Finback Brewery (2018)

Sounds annoying and I can't fault you for going with Interboro instead (I'm drinking some now) but I can't help but wonder why you didn't say something like, "Excuse me!" to get their attention long before 25 minutes of standing there.

 

I can echo this statement. Every time I go there it's like pulling teeth to get someones attention. Last three times I was there (not all releases) the bar tender was pretty much wasted and kept disappearing for 5 minutes at a time.

Horrible business plan. They really need to revamp before I go back there.

 

Yup. My experience there as well. Thought I was there on an off-day so gave them another chance but the same thing happened the next and last time I'd go. I'm not sure if I feel better or worse that this is a shared experience.

 

Same thing with me today. There was 1 employee there. One! All seats taken at the bar amd at least a half dozen people sitting at tables. There were a bunch of people there trying to just buy cans. Instead of just having a bunch of cans at the bar they had them all in their walk-in. He literally took each order and walked back with just those cans only to then go back to the cooler for each patron. What should have taken 5 minutes took me a half hour. These guys must not like money. Their beer is above average but not earth shattering. They need way more staff amd someone else managing the business.

 

i don't know. maybe i'm too nice and have too much respect for people? you shouldn't have to create a scene to get served as customer. this place is a shitshow though.

 

Wait a minute. Saying "excuse me" to get someone's attention is considered disrespectful and creating a scene according to you? You said they were ignoring you. In my world saying "excuse me" is considered polite. At least that's what my mama told me.

 

Excuse me was not going to get anything done. I am a large, very loud guy. I had my kid with me. I was not shy. They just do not have anywhere near the correct amount of staff. For a Sunday, when they just had a can release and have leftover, there should be 4 or 5 emplyees on hand.....you know like every other brewery there is.

 

Not to continue piling on but, as far as the beer itself goes, this was one of my least favorite iterations of Oscillation

 

You shouldn't have to say anything to anyone at a bar to get their attention. That's bullshit. I don't care if there's 15 people in there or 75. Mind you, I've been in this business for damn near 2 decades now. No excuse, a patron shouldn't have to "excuse" anyone.

Just to add, if what @BoardwalkBock said is true, that's bullshit too and just plain old fashioned unprofessional. One thing if it's 2 or 3 am and you're in some dive bar and it's another thing if you're in a brewery at 5 pm. From what you guys describe, this sounds like a bunch of friends just trying to "live the dream"...make, sell and drink beer. I hate to say this, they're probably not gonna change anything.

 

Jesus people, I wasn't excusing the brewery. Just the opposite, from all the posts it sounds like a legit problem. I was only asking the one guy why he didn't try verbally to get the attention of the bartender if he didn't want to leave empty-handed after going there and waiting 25 minutes. Not saying he should have HAD to do it, just wondering why he didn't do it.

 

He shouldn't have to. That was my point.

 

It's astonishing. Word of Saturday's shit show has spread to some tri-state beer groups. People who have genuine gripes about the release are being told by people who were nowhere near the release that they're "entitled new money" that "just wants to whine about everything". And seeing more of these stories pop up from people about declines in service at Finback has me disgusted.

I've spent my fair share of money at that brewery. I've met some great people while at Finback and have had some great conversations in line and on the brewery floor. There's one employee behind the bar (I think he's the owner of BierWax?) that consistently treats me well when I go to Finback and that loves to chat. Everyone else I've had the displeasure of meeting there acts like they'd rather be doing anything else. The more I think about everything, the more bitter I'm becoming.

There are plenty of other breweries and bars in NYC and Queens that make better beer and consistently have better service. The lack of any word from Finback is damning. They read this thread on a fairly consistent basis.

 

I acknowledged. Strangely and naively I was under the impression he went to the brewery because he wanted to leave with 2 cases of beer. I simply wondered why he didn't speak to them. With his mouth. Using words. I know. He shouldn't have to.

 

Agree with this, i hope it gets better with a week on it, but it certainly doesn't have that Oscillation flavor that i expected.

 

Maybe...He felt disrespected. Crazy, right? I know I wouldn't have waited that long, especially when there's 4 or 5 other breweries within 10 minutes of there that are selling fresh cans. Why does this guy have to give a reason?

 

In a nutshell, the bartenders and staff today were using avoidant behavior towards customers they thought were there only to purchase cans. The reasoning behind this is because they seem to think that their tips will suffer from can buyers and they focus their attention on only the people staying, purchasing drafts.

I have always tipped 15-20% when buying cans here in the past, so that has never been an issue for me. I respect the product and people selling it, so I have no problem with paying a little extra so that people can earn a living.

I'm guessing there have been some cheapskates there that maybe stiffed them and as such they don't want to put in the extra effort to fetch the cans from the walk in.

It kind makes you wonder why Finback even offers cans at the brewery in the first place, if they really don't want to offer them there in a consumer friendly fashion, and they just want to send everything out for distribution. I guess they just want to build the hype by posting photos of the lines on instagram. Looks like that strategy is backfiring on them now though.

 

If that's the way things work at that brewery, really...I have no words.

 

I don't know. Maybe because I asked out of curiosity? Jesus, I acknowledged that Finback obviously has some bogus shit going on with all the complaints. I asked the guy a serious question and got a strange response back. I almost drove out there yesterday and if I had I sure would've left with some of their beer. And I would've asked nicely. My problem with the guy I responded to is that he answered me back like speaking to the bartenders was disrespectful in some way when it seems like they were the ones being disrespectful. I'm not sure why you felt like you had to jump in here.

 

You might have missed it, but my 2nd or 3rd sentence in my original post about this is that I've worked in this industry for almost 20 years (it will be 20 in May) and that in my personal experience, no patron should have to sit there for 25 minutes waiting, nor should he have to say excuse me to a bartender, not should he need a reason. I don't understand what you're getting so mad about. Who cares, he left, it's his business, and, frankly, I don't blame him.

 

I'm not mad at all and I don't BLAME him for leaving. I just asked him a question out of curiosity and he told me saying "excuse me" was being disrespectful and making a scene, which I thought was strange. I agree that you SHOULDN'T have to ask, but I think most of us have still done it at some point or other, this not being a perfect world. I don't know why you're so intent on arguing with me about this. You seem like the one who's mad.