Breweries With Exceptional Attitude

I'd put Ommegang on the list.

 

Deschutes, Odell, Salmon River, Woodland Empire, and Lost Abbey

 

Short's is at the top of a long list.

 

This has nothing to do with customer service, but at the Atlantic City Beer Festival the guys at Beach Haus, who are opening a new location soon, were just so happy to serve everybody and so happy to be brewers and opening their own place that you couldn't help but want them to succeed.

That type of attitude is what I want out of all small brewers.

 

I find that apparently, compared to many, I'm as unmoved by good attitudes as by bad attitudes. I just like beer and I'd buy it online or from robots or from some young, good-looking guy who thinks he's better than me.

Beer, I say. Beer.

 

All the empoylees at Hill Farmstead have been very nice and friendly. Considering how long they have to stand on there feet and make everyone happy by filling growlers and getting bottles.
When I was in high school I worked at my local K-Mart as a cashier and I hated when my line got longer than 3 or 4 people deep. I can't imagine getting to work and the line is already 50 people deep and the brewery doesn't even open for another half hour. Cheers to them!!

 

Very friendly people at Heretic, Working Man, and Carneros Breweries.

After spending some time tasting with friends at Eight Bridges we ended up talking with George, the owner, for about 20 minutes. He showed us the different roasts/types of malt they use and even ended up bringing out some
hops (I forget which variety) that they would be using for us to check out. Super cool guy. Their beer is pretty damn good too.

 

The way that Cigar City handeled the Hunnaphu Day fiasco from this year was first class in my book...

 

Rode to bear mountain the weekend before last, and then headed to Peekskill to take the train back. I've tried a lot of their beers in NYC and love them, but never been to the brewery. Unfortunately we were running a bit late, so had to head straight to the train (I was already going to be late for dinner with the in-laws). Gutted as I was literally within touching distance of the place - rode right past it. Definitely next time. From the outside at least, the place looked cool. What is their food like? Cos we did a 30 second stop at the bakery across the street and let's just say the quality was a little underwhelming. If Peekskill has solid food, will give me additional leverage next time.

 

Haven't been to as many as some of you I'm sure, especially bigger name ones, but I've had rather good experiences at Leinenkugel's, Lakefront (Milwaukee), Badger State (Green Bay).

 

The people at Wicked Weed were really friendly when I was there.

 

Cantillon, 3 Fonteinen and Tilquin, they have had hugely beneficial monetary offers for export possibilities and they turned them all down. They want to keep their traditions allow, sell the beers affordably to locals and stay true to their principles. I think that they deserve the respect for refusing a lot of money just to stay true to what they believe in. They never did it to be popular, be loved or anything like that. They made unpopular decision for honest and respectable reasons. Can you honestly say that you would have turned down at the very, very least hundreds of thousands of dollars just to stay true to yourself?

 

Muuuuuch better food than the old location, glad to say. 5 star? No.

 

All of the breweries in Minnesota are pretty nice and cool. Even Surly!!

 

Adelbert's and Karbach in TX are both very welcoming. Had great times at tastings at both places.

 

I was at Odell back in October and those guys were awesome. Took the time to answer any questions that we had and really gave us a great experience. And the beer was super awesome!

 

I thought the food was pretty tasty, your typical brewpub sort of food, but a little higher end. I had a really good burger. The food is pretty expensive, though.

 

Let's see:
Bells - sent me a bunch of swag for free when I e-mailed them about old beer on shelves.
Stone - Great Beer and they have their own farms.
Funky Buddha Lounge - Awesome staff, awesome beer, awesome place.
Due South - See Funky Buddha
Fat Heads - Huge sandwiches, like HUGE, great beer and bartenders willing to BS about them.
Rapp - Love the location, and somehow they have like 20 styles on tap. Super Friendly too.
Peg's Cantina - Really nice bartender when I went, like above and beyond.
Pair O' Dice - Beer is not amazing, but the staff was.
Big Storm - Takes the cake for small brewery charm and beer quality. Funky Buddha is close, but this place has a working man vibe that I love. One of the coolest brewer/bartenders I've met too.

 

I will say Crank Arm Brewing in Raleigh was super cool. We actually walked in last year while they were still building it. They could have said "we're not open" but they let us in and gave us a quick mini tour. They said when they should be open and gave us some stickers. Never even had their beer but plan to get some next time I'm in town.

 

Ommegang, Gritty McDuffs,Schafly, Yazoo, and Three Floyd's were all excellent experiences. Yazoo was so generous, I needed a nap after the tour.