Ever had a brewery right a wrong?

I returned two bottles of Floyd d'Rue last week at FFFs. They took them back no questions asked, gave me a complete refund for the two bottles ($60 total) and threw on an extra $40 for the inconvenience. I thought that was pretty cool.

I attempted to contact Duck Rabbit several times via email through their super outdated website several times to let them know about an obviously infected 6 pack of Rabid Duck I bought. Never heard anything back... at all. Read online other people were having the same issue and were being ignored just the same. Never bought anything else from Duck Rabbit and never will.

 

Stone

Victory

 

I'm a huge fat heads fan. When recently traveling to indy, I seeked to find some head hunter or anything else I could get my hands on from them. After almost 10 stops, the freshest beer I had found from them was over 3 months old. I visited the "contact us" link on their website just to inquire about distro to the indianapolis market. Fat heads not only responded,but put me in touch with the manager of distro company that takes care of the indy market. He was able to provide me with a detailed distro schedule and I was able to score some fresh, 6 day old, 4 packs before I left town. He then asked about the locations I found the old beer so he could ensure it was removed from the shelves so no other customers would encounter the same experience. In all I was pleasantly surprised by fat heads actions.

 

They said that since Xocoveza was so successful, that there are many people trying to work towards making it a seasonal release. But... (quoting from the email)

"But as of right now, nothing is permanent. It was definitely a challenge to brew with that mass of adjuncts. Maybe once a year during Dia De Los Muertos? It’s got the fall spice flavors, the Chile heat, and it’s a perfect entry into the Holidays."

So there you have it.

Let's all keep our fingers crossed.

 

I bought Pipework's Blue Lady and the took it back and gave me a shirt and a glass. That's why I'll be a loyal customer for PW for life.... Super cool cats!
I bought Central Water's Peruvian Morning 2012 and 2013 and both time they were infected and Central Waters replaced my 2012 PM with bottles of 15 and 2013 PM with a check for what i paid. They also sent me a really nice email apologizing and thanking me. That's why I'll be a loyal customer for CW for life!
The only brewery who has never fixed a bad or infected beer situation for me is Three Floyd's. I wrote them an email for the Bully Guppy, Tiberian Inq, and Battle Priest and I NEVER got a response!!! That's how Three Floyd's lost me as a customer for good.

 

Yes I have contacted breweries and they are batting 1000.

 

I had a really dreadful experience at De Molen, and was contacted a couple years later (after a representative found my review) and was encouraged to come back so they could make amends. I haven't found myself in Holland for some time, but I do intend to take them up on their offer and have high respect for them because they did that.

 

Not beer, but I bought a box if stemmed glassware from Hill Farmstead once and when I got home I noticed that the paint on 2 of the glasses was not complete. I emailed them a pic of the glasses and they took them back and gave me 2 replacement glasses on my next visit. Hey, it's the little things for me.

 

I called Firestone Walker trying to information on Parabola shipments to my area reached a sales person near the end of her day. She could have simply bwn me but nope took her time answer my questions very patiently. Great customer service.

 

No response sucks but none of those FFF beers were infected. Bully guppy was a bad idea from conception, battle priest just flat out sucked, and tiberian inquisitor had nothing wrong, except maybe a too strong oak taste when fresh. Honestly tastes like a carmel apple now. Just because a beer is "bad" to you doesn't mean they have to refund anything. Three Floyd's has actually been pretty awesome with handling recent infection issues.

 

I had a can of Field 41 that looked like a micro-black hole had formed inside: It was imploding and crumpled when I pulled it out of the fridge. Emailed them, they said they'd had a canning issue a little while back, apologized and sent me a tshirt. I would have been happy just to know that it was still ok to drink: the shirt was bonus!
The funny part to me is that it was a TopCutter shirt. Good stuff.

 

Ha! Some will blame the consumers for their own problems, like Short's did a while back when they shipped infected beer, and not only refused to make good, but told us it was our own fault for improperly storing the beer. Glad to see they at least started to pasteurize (despite claims probs were all our faults). Just recently drank my first Short's beer since that incident, after getting one as an extra, and after vowing I never would drink another one.

Paul Phillipon of Duck Rabbit is the opposite end of the spectrum. I got some infected beer in a trade and he personally contacted me about it, and even though I was unable to return the unopened beer to the brewery due to the cost of doing so, he sent me a box with great schwag worth double the value of the beer I had, including what now is my favorite tasting glass.

 

Ballast Point, great customer service.

 

Harpoon went way above and beyond when I had a bottle with a funked up cap in a mixed 12er. From the person that responded to my initial email, all the way to the people who received us at the brewery. I'm a harpoon customer and now an advocate for life!

 

Yep, right here on BA.

Back when I couldn't buy Bells at home, buying in en route to/from college 1800 miles away was a huge deal. So when I came home with a six pack of Two Hearted for the first time, I was so excited to share it with my dad...

And it was awful. Tasted like lemon juice. I posted about it here, as I'd only ever had it twice before and wanted to see if I was going mad or something. Bells actively reached out to me through that post, took the bottle info, and eventually confirmed that a sanitation issue had led to that batch being infected. I was able to exchange the bottles nearly two months later on my trip back with no problems, and in the meantime, the brewery sent me a pair of pint glasses. Very satisfied at how they handled that (and still amazed that they were the ones to contact me, and not the other way around)

 

Great Lakes Brewery

I booked a tour for my gf and I in August 2014 for October 25, 2014. I live in Canton, Ohio. The brewery is in Cleveland. That's an hour drive. As we were walking up to the door, the brewery called and had to cancel the tour due to "safety concerns". I politely explained that this tour was booked two months out and we just drove an hour. I said, "Hey, can you at least buy me a beer?" They gave us a $10.00 gift certificate. I thought that was pretty cool.

 

I've had three issues with breweries the past year. Shane @Sixpoint and Perennial knocked it out of the park on making up to me the issues I had. I also had an issue with Bells and they made it up to me as well. Not taking anything away from Bells, but Perennial and Sixpoint went above and beyond being kind to me on their end.

 

Great to hear about my favorite brewery. In Pittsburgh, Head Hunter is EVERYWHERE and I can always get it under a month old, usually fresher. And I drink a lot of it.