Strangest requests you have heard in a store

I don't mind questions like a lot of these. I remember when I was asking a lot of the same ones and seeing as how I'm not a dickbag the employees were always very patient and helpful with some awesome recommendations.

Buuutttt......when I get legitimately yelled at because I don't have Pappy Van Winkle (God forbid they settle for some of the amazing bourbon that we do carry, that stuff is for the peasants). Or when I tell that that Blanton's 1 bottle per person.

Come to think of it, most beer customers are pretty understanding, while wine and whiskey can be a nightmare.

 

That's because the people who want Toppling Goliath are not in Iowa! LOL

 

I've tried looking online. Apparently you can get some kvass on Amazon but I can't find happoshu imported by anyone.

 

Their stouts are 2 and 3 on this site and even a lot of Iowans don't know how hard they are to get. That being said the regular beers are easy to get. My main point was I've never heard anyone ask for any whales.

 

"Do you guys carry (insert various German/Austrian breweries that do not ship to the US)?"

This question gets asked every week it seems and every week I get berated for not carrying their beer.

 

This. Crescent Moon in Omaha opened in 1996. Definitely been craft available in the midwest for a while.

http://beercornerusa.com/crescentmoon/

 

Maybe this counts... I didn't know Tree House was brewery only so I called a store up in MA to ask if they had any. Believe it or not I hadn't known how highly rated their beers are. FORTUNATELY their brewery is a little over half an hour away. I believe I will be a frequent visitor...

 

A man and two women, all in their 50s came into the bottle shop I frequent. It's called "The Beer Store". They were looking for a certain root beer. When the manager informed them that that was a non-alcoholic root beer and he didn't carry it they seemed confused because of all the root beers in front of them. "So everything you sell has alcohol in it?" one woman asked. "except for the non-alcoholic beers" he replied. The man pointed at Not Your Father's root beer and asked "do you have this in a non-alcoholic version?".
1. It's called "The Beer Store"
2. There's a grocery store next door

 

"Do you have any ales or lagers?"

 

It's already been said but is worth repeating. I've actually heard this spoken in the craft section:

"Do you have any regular beer"?

 

I've been asked for hop plants , a couple of times, that have no names, just letters and numbers. I assumed they were new, experimental varieties, as yet unnamed, and probably not available to the general public.
. Me : "Who is the breeder, or where are they from? How did you hear about them? Would-be customer " *Shrug* Don't remember." Searching reveals nothing but part #s for various machines. Either #s were wrong, or just no links to them. Both times they were very disappointed. Looked like somebody died. Couldn't understand why that was the end of it (for me). No problem in asking, and I don't mind some detective work ( Including guessing the "green can" type riddles), but to be surprised that it's a no-go?

On the other end of it, the boss grafts unusual,and sometimes very obscure conifers , at home, then brings them in when salable. (usually 2-3 yrs later). One such one was 'Formanek' Norway Spruce . It's a funky, frizzy groundcover, rather than a tree. I searched for info online, and couldn't find any. Really obscure! (Had to use an actual book ; ) ) 3 days after bringing them in, a woman says " My kids called me from California. They said I have to get this plant :" * pulls out a crumpled piece of paper* - 'Formanek' Norway Spruce' Me : :000!!! "Right this way. There's 10 of them." " "Good! I knew you'd have them!" [I didn't. ] " By the way, I'm [xxx] Formanek."

 

I've heard that at least twice, as a fly-on-the-wall customer. Managed not to laugh.
I'd guess that everybody , in just about any retail business, gets some version of that question.

 

I wonder if a clerk is tempted to say, "No ma'am, just irregular stuff".

 

That Formanek Norway Spruce must be pretty dank.

 

I probably go to a booze store every 2 weeks,
and 3 time in the last couple of months I have head people asking for "Heady Topper" and Toppling goliath, worst thing is the clerk often doesn't have a clue, and starts sending the customer on a wild goose chase, hard to intervene in such situations too...

 

Besides the constant Heady and Tree House inquiries, I've gotten quite a few of Hoof Hearted requests which is kind of bizarre. I know Maine gets some of their stuff, but these people said they haven't had it before and didn't come across as people who were very tuned into the craft beer scene making me really curious where they got the lead on the beer.

On the other side of the register, my mother once picked up a bottle of "Count Tillion" for me that at a store near where I grew up. When I told her she butchered the name, she completely cracked up. That had explained why they had trouble understanding what she was looking for.

 

You're in Australia and you hear people ask for those beers? Wow!!

 

hipsters bro, the lub de intenets

 

This is why I usually have your back in those crafthole/clerkhole threads. I simply couldn't deal with shit like that day after day.

 

Not so strange, but I heard a Customer once ask for some New Glarus brews...

 

I don't know if I should admit this, but it took me a while to get that. Not bad.

 

I work at Binnys in Chicago. Had a customer ask for Russian River then accused me of hiding Heady Topper "in the back." Been asked for Good Morning and KBBS more than once too. Had a customer that wanted my recommendations for an hour. Really nice guy. Until he left And came back and asked for Pappy. Get the fuck out...

 

You should have told her that Crown is the King of Canadian Whisky's, not some peasant Bourbon whiskey...

 

People come in all the time asking for cigar city huna, cafe americano, or fb last snow, mbcp, morning wood.

 

I was in my local "liquor" store the other day and I overheard a conversation between a "hipster looking" customer and staff member about beer:

The customer asked what their best IPA was and the clerk responded by asking them what kind of IPA's they liked (juicy, piney, etc.).

The customer responded by telling the clerk that his favourite beer was Old Milwaukee and how he liked the bitterness of that beer.....

I'm not one to dwell on stereotypes, but that man was clearly looking for a beer that would make him look "cool" Honestly, I had a hard time containing my laughter

 

I've pretty much heard it all. But one time this guy called into the shop and said,"I stopped in a couple of months ago, and was wondering if you had any Crooked Stave left?" We don't get CS distroed to Ohio, so yeah, you can guess what my response was.

 

That's all it takes to look cool? A beer? Man, I wish I'd known that sooner.

 

This is without doubt the best thread ive seen on ba!!some great stories....

 

Never tried to brew with it but.........hmmmmm? Maybe you're on to something? ; )

 

Is that anything like Count Chocula? ; )

 

Wow - learn something new every day on here. I had no idea that stouts and porters were related other than color, as they usually taste so different.

 

Man, between all of the commas, asterisks, abbreviations, sentence fragments, colloquialisms, keyboard art, emoticons and wandering parenthetical asides...wait, what was I saying?
Oh, and colons
<hiccup>

 

Sounds like the worst porn star name ever.

 

I live in South Korea and I sometimes hear non-craft-known people asking for Heady Toppers. How do they even know that beer!?

 

Whole lot of haters in this here thread. 1st year of being into beer I called every local shop asking about their BCBS allotments, even though I'm in Ohio where they can't sell it due to abv laws.

 

I have learned so much from reading @patto1ro 's blog. Great stuff!

 

My opinion is that they were basically the same (or mostly overlapping), until the start of the craft beer revolution 20 or so years ago, when beer categories started to proliferate. Alternate opinions would be welcome.

 

Nobody told you about the ABV law?

 

Just within the post-Repeal era, in the US*, a number of brewers marketed both a porter and a stout, for example these two well-known companies noted for their top-fermented brews:

And legal definitions of both styles were written into the early versions of the 1935's FAA Act (since reworded) 2 of only 5 such "styles" so defined at the time in the Act:

Real or insignificant, a distinction between beers called "porter" and "stout" has long been prevalent in the US brewing industry.

"20 or so years ago" ? What were Anchor, New Albion, Boulder, Sierra Nevada and others doing back in the 1970s and early 1980s? (As well as 100's of other breweries in the US before the mid-1990s?) Speaking of early microbreweries New Albion, SN and Boulder - all three began with a small portfolio of beers which included both a porter and a stout.

____
*Gotta emphasize that since, while US brewers brewed beers in styles that originated in the UK, the history of those styles, common terminology usage within the industry, and style characteristics did not follow the same course.

 

And to this point, any retail person worth their salt in beer will at least be able to make a reasonable suggestion at an available, somewhat similar option. Maybe not with some of the crazy rare or unique stuff, but most IPA's and basic stouts at least.