Novice Question - PtE

gotta remember, might not be the bar's fault. I'm sure the PtE flies out the spout, but you have to remember its getting distroed from CAli, and there is no telling how long the distributor had it before the bar did. So my opinion, get some really good Cali traders and trust you get the beer quicker than the bar.

 

I'd be pretty surprised if PtE was tapped long enough in Philadelphia to noticeably affect the taste. But I guess I could see the bar/distro maybe holding onto it for too long, anticipating some event or something - in which case, yes the flavor could be pretty faded and I'd be weary of that bar in the future.

 

I think most places if you show them you know what you are talking about, and if you do so with the right attitude, you could send it back and get a different pour. I think that might be received better than asking for freshness dates YMMV.

 

Your palate also may have been off.

 

Did you have food at Teresa's? Was it your first beer of the day when you had it? The food you have with the beer or even earlier in the day can affect your perception of the beer. Also there are lots of other factors that can influence what you think of a beer. The folks at Sierra Nevada have reason to believe that just transporting the beer across the distance from Santa Rosa to the wholesale distributor in PA can have an effect on the aroma and flavor (since much of what we think we taste in a beer is influenced by the aroma....).

 

You'd miss out on a lot of really really good beer and food if you made that choice based on one beer.

 

Dude, I think you're totally way off base here, see the current Russian River thread further down re: the subjective tatse of PTE with aging. I'm from Philly too and have had PTE at many bars in the city and in Cali and have never had a bad glass/bottle. I usually hang in and around center city, but I have never heard a bad thing about Theresa's Next Door. I was there once and had a great time. Many Philly BAs love this place, so I'm thinking you're starting a shitstorm badmouthing this place. Just sayin', I highly doubt a place like Theresa's sits on a keg of PTE, you may need to rethink what you write before you call out a well regarded place like Theresa's out.

 

After reading reviews of the place as well as a couple of remarks from the guys above ^ I'd say you might wanna just right that one bad experience off. Give it another shot and get back to us, cheers!

 

Sh!t just got real. In all seriousness, I do agree. It probably isn't the place. There are some days when my FBS from the same batch blows my mind time and again and times where it's just real good. A lot has to do with the mood I'm in and what I ate that day or prior (or during) to the drink,

 

Good point. Never been to PA but seems in bad form to call this place out, especially considering you're comparing it to trying it directly from the source.

 

I've actually been to Teresa's Next Door and found the staff to be friendly and more importantly quite knowledgeable on all things beer related. Pliny isn't exactly under the radar at this point, so I would be totally shocked the keg sat around in their cooler...... We may never know the answer, but I would also tend to think it was something else going on. The good news is that you've made the pilgrimage to RR and now understand how it's supposed to taste.

Good luck with future Pliny experiences in Philly.

 

Pliny is a cash cow, it would be hard to believe anyone would purposely sit on it at any level. Even if it was two months old it would still be great on tap. The only logical reason for any Pliny to suck if for some reason it was misplaced, lost in inventory, and the keg is actually much older than would be normal, they tapped it and served it as is. Other than that kinda scenario and as expensive as the beer is it's probably normally treated like liquid gold, which it is. I wouldn't blame anyone, and assume it's just an anomaly.

 

I think everyone has covered what couldve happened.
Could be any number of things, but at least you got a 2nd chance to try it and realize its a good beer (I didnt say great for a reason)

Cheers!

 

PTE has lots of batch variation. That is what you tasted. PTE does not sit.

 

I was at Teresa's that day. Had 2 CBSs and then a PtE - it was probably the best Pliny I've ever tasted.

 

Yo bro, you are entitled to your opinion and even blast a place if you want, everyone has different experiences at different places. But don't say you didn't blast TND, you wrote "Back in January I had my first PtE at a place called Teresa's Next Door in Wayne, PA.....I figure that this Teresa's place sat on their keg/sixtel long enough to impact the brews taste, which now makes me mad knowing I paid a good amount for a 1/2 pint of "bad" (my opinion) PtE." You're words, not mine.

Maybe you didn't mean to come off like that, but when you start mentioning bars by name and saying you're mad because they served you a "bad" pint, it's kind of implied. I don't think a place like TND would sit on a keg or deliberately serve you a bad pint. You might want to exclude the name of the bar in a thread like this in the future, whether it's TND or any other bar...just my $0.02. You initially asked for opininons on this subject when you started this thread, and you got mine; sorry you didn't care for it. I'm no beer pro either but I can form an opinion of a place from one experience and hearing lots of good things about TND from friends and from reviews on this website.

You're entitled to feel how you want, but I wasn't trying to kill you with my original post...more like, be careful what you write about a place like TND, or you'll create a shitstorm among Philly area BAs. If you don't believe me, try reposting this thread in the US-Midatlantic forum and I'm sure you'll get lots of strong opinions.