Founders event at rattle

I was there. Did anyone think the CBS tasted "off"? It wasnt nearly as good as some bottles and other pours I have had. The KBS was excellent though.

 

My buddy went yesterday. He said CBS was sour and it was his first time trying it! That's a real shame.

 

Yeah..it was pretty bad. I wonder what happened

 

This was the worst CBS experience I've had to date by a light year. The keg lost most of it's maple sweetness and simply went sour. Not sure how this keg was kept but it was completely off. Did someone mention this to the Founders rep? I know I did not. Thoroughly enjoyed Blushing Monk on tap though. Amazing beer.

 

Would have loved to have made it, but glad I didn't try the CBS...

 

Hey I was there and posted last night in the late night thread about this. We knew the CBS was infected right away. When things calmed down the bartenders tasted it from us and agreed. It was abvious. Now the weakest part...

The Founders guy came over and we told him. He started to give us a speech about how beer ages and sweetness lessens over time. Then he tasted some and made a grimace initially. After a few seconds he got back on his bullshit track and lectured us about the excitement of aging beers and how complexity develops. It really sucked bc we were clearly fans of Founders, loved all the other beers and knew it was just one bad keg, but this guy was totally sales-y and fake. It was infected, enough with the spin. it happens.

 

That sucks man. Sorry to hear that. I would not have been happy if the guy pulled the salesy pitch with me after that.

 

Let Founders know via their website (Mike Bell is the guy to talk to).

Seriously, the fact that the rep:
1) Didn't taste the specialty beer before it went on
2) Didn't tell the bar to pull the keg immediately when it was obviously infected
3) Served up a line of complete Sales BS
Would be grounds for termination if I was the boss.

A sort-of similar incident happened in Ohio a few years ago, when a keg of CBS was mixed-up with regular Breakfast Stout. The second we told the reps that the beer didn't taste as we remembered, they tasted it, consulted with the bar owner and comped the entire bar a glass of CBS to make up for the accidental bait and switch. It was the right thing to do. We were a bit PO'ed that we had already wasted precious stomach space and sobriety points on something we could have picked up in 4 packs in any local store, but no one left with a bitter taste in their mouths. In fact, the taste was quite sweet and delicious!

 

this sort of stuff amazes me that i never get call-backs for sales rep positions. hey guys, you want a person with actual sales experience on their resume? this is what you get.

 

^ Exactly.... I've applied for SEVERAL rep positions... It's not like it pays crazy $$$, I just know that I'll be more passionate then the next guy.... F**kers!!!

 

that'll get you hired in a heartbeat.

 

Wow, interested to read this as I was hoping to be able to go, but mainly for CBS pours for sure. What a shame.

Re: the rep.'s comment about can't be real fan if don't know regular event lineup? I've only been to one event, before CBS was in bottles, and we had 3 glasses in front of us to taste for about an hour side by side, KBS, CBS, and FBS, and the event was run great, was hoping this would be equal. Guess not. This guy sounds poorly trained and like his default is a canned spiel, nice.

And the CBS was infected? Dang.

 

My bad, I didn't know having a little passion was a bad thing....

 

Hey, that's funny bc I met Mike Bell at the event last year and he was awesome. In response to what you said above:

1) Didn't taste the specialty beer before it went on - The rep specifically said he did not taste it bc he wanted to save as much for us as possible. That's why we made him drink ours for a taste. He was drinking a reddish beer until then.
2) Didn't tell the bar to pull the keg immediately when it was obviously infected. - The keg kicked in 19 minutes, so this might not have been possible. I didn't get to talk with the rep and have him taste mine until after it kicked. There were a lot of people who never tried CBS before and maybe didn't know something was wrong and plenty of people noticed the infection, but didn't want to annoy the rep with negativity, so it is likely he didn't know it was messed up until it kicked.
3) Served up a line of complete Sales BS

The rep was hired in Sept and gushed about how awesome Founders beer and people are (and he's right), but I think his newness made him too scared to admit something was wrong. I think that is understandable for a new employeee (I wouldn't have done that). I think for an event this big, Founders should have given him some air cover with a more tenured guy. The Mike Bell i met last year would have been all over this, but he's senior and is empowered to do that.

To be clear though. Awesome night and lineup even without the CBS.

 

Cool, glad that it was a good time. Just to clarify one thing, I'm not expecting the guy to have a full pour, but IMO a rep should always, always taste the beer before a special event. Shit happens, and you don't want to be caught with your pants down. I bet he learned a lesson that will benefit him going forward, and, with all those other great beers on tap, how could a beer lover not have a great time? Cheers!

 

The rep for Founders is unable to post on this thread, so he asked me to post it for him

Hey, this is Tim, the Founders rep for NYC. I gotta say I'm really disturbed that some of you had a bad experience with the Canadian Breakfast Stout last night at Rattle n Hum. I apologize to Jrod 1969 for coming off as "salesy" - upon tasting the CBS my sincere impression was that the difference in flavor we noticed was a case of age and not infection. I didn't mean to dismiss your assessment of the beer but now I could see how I might've come off as dismissive and I totally apologize for that. I should have sampled all the cellared kegs last night before they were tapped and will do so going forward.
I want you guys to know that I understand how seriously the craft community takes these great beers. When you come to a Founders event you expect the level of quality for which we've become known. I will try my best to ensure this experience at all future NYC Founders events.
I'll be at Rattle this Friday from 5-7 pm. If you were at last night's event and disappointed by the CBS please except my invitation to come down and drink some beers on me.
Tim Traynor
Founders NYC
[email protected]

 

that's good that he was able to chime in. but i've done side by side draft pours of CBS - fresh-ish and a year+ older, and the older one was more chocolate forward, and actually less sweet. i actually preferred it to the fresher one. not that i got to taste this one the other day, but i have a feeling that is an infection people are talking about.