Note To Grumpy's Roseville

Did you tell them? We can't clean their tap lines, only they can.

However, thanks for making us aware of this

 

Line cleaners don't come out immediately after every keg gets changed on a Saturday night?

 

Can I triple-like this post?

 

In their defense, some of these beers with additional ingredients are really tough to flush from a line. And with Coffee Bender, some batches have been pretty intense on the coffee. The best bet for a bar is to try to put an unflavored, yet bold beer on afterwards. Like after Coffee Bender, switch that line to a straight, yet bold, stout, maybe even one that not every person is going to know by heart. One of my old haunts used to obsessively clean their lines between every switch, even on a busy weekend, but I remember them switching from a keg of Moonlight - Two Week Notice (an intensely herbal gruit) to a Fuller's London Porter. Despite how much they flushed that line in between and despite going to a darker beer; the fact that FLP is one of the most recognizable and consistent porters in the world, played against them because it still made the herbal quality left in the line stand out (but it did make it a unique and tasty pour). Basically, just follow up a beer with unique additives, with a beer with no additives, that has enough inherently strong qualities (roast, etc.) to dominate any bleeding over or at the very least, that there could be some compatibility of flavors should there be something lingering in the line.

 

I agreed with everything you said until the end.

Cleaning tap lines is nothing like washing a glass out. Unless you think cleaning tap lines means just running some water through them.

But I think all bars should be cognizant of mixing styles on a particular line, especially things as extreme in difference as Coffee Bender/Abrasive

 

Pointless post.

If someone pays for a beer, and gets part of a different one, I think they have every right to complain. Oh, wait, you mean it's inconvenient for an establishment to keep this from happening...well, never-mind then.

 

If I knew of such a place (and could afford to "drink out", more regularly) that sounds like a place that I would be very much an exclusive patron of. As it is (and unfortunately in this instance) Grumpy's is at best a pretty run-of-the mill "rock and roll" beer bar franchise, and in no way could they ever have imagined that their beer program would ever need to be as attentive to such keg switch-outs as this other, magical place* which you've mentioned.

Did they at least offer you that unpleasant/unintentionally-off-tasting pour of Abrasive as a complimentary pour?

On the other hand, this is why God invented cupboards -- to hold multiple styles of clean glassware for each different bier!

* Don't hold out on us, we need to know where this is!

 

Great thoughts.....there just needs to be more of a plan for what is going on what tap lines....and when not, some of that is tough to clean and in my opinion if you just ran through some Leine Summer Shandy and the next beer up for that line is Spaten Pils you might want to just wait a day or two until you can clean it properly before putting on the Spaten.....I understand these things cannot be done immediately but just don't fuck up the next beer is all I ask....I can wait for it to be cleaned properly.....

 

They should at least run a couple of pints through the line to flush it out abit after the keg switch. I do this at home, usually I'll have a backup keg carbed and ready to go when a previous batch kicks. The first pull from new keg always has a bit of the previous beer mixed in with it. Usually it isn't any sort of deal, but with something like a coffee beer being switched to a DIPA, then yeah, that would be a bit odd.

 

Really? A tap room (a place where lines would most likely only ever switch over on the rare instances when entire batch runs out) is where you are hanging your expectations of what you want from a purposefully rough around the edges full bar/restaurant? You may want to put your expectations on a sliding scale, based on the realities of each. On one hand, you have a rock bar that barely makes any mention about beer on their site (except for when their discounted pricing is and even that is just the most general reference) and on the other you have a brewery, where all they have to do all day is serve their beer and clean lines if they wanted to.

I am not making excuses for bars not cleaning lines and it doesn't sound like you were present to actually see how much effort went into it (because getting strong coffee out, can be problematic), but is this some consistent issue that you have found there? Because if not, for you to take this singular experience that you are talking about and to accuse a bar of generally not cleaning their lines, seems like a rather large generalization that you are trying to make. Should they have followed a coffee beer with an IPA? Obviously not, but because they did and that you were able to notice the faint coffee character bleeding over into your pour does not (at least not to me) seem to indicate a general issue of line maintenance there.

 

Because TGChief has been a vocal proponent of serving their beer as intended. If Grumpy's served their beer like that it would be fixed or it would be for the last time.

 

Where's the dislike button when you need it...

 

You shouldn't start a new thread if you can't handle feedback in a civil manner.
Calling a member a douchebag is unacceptable, IMO, just because you differ opinions.

Also, you never answered the question whether this was a single occurrence, or an ongoing issue at Grumpys Roseville.

If it was a single occurrence, maybe a simple conversation with the bar manager would've sufficed instead of calling them out on BA.

 

So, did they give you a different beer for free, or not charge you for the Abrasive? I fully understand that $hit happens, but they should do something to resolve the situation.

I actually went to the same Grumpy's on Fri for lunch and had good food, beer and service - my IPA didn't taste like coffee though.