The beer-(un)educated public.

In fairness, 9 out of 10 people who ask him that question probably are just trying to get fucked up. I frequently see some variation of "what's the strongest beer you have here?" at every fest I attend these days.

 

This happens in bars too. "That 10.2% looks good, let me try that one."

 

Did that honestly happen?

 

Asking questions you already know the answer to? That is asking for trouble my friend.

Things like this are frustrating but are bound to happen from time to time. The important thing to remember is not to let one snobbery turn into your own snobbery. It can turn into a vicious cycle very easily. I will talk to those interested in sharing a conversation and stay out of the way of the mirror for those who want to flex their beer knowledge muscles.

 

What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public.

 

As someone who has both worked in craft beer bars, and patronized them prolifically, it goes both ways. I do encounter bartenders and clerks who think they know more than they do, but it is far more common, in my experience, for people who do not work with beer to overestimate what they know. I recently moved to Portland, OR, and it is even more common here for people to incorrectly think that a couple years of homebrewing and a Northwestern pedigree alone make them an expert.

 

"I would never go in that store again."

Doesn't make any difference unless you contact the owner. Unfortunately, these days a lot of hourly employees don't give a sh*t about the business as long as they get paid. They could care less if you never come back. The owner needs to know if he/she has dicks for employees.

 

I retract my last statement. I didnt really think about it from that prospective. I am used to shopping at my local beer specialty shop thats locally owned and operated. The guys great and has never recommended a bad beer to date(knock on wood). I occasionally shop at total wine, where employees really dont have any clue what their selling. I just think that you should have some kind knowledge of beer before you go working in a store that sells it.

 

Exactly!
But the store owner can suck it. Seriously, I would've told him off if he said that kind of thing to me.
As for the server, I feel like that happens all the time. In a beer bar no, but a regular establishment, I usually assume they know nothing

 

If it was my store I would kill someone. Seriously though, I'm embarrassed that this happened in my city. Education fail

 

I interpreted the OP to mean the "same people" reply was sarcastic and intended to piss him off, not that the dude was an asshole and yet weirdly ignorant enough to think Dogfish Head and Hair of the Dog are the same. But maybe not. In that case strike my earlier comment.

 

Just guessing, but I am sure she had no idea what Dogfish Head was.

 

Get em buddy!

Jeremiah

 

If that happened to me I would've busted the bottles I was about to purchase over that @$$hole's head.


...but that's just me.

 

Now you're talking my language.

 

Lol. You also see it in the service dept. of most dealerships. the service writers think they are the techs sometimes.

 

Before walking out, I would have asked if the owner was in the store and simply accepted the requisite "no" that would have followed. Perhaps that way, perhaps the dorky, dicky manager would know that you really weren't pleased with his treatment. But this goes with my belief that when you deal with underpaid hourly employees who really don't give a rat's ass, you more or less deserve the misinformation you get [but not rude treatment]. It's like when you have a problem and call a customer service number. If you try to get an answer from the person who answers the phone, you are going to get really frustrated, even if the person you talk to is an English speaking American. They read from a script and are afraid or unable to help. Bottom line - if you don't go to one store on a regular basis and establish contact with someone whose opinions and information you trust, you need to do you own research, know where to look for freshness dates and ignore the a-holes who just like to spout at the mouth.

 

I went to a bottle shop in Philly that claimed on their website to have Parabola (and still does claim to). When I asked the clerk he said he thought they ran out of it "a few months ago"...

 

To be fair, there are plenty of places that don't update their websites often.

 

I agree, that part was just to explain my expectations. The shock was that they ran out "a few months ago." It arrived in the state one month ago and hadn't yet been distributed. It felt like it was just a stock answer for a beer he didn't know anything about.