Abe Erb Brewing Company - Waterloo

NRman · Post by **NRman** » Fri Nov 07, 2014 6:52 pm

Opens tomorrow.
Local guest taps, including Grand River, Block 3 and Innocente
Opens Sunday at 9AM
Starting with a Kolsch, a Hefe and an American IPA

http://www.waterloochronicle.ca/news/ab ... -the-mill/

http://www.thecord.ca/uptown-getting-brew-pub/

http://abeerb.com/
https://twitter.com/abe_erb
https://www.facebook.com/abeerbbrewpub

Kish84 · Post by **Kish84** » Fri Nov 07, 2014 8:47 pm

I thought it was Sunday?

I'll give them a shot. Guest taps look pricy by KW standards, $7-9.

The rumour's of marketing guys getting in to the craft beer game kind of put me off, but if their beer's good I can look past that I guess.

NRman · Post by **NRman** » Fri Nov 07, 2014 11:12 pm

Kish84 wrote:I thought it was Sunday?

I'll give them a shot. Guest taps look pricy by KW standards, $7-9.

The rumour's of marketing guys getting in to the craft beer game kind of put me off, but if their beer's good I can look past that I guess.

Kish - you're right. My bad. it is Sunday.
Agreed on the rest. Nice to see Black Oak Nutcracker but $9 bites a bit.

matt7215 · Post by **matt7215** » Sat Nov 08, 2014 5:07 pm

Ill be there tomorrow for a pint or 2

midlife crisis · Post by **midlife crisis** » Sat Nov 08, 2014 5:34 pm

I'll be interested in your reports, thanks. Waterloo (or really K-W, I guess) is developing a pretty solid roster of pubs for a city its size. Good to see.

matt7215 · Post by **matt7215** » Sun Nov 09, 2014 4:08 pm

midlife crisis wrote:I'll be interested in your reports, thanks. Waterloo (or really K-W, I guess) is developing a pretty solid roster of pubs for a city its size. Good to see.

the space is great!

the kolsch is very good
the hefe is passable
the IPA needs work
the cider (?) made off site, is surprisingly good

the place was packed but the staff was handling it well, biggest negative was they sold me a growler of IPA when I asked for a growler of kolsch

i hope they expand on the current house offerings and clean up the IPA

very nice addition to the KW beer scene

NRman · Post by **NRman** » Sun Nov 09, 2014 5:50 pm

As for the beer, I agree with Matt's review. (Good to see you again!)
These guys spent a lot of $$ and it shows.
The food needs some work but having only had breakfast on day one and it was slammed right out of the chute this morning so they get a pass...for now.
Hint: home fries need to be cut in house not frozen.
With a bit of focus on the beer these guys can be a great new addition to the region. The fact they have the guest taps is a huge plus.
The Black Oak Nutcracker was delicious.

The only concern I have is they will be very successful without having to improve the beer so I hope they find the motivation (the love of awesome beer maybe) to do it vs. let it slide.
Good luck Abe Erb.
Welcome to Waterloo!

MatttthewGeorge · Post by **MatttthewGeorge** » Mon Nov 10, 2014 8:53 am

NRman wrote:The only concern I have is they will be very successful without having to improve the beer so I hope they find the motivation (the love of awesome beer maybe) to do it vs. let it slide.

Their brewer, for now, is Robin at Descendants. Speaking with him on the weekend he tells me all 3 beers were his first batches on this system and he acknowledges they need some work. I haven't been there or tried the beers myself, so this is purely from Robin's mouth without me knowing anything of the beers.

atomeyes · Post by **atomeyes** » Wed Nov 12, 2014 9:27 pm

http://www.momandhops.ca/video-abe-erb- ... ant-promo/

a nice video of the place.

my expectations are minimal. i assume it will be pretty but not a world beater for beer.

so....mixed feelings. Ontario has enough middle-of-the-line beer.

liamt07 · Post by **liamt07** » Wed Nov 12, 2014 9:45 pm

Looks pretty, but in the end, needs to be some great beer and (considering they have a full kitchen) good to very good food to gain any of my interest. I'll wait until more reviews come out on this.

midlife crisis · Post by **midlife crisis** » Wed Nov 12, 2014 11:26 pm

liamt07 wrote:Looks pretty, but in the end, needs to be some great beer and (considering they have a full kitchen) good to very good food to gain any of my interest. I'll wait until more reviews come out on this.

You guys are harsh! I doubt you would feel this way if you lived in Waterloo. Guest taps from three local craft breweries makes it a notable addition, quite apart from the in-house beers and whatever their quality may be. Ontario as a whole may have enough "middle of the line beer", whatever that may be, but I'm sure Waterloo would welcome a place with some nice, fresh, made-on-site beers if they are reasonably well made. Who says they have to be world beaters?

liamt07 · Post by **liamt07** » Wed Nov 12, 2014 11:47 pm

midlife crisis wrote:
liamt07 wrote:Looks pretty, but in the end, needs to be some great beer and (considering they have a full kitchen) good to very good food to gain any of my interest. I'll wait until more reviews come out on this.
You guys are harsh! I doubt you would feel this way if you lived in Waterloo. Guest taps from three local craft breweries makes it a notable addition, quite apart from the in-house beers and whatever their quality may be. Ontario as a whole may have enough "middle of the line beer", whatever that may be, but I'm sure Waterloo would welcome a place with some nice, fresh, made-on-site beers if they are reasonably well made. Who says they have to be world beaters?

They don't need to be world beaters. But they do need to be inspired, well-crafted and free of off flavours. Tough to come by in the Ontario market.

Kish84 · Post by **Kish84** » Thu Nov 13, 2014 12:09 pm

I honestly don't see myself going to often unless I'm blown away. I've mentioned this already, but I'm not a fan of their guest tap pricing, especially considering I can get some of the same stuff elsewhere for less. I'm a bit spoiled living so close to The Bent Elbow.

That being said, I'm most likely checking it out on Saturday.

Kish84 · Post by **Kish84** » Thu Nov 13, 2014 4:25 pm

This is someone's thoughts on FB:

I can't speak for the beer, as I don't drink it. But I won't be giving them another try for a solid 6 months.

My friend and I both ordered the house burger. They were both incredibly dry. Mine bordered on burnt. We both found the cheese tasteless. We felt like the beef may have tasted nice, if it hadn't been cooked so much. Literally, there wasn't a drop of juice in them.
The fries were good, but over salted (even for me, who loves salt).
We were seated for a solid 5 minutes before anyone came to take our order, despite being walked past by every server, and making eye contact with several.
So there are kinks, and there are things that need to be dealt with that shouldn't be wrong to start with.

Someone else also said they were out of the Kolsch and IPA.

J343MY · Post by **J343MY** » Fri Nov 14, 2014 1:15 pm

Kish84 wrote:This is someone's thoughts on FB:
I can't speak for the beer, as I don't drink it. But I won't be giving them another try for a solid 6 months.

My friend and I both ordered the house burger. They were both incredibly dry. Mine bordered on burnt. We both found the cheese tasteless. We felt like the beef may have tasted nice, if it hadn't been cooked so much. Literally, there wasn't a drop of juice in them.
The fries were good, but over salted (even for me, who loves salt).
We were seated for a solid 5 minutes before anyone came to take our order, despite being walked past by every server, and making eye contact with several.
So there are kinks, and there are things that need to be dealt with that shouldn't be wrong to start with.
Someone else also said they were out of the Kolsch and IPA.

Yeah, they tweeted earlier in the week that they were out of the IPA, which by most accounts wasn't very good. At least its still extremely easy to sell mediocre beer.