Visiting from out of state and went to Lost Abbey for Track #10 release. Kevin the director of hospitality took my wife under his wings and introduced her to several beers. She is not a beer drinker and he was able to find a couple of beers she actually enjoyed. I have never been able to get her to enjoy beer. Great customer service and hospitality in tasting room. Thanks Kevin.
If they got rid of that one blondish lady who used to work the bar, then I can see hospitality greatly improving there. She was unbelievably rude on a consistent basis, no clue whose idea it was to let her serve people.
She's been gone for about a year. One of the worst experiences I've ever had anywhere was with her tending bar.
too funny how every once in a while people make threads about their amazing time at lost abbey (instead of yelping it or emailing them) and the rest of the time they just get bagged on in this forum
LOL. She enjoyed having the beer patrons rip into her too. In fact, she was probably inviting it too. But the marketing guy (can't think of his name), was really nice and wanted to help people.
LA still catches a lot of flak on BA, but I've had nothing but great experiences when I've gone there They definitely won me over on my first visit
We always enjoy going there when we are in CA. We like to bring them some stuff from outside the area when we can, took a bunch of boulevard and goose island last time we went.
Kevin is unbelievable with his dedication to customer service. I've never met him in person (he wasn't there the last time I visited), but just via twitter alone he has answered all of my questions promptly. If friends were heading down for a bachelor weekend and I suggested they go to LA, I'd ask Kevin what "treats" they might have available that aren't publicly known. He'd quickly rattle off a handful of bottled beers both vintage and new that are of limited quantities and tell me to instruct them to just ask for them at the bar. I sincerely hope he's working next time I make it down there so I can thank him in person.
I've had some amazing experiences at Lost Abbey, including a couple years ago when Tomme exchanged a bunch of bottles that came from the Older Viz, BA Santas, and Angel's Share releases that were flat. He opened bottles of all of those beers to drink, gave us a Veritas 004 to drink, and when I mentioned I had some beers with me, he brought out even more stuff to share with us. I've also had experiences like last year's barrel tasting where I had some of the worst service I've ever received. And had I not already paid in advance for the meal/beer, I would have simply got up and left. When I contacted them about it after the event, the response I got was a "sorry you feel that way".
