Local brew pub disappointment

[JimH]

So, I am a big fan of local breweries and brew pubs. I was pretty excited that there are quite a few new ones around where I live, and many of them are pretty good. Unfortunately there are two which are not so great. It really is unfortunate, too. They are in a great location right downtown, and they have great atmosphere. But the beer is....off. I am not sure how to describe it. The best sense I can get is that they were homebrewers, and decided to scale up. That's not a bad thing, I think many of us have that desire in us. But there must be more to it than that. The one brewery, the beers seem watery, I guess their efficiency on the larger system isn't the same, and so the beers are unbalanced and almost undrinkable. The one I was at last night, the beer tasted almost soapy. My friend had another one, and said it tasted bad, but I didn't taste it. I had one of the guest taps from another brewery, and that one was off balance and not so good either.

I want to support these local establishments, but I don't want to waste my money either.

[RickBeer]

I use Beer Advocate to check things. Just was in Florida, 6 places we passed on due to mediocre brews or styles we didn't like before we found Due South.

[Gymrat]

I have to ask. How long have these breweries been in business. The reason I ask is there has to be a learning curve. Just think if suddenly you were doing your recipes on a 7 bbl system. I am sure you would do a few failures before you got the feel of the new system.

[JimH]

Both of them opened late last year.

I completely understand the learning curve, and will be willing to try again. I went to one on opening, and again a couple months later, and no improvement. The one I went to last night was my first time, and I don't know exactly how long they have been open.

[bpgreen]

Soap taste is probably from leaving it on the yeast too long. That makes sense if they went from home brewing to commercial scale.

You can leave the beer on the yeast a long time on a small scale, but on a large scale there's more weight on the yeast cake, so you're more likely to get off flavors.

It may be a good idea to give them feedback, even though it's negative. That may help them in the long run.

[mashani]

You would think if it was off they would have noticed and dumped it and made more. Better to bite the bullet and then sell something good later then something that will turn off future repeat business.

[FedoraDave]

I hate to sound cruel, but Darwin's Theory applies to business, too. Yes, we'd like all the new brewpub start-ups to be successful, but the fact is, some of them (maybe many of them) won't be, whatever the reason. Some may be created to fail, as a tax write-off; some may be run poorly by people who don't know the business end; some just may not be very good.

Brewing for ourselves is a very different thing than brewing for general consumers. There are the issues that Gymrat and bpgreen noted, which wouldn't arise so much for the homebrewer, but large-scale brewing creates different problems and requires different techniques. There's also a possible issue that I'll call "taste blindness." What we like may not set any kind of far-reaching standard. I find it hard to believe, but some people may actually like a beer that borders on cat-piss or tastes extremely watered-down.

We like our homebrews. We brew to please ourselves, and a great deal of the feedback we get is from relatives and friends who may share our tastes, or at least don't want to risk hurting our feelings. Even getting high marks in a few competitions, while indicative of a good recipe/process combination, only evaluates those two bottles of beer, or, at most, that batch. Brewing a good recipe on a consistent basis is a real feat. I've noticed my own local brewpub, which has begun bottle distribution in the county, has variations in the taste of their amber lager. It's always good, but it's not always the same balance of good, if you follow me.

I agree that you might want to give them feedback, in a kind way. Saying something about the quality of their beer in an effort to get them to improve is more helpful than just watching their business fall off until they're forced to close.

[John Sand]

I use Beer Advocate to check things. Just was in Florida, 6 places we passed on due to mediocre brews or styles we didn't like before we found Due South.

I hope you tried Copper Point too. If you get down to Ft Lauderdale, Lauder Ales is very good.

[John Sand]

Breweries are sprouting like mushrooms around here, I love it. But local is not enough. It has to be good, at least as good as other craft beer. That's a high bar, but if I wanted "okay", I'd drink macro. Or some of my own failures!

[RickBeer]

I use Beer Advocate to check things. Just was in Florida, 6 places we passed on due to mediocre brews or styles we didn't like before we found Due South.

I hope you tried Copper Point too. If you get down to Ft Lauderdale, Lauder Ales is very good.

It was just a 2 day visit for a relative's event. We had part of Saturday to do something, and got on Beer Advocate and other sites to scout things out. Saw CopperPoint but picked Due South because of the bigger selection and more beers we like.

[Gymrat]

Soap taste is probably from leaving it on the yeast too long. That makes sense if they went from home brewing to commercial scale.

You can leave the beer on the yeast a long time on a small scale, but on a large scale there's more weight on the yeast cake, so you're more likely to get off flavors.

It may be a good idea to give them feedback, even though it's negative. That may help them in the long run.

I also wonder if the glasses are getting rinsed thoroughly.

[JimH]

I guess there is a couple reasons why I haven't given feedback. I don't really like the anonymous online posting, it can sometimes just come across as someone being bitter or some other thing, not a review on the beer. The first place I went to I went on opening day, and it was really hard to give the feedback right to the lady's face. We showed up and we had a taster of all their beers, which were not so great to OK, but borderline drinkable. When I took the taster of one and asked about it, she got pretty excited talking about their "flagship beer" and I didn't know how to tell her it wasn't very good. I could tell they put a lot of hard work into the beer and their place. It was opening day, so I thought I would give it time. But it didn't improve as of about 2 months ago.

The other place, Friday was my first visit, and it was trivia night, so they were super busy and I didn't want to take up time explaining I didn't like the beer.

That's the other problem, I know my tasting skills aren't that great. I can taste a lot of things, sometimes even pick out hop varieties, but I really am just guessing at the soapy flavor. I also am guessing about the beer being watery and out of balance. It's what it seems like to me, but I could be wrong, I don't feel confident in my ability to detect that sort of thing.

These places are really small breweries. I don't know how many barrels, but as a guess, the fermenters were only about 5.5 or 6 feet tall (standing next to them being my guide). They don't serve food, just beer so I fear they may not last long. Especially the first place was selling their pints for $4, not the $5 that seems standard.

[swenocha]

I also wonder if the glasses are getting rinsed thoroughly.

Or if their lines are getting cleaned properly...

[RickBeer]

I often review restaurants and hotels and provided detailed feedback. If you're in the SERVICE business, you need to know both the good and the bad. I'd strongly urge you to provide feedback - TripAdvisor or Yelp, or Beer Advocate, or Untappd, or send them feedback through their website.

[JimH]

Nothing for these places on Beer Advocate. There are only a handful of reviews on Yelp/Tripadvisor, all positive. They have a 4.5+ rating.

Maybe I am just missing something?