Hi Mckenry,
Thanks for taking the time to give us some feedback on the beer and bar! It's fantastic to hear an unvarnished review.
So I'll start with the good
pleased you liked our Rye! We basically made it exactly as we like it and have it on our taps at home. I love the spiciness of Rye and I think a lot of Ryes suffer from being too high alc which dilutes the flavour for mine, and too low rye, which was never going to be a problem for us
.
Price was always going to be a challenge in a cocktail bar, no question things are cheaper up at the Lansdowne and realistically we can't compete with them on a price basis. We had our concerns with the price at the tap and have been discussing this with the owner. I am pleased to say we have agreed to a reduction in price on the glass to $8 from tomorrow. We are looking at reducing our costs so we can help to bring them down a little further. I would much rather people can sit and enjoy a few beers than baulk at one.
With the Pale Ale, I can understand where you are coming from, we went with Topaz and the lowish levels largely because we wanted a change from the heavy floral aromas that seem to dominate most pales I taste these days. In the past we tended to use a pretty healthy dose of Castle to give it a bit more malty ooompf, so perhaps we need to review this and our hopping and see if we can't amp things up a little bit on the flavour.
The stout is light on, but we had aimed for that. I dig a nice chewy stout myself but we were a little unsure as to how well (and to be honest, how quickly) a true stout would sell to the public. Being our first outing into making beer for people other than just ourselves and fam/friends I guess we are feeling our way a bit and seeing what works and what doesn't.
As for music and so forth, hey we are just getting old! the kids seem to enjoy it
. We do have two sections to the bar and try to keep the area up top a bit quieter - working on getting a separated sound system at the moment. We have a great DJ in on the weekends who plays some good tunes.
The bar isn't really intended to be a craft beer bar, more a cocktail/food bar that has good - and working to be great!
- beer for those of us who enjoy a hearty glass of ale to a cocktail. The guy who built the place is an amazing fellow, he and his old man pretty much built the whole bar themselves.
And yeah, seeing people drinking my beer and enjoying themselves is pretty bloody marvellous! My colleague and I were walking around with grins from ear to ear all opening night!
Not sure if you're a cider fan but would be keen for some feedback on those if you ever come back in. Just ask for a taste to see what you think. Anyone else who is into cider if you have a taste would love to get some genuine feedback on them. like all of it, it's a work in progress and we can only benefit from hearing what you all think.
cheers, and thanks again,
Trevor
