Clean tap lines

maximum12...well said.

Ish1...
You just touched on the reason I have my job. I was not a "safe" hire for Summit. My influence has already made for a few interesting interactions at my new workplace. Helping all of our on-premise accounts in the Twin Cities area "correct" any in-house issues is my job. Please let me know if you encounter any place that needs help.

At Stub and Herb's, years ago (when I was the manager), I was one of the first retail accounts to stand up and challenge Summit to reach outside of their comfort zone. Now, they have embraced my opinion to the point where they pay me to give it.

I was a manager of a business for a long time. Back then, I never benefited from hiring employees that were "yes men". I only grew stronger from hiring people that challenged me and made me reach for better standings.

My personal goal is to eventually leave craft beer (in MN) in a better place than it was when I first got involved with it. Keep in mind that I sold my first craft beer (Oregon Nut-Brown Ale) across a bar in 1996. Today is a very interesting time in a business that I hold close to my heart. I will fight to educate and influence, as many retail locations as I can, to properly care for a product that I am paid to represent. I Promise.

 

I completely agree that we as industry members have a responsibility to help educate retailers. Not because it's in our "job description", but strictly for the betterment of craft beer. I work for a very young brewery, and first impressions are critical for ours, and others success. I certainly don't want there to be any misconception of our beers, due to an uneducated establishment running dirty tap lines.This is just one of the reasons I started the Better Beer Society, to help educate those looking to improve upon their practices.

You are right though Jon, it can be a delicate issue, and should be treated as such.

 

For my own reasons, I don't like calling out places on open internet forums (at least without contacting the establishment first), personal choice do what you all want to do. I have one particular BA favorite bar that I haven't been to in almost a year, and will not call them out here as maybe they have figured it out by now. Went there three times in a row (probably over about a three week period), tried a few different beers between these visits all of which tasted off, and I (as well as my wife) felt stomach pains after two of the visits. I chalked it up to dirty lines, but can't confirm that was the problem...seems like one hell of a coincidence

 

My issue with tap lines comes into play with less beer-centric bars. When someone who isn't a big craft beer drinker decides to branch out and order a Summit or Fat Tire at chain/college style bars, and the tap line isn't clean, they are getting a poor representation of what craft beer can taste like. I hate seeing people turned off before they really get to experience good beer.

 

@ mnstorm

If I've read that correctly it sounds as if you each felt stomach pains after sampling beers during your visits to this bar. I've never experienced anything like that personally and sincerely hope you brought this to the attention of someone at the bar -- sounds like a serious matter indeed!

For what it's worth, this thread gives me a better understanding of why some folks would rather drink from a freshly-opened package (bottle or can) when they visit a bar...

 

@Chazz

It was brought up after the second time (first time, no assumptions). Reply was concerned, but unappologetic (I suppose they did not want to take blame). The reason I don't name the establishment is that it has been quite a while since I have been in there, and things could have changed. My wife and I have considered checking it out again as it was an old favorite, but have a hard time when we don't get out much anymore. Good tap list also, so it's really too bad.

No big deal to me, I have plenty of other great places in my neighborhood to hang out at on those rare nights out. Not to mention Grumpy's NE, which I have never had an issue with.

 

Whatever happened to Oregon brewing? I used to buy their beers religiously when I first moved here to MN in the early 1990's. I drank a lot of their "Trail Stash" beer.

I think this thread would be more productive to simply name bars that have clean tap lines. I don't drink out a lot, but it's safe to say I encounter more bars with dirty lines than clean lines.

To echo a post above, I've always had clean lines at the Golden Nugget in Minnetonka.

 

Oh shit Trail Stash! We lovingly referred to it as Trailer Trash. I still have a couple of the pack pack bottle caps somewhere. I think Boston Beer took over their brand, maybe, not sure.

 

I believe Boston Beer bought them and got rid of the brand. A very effective way to deal with a competitor.

 

Guess I was wrong. It was a long time ago. Turns out Oregon Ales were a subsidiary of Boston Beer the whole time. I just found an article about them from 1994. Link below.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3469/is_n36_v45/ai_16097343/

 

Altho' today Jim Koch is often seen as the "pioneer" craft brewer (especially by BA's) in the first decade and half or so, his "Boston Beer Co." was very controversial within the craft brewers' community for a number of reasons and the "Oregon Beer & Ale" subsidiary was but one of them. (Oregon Brewers Guild) Attacks Labeling Ploy

Noted in both linked articles is the fact that the beers were brewed in Oregon, albeit at the macro-owned (Heileman and then Stroh) Blitz-Weinhard brewery - later they would even be brewed at BBC's brewery (ex-Hudepohl-Schoenling) in Cincinnati, OH.

 

I think the arguments in the thread sum up the decision to call the recent initiative "Clean Pint" rather than "Dirty Pint". Effectively, praising those that "get it" and strive to serve great tasting beer, leaving those that lack the procedures (to clean tap lines, properly clean glassware, properly store kegs, etc) in the dust or giving them a benchmark to strive for. I think it makes much more sense to compile a list of bars that have great tasting beers rather than a black list of those in which to stay out of. As time goes on, I believe that the underachievers will fall to the wayside as far as craft beer is concerned. Leaving us with some world class establishments serving world class beer. But for now we need to be patient as the market "figures itself out" and comes to balance.

 

I agree...
I also think "don't judge a book by it's cover", one bad experience does not mean it is a bad establishment...but online forums allow people to jump to conclusions very easily. Also, I hope everyone that does complain about a place on online forums would notify the establishment itself first...hopefully they also followed up to see if things improved. But, online forums just encourage passive aggressive behavior.

 

Sorry to resurrect a dead thread, but I'm at Cuzzy's in Chaska. Dirty lines. I've had both a Torpedo and a Summit EPA. Both have dirty lines. Too bad, because the steak sandwich was very good.

 

Town Hall is one of the cleanest. Jeff cleaned their lines once a week when he brewed there. Maybe you guys can be more forgiving of beers when you review them now that you understand that one of the biggest pitfalls of the brewing industry is allowing your beer to be transferred into someone else's less competent hands. I've had Angry Planet that was kegged the previous day taste like cat pee because some genius decided to put it on a line previously occupied by a sour beer. Even more brilliant are the establishments who push their beer with an air compressor instead of CO2. Unfortunately, quality control is near impossible to keep up with once the beer is out of the brewer's hands.

 

mmm angry cat pee.

 

Im amazed the OP said Blarney had clean taps. That would be a first for me...

 

Thanks for the heads up. I have our draft tech on his way out to Cuzzys to clean our line.

 

I drank two beers on tap tonight, both of which tasted different than I remember them tasting. At the same time, they both seemed to taste similar to each other (and not good at that) even though they were quite different styles. Is this a sign of dirty tap lines?