Ever left a restaurant after looking at the beer menu?

[treefiddy]

I take it to BYO places all the time. Bottles are OK, they might be challenged if you turn up with a keg

That was my next question.

Not even a little 9 L keg in an esky you made to look like a Dalek?

 

[mosto]

I've been dissappointed by a beer list but never walked out, as I am happy to drink most beer. I won't go back to a certain restaurant though after I had this conversation with a waitress while reading the beer list.

Waitress: "Can I get you something to drink?"
Me: "Yes, could I grab a Kronenbourg please?"
W: "Certainly"
She returns after a few minutes
W: "Sorry, we don't have that beer"
M: "OK, maybe a Heineken then"
W: "Sure"
She returns a few minutes later
W: "Sorry, we don't have that either"
M: "Oh, um maybe just a Coopers then"
W: "Sure"
She returns a few minutes later
W: "Sorry we don't have that either, we only have the beers that are on the menu"
Without saying anything, I point out where the three beers I've ordered are on the menu
W: "Oh, um, ah...."
M: "Look we could do this all night, but we do want to get to our movie, so maybe you take the beer list and tick off what you do have"
W: "Um, ok"
She returns a few minutes later with four beers ticked. There were twelve on the menu!

Now, if there were only four on the menu, no problem. If they had six on the menu and had sold out of a couple, no problem. But to list beers on the menu, which they clearly don't stock, is bullshit!

 

[dago001]

I have avoided a place when I've looked at their menu & seen rubbish or no menu for beer at all.

If I'm paying for food, they need good beer& kids menu. Its not worth going out otherwise.

In Brisbane, it was bittersuite - they doted on my kids & served me good beer n food.

Took others there at different times, so it was worth it for them to be in that niche.

Some places don't choose that path & I respect that. My path leads me to choose a place that suits me & what I want to pay for. There's enough room in this world for all sorts.

Looks like you will be eating at home a lot then. NW Tassie is not the best place for what you descibe. We don't like kids or craft beer in restaurants here.

There isnt much choice around here for mixing beer with food. Craft beers are a rareity in a restaurants, most common things are Boags, Crownies and Coronas. The local Italian was good food with BYO, but they are only BYO with wine now.
It always amazes me that Pubs/Restaurants underestimate that they will sell craft beers if they supply it. Sure the regular punters dont want it, but they are missing out on so much revenue by not providing it. We don't go to Pubs/Restaurants much these days, mainly because of beer selection. I'm not a beer snob, but generally I don't like paying overinflated prices prices for run of the mill beers.
Never walked out of because of the beer menu, but have walked out before ordering because of the vibe/atmosphere.
Cheers
LagerBomb

 

[JDW81]

Been to many a work dinner/function/smooze-fest and watched people (who are not paying) down loads of $7-9 Corona's.......

Are you saying you've never partaken in a few freebies at a function, irrespective of the brand?

 

[sponge]

If there's free drinks, I'm a happy camper. I will happily drink free coronas or euro lagers. I do seem to struggle a lot more than I used to drinking some aussie swill though, but still wouldn't turn one down. It even makes the next mouthful of craft beer all that more enjoyable...

Most of the restaurants myself and my partner go to are BYO. Granted, some are only BYO wine, but even then will bring along a nice bottle of red since that is primarily what my partner drinks and I don't mind a nice glass of red (always struggled with white wines). Never walked out of a place due to the beer menu though. As previously stated, we're there for a nice feed and if the atmosphere, food and service is nice, then we have got our monies worth. We can always go to a nice pub/bar for a drink before/after dinner if we like, and I know for a fact there will be taps waiting for me when we get back home

 

[mckenry]

I've never walked out, but subtly let them know I'm unhappy with their range.
I'll ask - Is that all the beer you have? Usually the answer is yes, so I ask for a coke.

 

[Pickaxe]

I'll reiiterate a previous point - unless craft beers can be affordable and profitable, most restaurants are going to stick with the big boys and big suppliers who offer deals like buy 4 get one free. You cant argue with a restaurant going with a supplier that offers them a clean $170-250 extra profit each order.

 

[hsb]

It seems like a massive hole in the market to me. You can go to a Michelin-hatted restaurant complete with Sommelier here in Sydney and be regailed about the fine Eastern slopes of this village, or an interesting discourse in subtle differences between this champagne and that champagne and yet they still have Crown, Coopers or Stella as the beer range. I find it bizarre sometimes.
Fair enough in smaller establishments, but if you have a sommelier, get some decent beer for god's sake!
There must be an opening for a better beer distributor to supply some of these restaurants, you give customers better choice and they'll spend (and you'll make) more money on better beer.

 

[Bribie G]

When I visited NZ the Indian round the corner had big longnecks of proper Indian Kingfisher 7% - I drank 3 . On eating out on the Sunshine Coast later that year I noted that the Kingfisher here is now brewed by the same mob who do Haagen but still listed as "India's favourite beer" and priced accordingly.

:huh:

Apart from HB my major passion is cooking - currently working through a Sri Lankan phase - and we rarely eat out except for roast of the day at the RSL or schnitzel night or something like that where I can see the value.

 

[tricache]

It seems like a massive hole in the market to me. You can go to a Michelin-hatted restaurant complete with Sommelier here in Sydney and be regailed about the fine Eastern slopes of this village, or an interesting discourse in subtle differences between this champagne and that champagne and yet they still have Crown, Coopers or Stella as the beer range. I find it bizarre sometimes.
Fair enough in smaller establishments, but if you have a sommelier, get some decent beer for god's sake!
There must be an opening for a better beer distributor to supply some of these restaurants, you give customers better choice and they'll spend (and you'll make) more money on better beer.

I know what you mean...one of my regular places that the wife and I go to has more pages for wines, champas and spirits (maybe even some ports) but there beer selection is the grand total of 6 (Pure Blonde, Corona, Heiniken, Hahn Light, Super Dry and Lucky Buddha :huh

I stick to spirits when I go there, 14 year old Oban scotch :icon_drool2:

 

[Lecterfan]

...most wine drinkers don't know anything, red is red, white is white ...there's no decent beer...


...meanwhile on the hobby winemakers website:

bloody posh restaurants, they have what the plebs think is a big wine list when in fact there are only two or three significantly different tasting wines - not all reds are red you know, why don't we get some real choice? There are 6 different beers to choose from on the menu, and lets face it, most beer drinkers don't care about the difference anyway, what little beer knowledge they have they picked up comes from their social circle while learning how to be fat, bigoted drunks.

 

[WeaselEstateBrewery]

bloody posh restaurants, they have what the plebs think is a big wine list when in fact there are only two or three significantly different tasting wines - not all reds are red you know, why don't we get some real choice? There are 6 different beers to choose from on the menu, and lets face it, most beer drinkers don't care about the difference anyway, what little beer knowledge they have they picked up comes from their social circle while learning how to be fat, bigoted drunks.

That is HILARIOUS. I find this nearly as funny as another forum I once read about people discussing home brewers. These folk couldnt understand why anyone would bother making beer at home, one guy piped up "I guess it's similar to how ladies enjoy making cakes". Can't remember the forum, one for chicken enthusiasts or something similar.

 

[bum]

That is HILARIOUS. I find this nearly as funny as another forum I once read about people discussing home brewers. These folk couldnt understand why anyone would bother making beer at home, one guy piped up "I guess it's similar to how ladies enjoy making cakes". Can't remember the forum, one for chicken enthusiasts or something similar.

What is unreasonable about the comparison?

[EDIT: other than the somewhat unpleasant gender-role thing]

 

[WeaselEstateBrewery]

What is unreasonable about the comparison?

[EDIT: other than the somewhat unpleasant gender-role thing]

Nothing as such, I just found it a funny post. Wish I could remember the link.

 

[Pickaxe]

Generally, most food businesses wouldn't be able to go through enough IPA, or belgian triple to either make money, or serve a quality product.

Thing with spirits is they have a huge shelf life. As do wines in comparison to beer. This is a poor comparison to make.

It's just not viable. Beer enthusiasts are a minority, don't get the idea you are a force to be reckoned with economically. Not gonna happen.

 

[stakka82]

A case in point of the above is the freshness of the good craft beers at nice restaurants that DO serve them... often there are staling/oxidation/handling issues or lack of hop arome etc... so obviously they move slowly.

For that reason I often choose something semi-crafty that I think will move reasonably quickly (LCPA, coopers etc) cause there's a greater chance it'll be fresh.

Contrary to much of the above I actually find that a lot of higher end restaurants actually have a decent craft beer list, at least here in Melbourne, when you consider what 90% of people must choose. I also try to look at the bright side - hey, I'm paying 9 bucks for a white rabbit, but that guy over there just paid 8 for a crownie!

 

[Nick JD]

That is HILARIOUS. I find this nearly as funny as another forum I once read about people discussing home brewers. These folk couldnt understand why anyone would bother making beer at home, one guy piped up "I guess it's similar to how ladies enjoy making cakes". Can't remember the forum, one for chicken enthusiasts or something similar.

I enjoy making cakes (we call it "baking" in the Sisterhood of Cakers). For my young'un's first in a couple of weeks, he's (we're) getting an orange-chocolate marbled caked with orange and chocolate cream cheese icing.

 

[Screwtop]

Apart from HB my major passion is cooking - currently working through a Sri Lankan phase - and we rarely eat out except for roast of the day at the RSL or schnitzel night or something like that where I can see the value.

Can vouch for Bribie's cookery skill! My next challenge is making a curry nearly as good as the one he served us in March 2013!

Screwy

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

I've never walked out, but subtly let them know I'm unhappy with their range.
I'll ask - Is that all the beer you have? Usually the answer is yes, so I ask for a coke.

+1 done this many times,asked for mineral water.

 

[Florian]

+1 done this many times,asked for mineral water.

if you're already going down that route you might as well do it the proper way like Screwy and ask for tap water.

for all you know they might even have a higher margin on mineral water than beer, either way they'll be making a 'profit'.

still, i reckon in 90% of cases the person in charge won't even hear about it becuase the waiter or waitress doesn't pass on what happened.