How low will you go?

[mintjellie]

Rickards White
Creemore
Steam Whistle
Upper Canada Dark
PBR

while in the US :

Gennessee Cream Ale
Blue Moon
PBR

[Rosko]

I was at the Phoenix to see Devo last night...that's the band with the flower pot hats who are in their 60s...

anyway, when the selection is sooooo bad, I always choose a beer that tastes the least like a beer...so last night, it was coors light...

Oh man, I saw Billy Bragg there last weekend.

Good lord! My high school years just won't go away!

When confronted with a horrible choice - unlike an easy choice like NOT going to see Billy Bragg again - I will opt for Steam Whistle or Creemore.

[notdan]

Depends on the location...

Student bar: Rickard's White, Creemore, Rickard's Red

Sens game: Rickard's Red

Most bars I go to for shows: bottles of Labatt 50

I will also settle for Keith's Red, and my mom likes to order a pitcher of Stella when we're out for pizza. If the above things are not available, I will likely not have a beer.

[Tapsucker]

If they don't even have Creemore or Ricard's white, I start to walk out.

If I really need to be there, I'll go for a Blue. At least it's straight forward crap. If I can't even have that, then it's switch to vodka.

If it's a restaurant, I remind the server that crappy beers must reflect on crappy food. If they shrug their shoulders at that, and they surprisingly often do, then I definitely move on. All ingredients should be good unless it's a dive that's sooooo cheap...

Oh, I should also add that sometimes a Sleeman product might carry me through.

[icemachine]

I'm always amazed that restauraunts will have wine lists of 20-25 bottles of Red & White wines with prices from $20 to $200 but they feel its ok to offer 5 bland lagers at $6.95/pint. If its a larger place I don't usually bother saying anything, but if its smaller I will speak to a manager and suggest they improve the beer list, even if it is just to bring in an OCB alternative.

I will generally go for Creemore/Rickards/Keiths if I'm craving a bevvy, but just as often stick to Ginger ale

[SteelbackGuy]

I'm always amazed that restauraunts will have wine lists of 20-25 bottles of Red & White wines with prices from $20 to $200 but they feel its ok to offer 5 bland lagers at $6.95/pint.

This is one of my pet Peeves.

One particular experience that I can talk about will echo what you said.
There is a restaurant here in London called Tru Lounge.
Here is their website.

http://www.trurestaurant.ca/


Anyway, I went with some friends for a good night out. It is one of the cities best places to eat. Food can be expensive and the wine list is pricey as well.
Anyway, I wanted beer, and the only tap they had at the time was Keith's. Bottles included many more Labatt products, and the like. So we have great food selection, great wine selection, exotic cocktails and spirits, but shit beer? Didn't make sense to me so I asked to speak to the manager. I asked if there were any plans on adding some locally made craft beer, or at least a few nice Belgians with table presence. He said no. I told him that it made no sense to offer all of these fantastic things, but then offer beer drinkers the bare bones. I told him that offering me Keith's was tantamount to offering Spumanti Bambino on the wine list of fine Champagnes. Well I must have hit a nerve because he was incessed. Ahh well, I won't go back.

[icemachine]

Well I must have hit a nerve because he was incessed. Ahh well, I won't go back.

Are you suggesting he came from the Kentucky Hills

[SteelbackGuy]

Well I must have hit a nerve because he was incessed. Ahh well, I won't go back.

Are you suggesting he came from the Kentucky Hills

Ha ha sorry........I meant incensed. My bad.

[Steve Beaumont]

I confess, I'm confused as to why this is even a viable topic. Elsewhere on The Bar Towel I have seen easy condemnation of commercially-oriented beers left, right and centre -- just recently an obvious troll was pilloried for suggesting an MGD event at The Hideout -- yet here are Towellers talking about how low they will go, all the way to Coors Light, Molson 67, Ex and Rickard's Red, which started life as Ex with added caramel. If you like these beers, that's perfectly fine by me, but if not...well, why?

Whether at a club for a band, a restaurant for a meal or a bar for a drink, I tend towards the beverage best for the venue and most suited to my mood. A club with a line-up of overpriced Keith's, Coors Light and Blue is not going to get my money because, frankly, I don't like the taste of those beers. Period. If they have a decent bourbon behind the bar, a shot or two on the rocks is a most suitable rock 'n' roll replacement for beer, so I might order that instead, or even a g&t (even the most poorly stocked back bar usually has a decent gin). I might opt for a Gelnlivet at a pub or a Chianti at a restaurant, assuming that the same kind of lamentable beer list exists.

My point is that it's a big world of beverage out there and plenty of options exist beyond just beer. Through my career in beer writing, the phrase that has most confounded me has always been, "Well, they didn't have any good beer, so I had to order a (insert major label beer here)." If it's an enjoyable brew, then by definition the place DID have good beer. If it's not, well, then I think you're just throwing your money away.

[matt7215]

I confess, I'm confused as to why this is even a viable topic. Elsewhere on The Bar Towel I have seen easy condemnation of commercially-oriented beers left, right and centre -- just recently an obvious troll was pilloried for suggesting an MGD event at The Hideout -- yet here are Towellers talking about how low they will go, all the way to Coors Light, Molson 67, Ex and Rickard's Red, which started life as Ex with added caramel. If you like these beers, that's perfectly fine by me, but if not...well, why?

Whether at a club for a band, a restaurant for a meal or a bar for a drink, I tend towards the beverage best for the venue and most suited to my mood. A club with a line-up of overpriced Keith's, Coors Light and Blue is not going to get my money because, frankly, I don't like the taste of those beers. Period. If they have a decent bourbon behind the bar, a shot or two on the rocks is a most suitable rock 'n' roll replacement for beer, so I might order that instead, or even a g&t (even the most poorly stocked back bar usually has a decent gin). I might opt for a Gelnlivet at a pub or a Chianti at a restaurant, assuming that the same kind of lamentable beer list exists.

My point is that it's a big world of beverage out there and plenty of options exist beyond just beer. Through my career in beer writing, the phrase that has most confounded me has always been, "Well, they didn't have any good beer, so I had to order a (insert major label beer here)." If it's an enjoyable brew, then by definition the place DID have good beer. If it's not, well, then I think you're just throwing your money away.

i ordered the molson 67 at BP because im a ratings whore

[Matty D]

Steve B you make a good point. However I have only recently started to learn about craft beer (last two years), before that I was a macro beer drinker. I think allot of people are similar in that they fall back to the macro beers because there easy to drink and familiar. Your right that it is throwing money away to a degree and there are fine mixed drinks to have instead. I do love a good Tom Collins.

I have almost no knowledge of wine, I just know that some I like and some I don't, but couldn't tell you what I was tasting. Where as beer I know the characteristics I enjoy. So I usually never order wine at a resteraunt.

A friend of mine is opening a fine dinning type resteraunt. I saw that he was deciding on the beer selection and jumped at the chance to bug him. The interesting thing about it is that you almost have to sign an exclusivity contract with a line of beers. I pushed him towards Sleemans as they have the unibroue offerings available. Sleemans was actually the most friendly company towards him compared to Molson's or Labatt's.

[Steve Beaumont]

A friend of mine is opening a fine dinning type resteraunt. I saw that he was deciding on the beer selection and jumped at the chance to bug him. The interesting thing about it is that you almost have to sign an exclusivity contract with a line of beers. I pushed him towards Sleemans as they have the unibroue offerings available. Sleemans was actually the most friendly company towards him compared to Molson's or Labatt's.

The only reason to sign on with a line of beers, as you describe, is if a place is taking the swag end of the deal as well, ie: tap installation, help with the reefer, etc. That's all illegal, BTW, but common industry practice nonetheless. If your friend can do without the graft, then he can order and stock any damn thing he wants, and if the big boys won't deliver it to him, he just has to make occasional runs to the LCBO with his licensee number.

[Matty D]

Interesting Steve. I will have to ask him about that. I do know that Sleemans was offering him perks with the bar and taps etc. To what extent I can't say. All I know is that the bigger companies gave him the cold shoulder.

I admitt I was riding back from the golf course after having a few drinks and saw the Sleemans brochoure in the truck, that started the conversation. Page three had Maudete, Trois Pistol and Fin Du Maund etc. on it, I blurted out "Go with Sleemans, this Unibroue stuff is fantastic, you neeeed it". I didn't really pitch a solid buisness case for it

[wilco]

My view on crappy, macro beer is that it can be a nice reminder of just how great micro beers can be. I find that every now and then, my senses need to be reminded of the difference, preferably when someone else is paying.

[sprague11]

Locally, I find most places at least have Creemore and Steamwhistle. I do some business in Buffalo and noticed that a fair number of places we go to for business lunches in Lockport at least have an Anchor or Flying Bison product.

Back home in the Soo there's nothing even close to Steamwhistle in terms of quality (think about that for a minute). My solution was to buy either a Honkers Ale or Bells Two Hearted across the bridge, and act as DD for the night until I got home.