, and aren't above trapping places into such situations to test their vigilance. If they fail, they get cited. If that's the situation he has to deal with, I get it. If it's posted 21 and over, that's the breaks for you.

 

I think he was referring more to how hard it can be to find BCBS than it's actual quantity. There was another thread recently that discussed the kinds of hoops the InBusch distributors make stores jump through to be "allowed" to sell BCBS, which tends to make it sometimes seem more exotic than it really is.

 

They don't allow fun time?

I was already a bit down on Oklahoma over the Sonics thing, but sheesh, this news really pushes OKC off the vacation radar.

 

1. I hear you, my folks were the same way, but lots of parents don't parent their kids these days, but just turn them loose.
2. Liquor Control Boards (at least where I live) are remarkably ill-tempered about the whole potential underage drinking thing, and tend to view things in black and white. This has serious consequences for business owners. Face it, we live in the post-MADD world.

 

i hate that i commute past a brewery 5 days a week going to work and they do a weekend bottle release
i know....it only sucks for me

 

I can speak to Bass Ale and Beck's, a little bit. Red Stripe and Guinness are not made by us, so I have no clue what might be going on there.

The Bass brewery (and brands) were sold a couple of times before they were actually under the ABI umbrella. There's been two versions for many many years (long before they were bought and sold); Bass Pale Ale and Bass Pale Ale Export. The Bass Ale is still made in the UK by Coors, and the Export is now made in the US by AB. When ABInBev acquired the export brand, we inherited the recipe. As far as we could tell (and I personally investigated this by speaking to some eldery folks in the UK who used to work there), the recipe we inherited was not the old recipe. It did still use the old Bass yeast strain, but the hop and malt bill for the Export ale had been "simplified" as the brand changed hands in the late 90's/early 2000's. I have been personally working on improving it, and making some slight changes to put it back in line with the classic Bass Pale Export being made thirty or forty years ago. This isn't something we announced or will announce in a marketing campaign, because tinkering with a venerable brand like Bass is generally viewed as a bad thing. However, we view this as changing it back to the classic recipe rather than tinkering for tinkering's sake (more like reverting some changes that should have never been made). I should note that this new (old?) recipe is not in the market yet, but is coming soon. I've been told not to mention specifics because the idea is to improve it and let it stand on its own rather than try and hype it up; suffice it to say it will resemble the bass export of old and use ingredients that would have been used decades ago. It will cost a fair amount more to make, which is actually the opposite of your original concern with the "cheapening" of brands.

Beck's is still managed by the Bremen folks. It is being brewed in St Louis also, but the Bremen folks handle the taste approvals, etc. (we ship them samples from St Louis continually). It uses their yeast, obviously, and a special lower protein German style malt we make specifically for Beck's to match their malt profile. Skunking is always an issue whenever you use a green bottle. One of the problems with a beer like this is people that have been drinking the import for years have differing ideas of what it should taste like. Some expect a slight lightstruck character and if it's not there, accuse us of changing the beer. Others, like yourself apparently, realize the lightstruck character is not necessarily a positive thing and prefer their beer without it. I know we certainly don't try and "pre-skunk" or anything like that, but the beer is definitely vulnerable to being skunked if not handled well. The box has little handle cutouts that should remain closed until the final customer uses them on their way to their car/home, but sometimes they get poked open. The box also has a slight gap in the top to allow people to open the flaps more easily but can also let some light in. If you got a skunky box, I'd be happy to replace it for you - even though some drinkers prefer it that way that's not the flavor profile we are trying to put into the market.

 

I also wish I could find any of that sort canned instead of green bottles.

 

When there's not enough of it