Steady Habit Brewing

I didn't realize either of the other owners or anyone else affiliated with SH for that matter brewed. They were advertising for an assistant brewer about 6 months ago but I wasn't sure if they actually filled the position. If so, I would assume that person would step in.

 

I'm not surprised at all. Jon makes some great beer (though it's inconsistent), but has no real sense of how to run a business. We all know of his problems with opening on time and not giving much consideration to his customers. They've been unable to open due to lack of beer a few times. Their growler filling is dreadfully slow. I didn't even consider the growler club or VIP stuff cuz the writing was on the wall that there would never really be any real reward. Special releases, parties, etc are a pipe dream and I figured they could go out of business in short time. I always held my tongue from shitting on SH cuz j wanted them to do well and really liked their beer when it was on point. It's always been a shitty operation unfortunately. Maybe that will change....hope the beer is good.

 

I've only been twice. The first time I was pretty impressed with what I went home with. I recall honeymoon being impressive. The dipa was good but nothing to brag about. I tried a couple of other things while I was there that were very good though.

Now the second time. I got a 12 pack of cans. Drank some of two. Rest went in the trash. Tasted like a rubber band. Then cracked an our daily bread growler. That got a drain pour.

QC seemed worse than grey sail. Was hoping for the best but I don't see the point in going now.

 

Mostly agree. I am a good "beer friend" of Jon, having had the occasions to drink/talks beers with him outside of business operating hours. He is one of the most passionate and humble dudes out there. He does come across a bit hurried and impersonal at the brewery. I chalk it up to being a perfectionist; not often possible when running a taproom at a small but "buzzworthy" brewery. There always was a bit of tension in the taproom.

I didn't spring for the membership either but most due to proximity and number crunching. I hope whomever takes over makes good on that. If not, wherever Jon goes, his name will be mud.

I have no inside information but I would not be surprised in the least if Jon makes a big "splash" somewhere soon. Hopefully the future for SH will not end in a belly-flop!

 

Well, NebCo did just lose their head brewer and he is friends with them. He might really flourish in that environment where somebody else is handling the business and he can brew the beer.

 

See my 2:30 post today.

 

I was chatting in line at TH with another CT guy this past Friday, and the main topic of conversation became Steady Habit. All of your complaints plus a few more were agreed upon, as well as the general high quality of the beer. I shared my hope that I'd held since they first linked up, which is that Jon would head on over to Fox Farm Brewery which will be opening in Salem (they actually just poured the floor the other day) and leave the semi-functioning corpse of Steady Habit behind.

Fox Farm is doing it pretty big, I believe they're working with the same architects who did Alchemist/Tree House's new building. The owner was a few years ahead of me in high school, real good guy who's dad started/sold 1-800 flowers so I imagine capital might not be a huge issue and there'll be guidance in regards to running a business.

Could be a good landing spot, hooking up with Matt at Counter Weight would be interesting too. Of course, this could all just be a temporary tiff, perhaps fueled by a few too many Method's, and cooler heads will prevail. Seems kind of common in the brewing world, but who knows.

Interesting week in the CT beer world.

 

I was that the other CT guy. Ironic that this played out so soon after our conversation...

 

Now Jon is selling off his personal cellar on FB. Hope everything is ok...

 

Now the Facebook posts seem to be deleted. I hope they honor the memberships if the brewery does continue. They have been lackluster since the beginning though.

 

From following this thread I know you are a big supporter but it is proper to refrain from interjecting potential finances into the discussion. Not trying to bash but I think we can all agree that this is a trying time for Jon and as we have no clue what the story is, we should respect personal space. I do echo your sentiments about hoping all is well. We all know he made a huge investment timewise, reputation wise and capital wise. This is no trivial decision.

 

Too true bro. That convo was the first thing I thought of when I read the news.

 

This is a huge bummer. I have been hitting SHBC up since about 2 weeks after it opened. We took a trip to Beer'd and decided to take a detour on our way home to Fairfield. Been a fan ever since. I got to know Jon just a little bit because we collaborated on a beer. (I roasted and cold brewed the coffee for Last Drop.) I don't know him well, but I do know how committed and passionate he was (is) about that brewery, so this is pretty surprising. I will abstain from speculations but I hope things work out for Jon because he has a lot of talent.

As for the special release membership I bought... Not sure I really care about the $75 bucks I coughed up. Whether or not they honor it doesn't really concern me as much as what they end up brewing under that label.

 

I frequent SHBC quite often, so I may be biased. I would say some of their beers are quite exceptional. Their recent citra/mosaic IPA was exceptional. As is PIPA Royale, Coalesce, and Geek Nip.

The can release was a mess, but that was because the outside company that canned their beer fucked up, not them. According to Jon, the company had a problem with a seamer. No one wants to point fingers, but it wasn't even Jon's equipment, so you can't really blame him.

As far as other QC is concerned, I've had issues two other times. Both with flat beer, and both times he had no issue refunding me the cost of the growler. So two issues in the two years or so they've been open. I've had bad growler fills or bad beer at literally at some point at every brewery in CT that I've been a long time customer of. SHBC is no exception.

Saying their QC is worse than Grey Sail is bullshit though. You've been there TWICE. I've been going there YEARS. Again, three issues in two years, one which wasn't even Jon's fault. So please, unless you have something beyond anecdotal evidence, keep it to yourself.

 

Unfortunately, it is undeniable that Steady Habit has gained a bit of a bad reputation for reasons other than the quality of their beer. Their Sparkle Boots release was a complete mess. The issues with the first batch of cans. The general slow pace of obtaining growler fills. People talk about these types of things. It impacted my desire to head the relatively short distance to pick up some quality local beer. I know of others that don't go there for the same reasons.

Jon's a great person and his beer really is great. I think there is/was a great opportunity with Steady Habit if the customer experience was only better, based upon the ten or so times I was there. I suspect things would have turned out differently if Jon brewed the beer and at least had more help on the retail side of things.

I hope to hear that Jon will be applying his talents at another CT brewery soon.

 

Oh I agree with most of your points. But him saying their QC is worse than Grey Sail has no place in reality.

 

I believe the other partners of SHBC were just financial partners who really had little knowledge of the beer and brewery business. From what I understand, there was consitent tension between Jon and his partners about expanding the brewery and making it profitable. Obviously Jon wanted to have a successful brewery, but it's hard when there are others that don't want to move forward with plans. Their recent upgrade was a tough one because his financial partners weren't confident with spending more money. I wish him well, he's one of the nicest guys you could ever talk to and hopefully he lands a nicer brewer job. I think having a hand in the business and brewing just got way too stressful.

 

This sounds like Blue Lobster 2.0.

 

Anyone visit Steady Habit this weekend? Wonder if any more details were let out or what the general vibe was...

 

I gave a quick look at the ut check ins to their beers since the news but no mention of anything one way or the other. Realize it may not be the "forum" for that type of discussion but many are very liberal in their comments on ut.