Why do they always start with Bud Light?
 

<rant on> I eat at a lot of different restaurants (and drink at a lot of different bars). If I'm too far from the taps to read the handles, I ask the server to tell me what draft beers are available. They always start with Bud Light and list another 6 beers that taste exactly like it (i.e. no flavor) before they get to anything I would remotely consider putting in my mouth.

I wish I was responsible for training servers across the world. That would be one of my rules. Of course you have Bud Light and its clones. No one asks what's on tap because they want a Bud Light. Start with the outliers and stop wasting the customers' time.< rant off>

Hey, I'm a beer snob, too, but I have enough common sense to understand why servers do that.

They may be wasting your time, but the fact remains that Bud Lite is the top selling beer in the US, followed by Coors Lite, Bud, Miller Lite, Corona, Natural Lite, Busch Lite and Heineken. So apparently there are people who ask about beers and opt for a Bud Lite. Why don't you just ask the server what craft beers they have on top? Or ask them to skip the Bud, Miller, Coors and Busch products?

When you're put in charge of training servers worldwide, why don't you time the average length of the customer-server drink interaction when the server lists the best-selling beers first vs. the worst-selling beers first? And then see how long it takes your servers to quit/get you fired when you suggest they dramatically increase the average interaction time by taking longer than necessary to give the customer what he/she wants.

PS: That's why I love beer lists, but hate restaurants that keep them out of date. A few bars/restaurants in Chicago have started listing the "Next to be tapped" items and rubber stamping "sold out" over ones that are done. Keeps them from having to reprint the list frequently and reduces the amount of time a server has to spend taking drink orders.

A lot of Americans like their beer to taste like fizzy water :p

It's a rant, okay? I'm allowed to emotional and irrational (beer brings out both in me). :) I wish more bars had beer lists - separate from food menus because the beers change more frequently than the food.

All right, next time I'll remember to start with, "What's on tap that isn't Bud Light or something just like it?"

Oh. <rant on> I also hate servers that don't drink. My favorite local restaurant features 65 beers on tap and every server wears a t-shirt that says "Beer snob" on the reverse and they back it up with real knowledge and experience. And the food there is good too. <rant off>

Why do they always start with Bud Light?
 

Yeah throw in seasonal beer or local beers when you ask and that usually will get rid of the standards.

Or just go to places that have such a big beer selection they have to have a list because no one can remember it all. Chances are they would not have those beers.

This. The staff is simply optimizing for the typical customer.

Like the OP, I nearly never want to drink the American beers that sell the best. I save both the bartender and myself a bit of time by asking a more specific question than, "What's on tap?" If I can see there are a lot of choices I'll ask, "What do you have besides Bud and Miller?" or "Hey, tell me about the local brews you've got on tap."

"What's the hoppiest beer you have on tap?"

"Great, please bring me the largest one you sell."

This is why we get along so well. :D

I usually just ask "What's on tap that isn't macro-swill?" Or, I sit at the bar, because I can usually convince the bartender to slide a few samples my way. :D
:D If only all servers knew how to answer that! :D

I second this. I love beer lists too, its a critical thing that helps me determine where to eat

Don't try that one, you'll get a deer-in-the-headlights look. Servers who don't understand how to sell beer don't know what hops are. Trust me.

I'd go with "craft" or "local" or even "dark" (lots of servers think anything outside of the Bud Light genre is dark.)

Once, many years ago, I asked a bartender is a certain beer was an ale or a lager. He replied "It's a draft." :(

When they have finished simply say "and what do you have for grown-ups?".

I learned a while ago to specify the type of beer I'm looking for. I ask what darker beers they have on tap.

I had a friend who cut off the server when she listed the bud light et al. and said "Start at the other end."

If you haven't already, check out beermenus.com.

Bud Light = Sex in a canoe

LOL!

They may not realize it, but this is probably a good way to describe a beer list.

It is widely accepted that if you give people a short list they tend to favor and choose from the top of the list. Conversely, give them a long list and they will favor the end of the list. It makes sense to start with the popular but low-end beers and finish with the expensive, high-end craft beers.

Unfortunately, too many times the server's memory starts to falter after the top 6, everyone has them, selections.

The ideal solution is an updated-daily beer list. There are one or two places here like that, but I have to cater to Mrs BamaVol's tastes too and she's a wine drinker and wants a little more variety in where we eat. There are hundreds of restaurants within short driving distance of the house and I hate to exclude too many. If it was up to me, I'd eat here every time I went out.

Truly, everyone seems to have a bottle of Sam Adams or Fat Tire in the cooler so I'm never at a major loss. I just prefer a draft microbrew and so I ask what's on tap to find out if there is any. I will try asking what microbrews are on tap next time and see what answer I get. Occasionally I may get a seasoned server with some beer knowledge and I will try to be grateful for that (and will express it with my tip).

Disagree.

-rant on-
Any server starting with the cheapest item on the list is just asking to sell less and make less money.

People remember the first and the last things mentioned, that is what you can sell the most of.

And people buy bud light, no need to waste time selling it.
-rant off-

Not everyone has a bottle of Fat Tire in the cooler... it's not available in PA. :(

kipper, I am sooooo sorry.

In the days before it became available in Alabama (and before I moved back to TN and then on to FL), a friend from FT would deliver some occasionally on his way between CA and SC.

Can you get Sweetwater 420? That's the 3rd member of my go-to fridge triumvirate. If there isn't a bottle of Sam Adams, Fat Tire or Sweetwaer 420 in my fridge, I'm not home. I'm at the store buying beer.

This dilemma is one of the reasons I like the British style of serving beer in pubs. Patrons must go to the bar to order a pint thus enabling them to see what's on offer.

In the rest of the world I generally specify what darker beers are on tap and don't force the server to go through an endless list of beers that are all the same.

:) We have some decent microbrews in the area. That said, I can neither confirm nor deny that a local shop about a mile across the MD border has New Belgium bottles for sale. :D

I'm extremely jealous that not only do you get Innis & Gunn, but you also can get it on tap.

I have to visit my in-laws in Sweden to consume it since it's not distributed west of the Mississippi. :(

I did not know it wasn't widely distributed. I think I read that it is the #2 import brew from the UK in Canada. I have had no trouble finding it in TN and FL, but haven't looked for it out west. IIRC, they stock it at my local World Market, which I thought was HQ somewhere west of the Mississippi.

Since I am of Clan Gunn, and a member in good standing of the Clan Gunn Society of North America, I drink it regularly. I will raise one in your honor tonight.

According to these guys there are 108 craft breweries in PA and it ranks 25th among the 50 states in breweries per 100,000 population. I can't imagine you'd have trouble finding one. Florida, on the other hand, ranks 46th so we have to rely a lot more on imports.

:D We have a few right near where I work, and a few really nice beer bars. :D

I'm pondering grabbing a beer now--perhaps Ranger. :D

I tried a different approach this weekend. I told 2 servers (Dave & Busters and Bennigan's) I was looking for a draft beer that wasn't Bud Light or one of its clones, so what have you got. The first server started with "Bud, Bud Light ..... sorry, force of habit. The second said Tee-hee, what do you like? I ended up with Sam Adams in a bottle in both places.

That leads to a new question ... Why do they take Boston Lager out and replace it with a seasonal? Is there not rooom for 2 Sam Adams products at the bar? The obvious answer is that there is insufficient demand for both. I'm not opposed to some of their seasonals, but my first choice is Boston Lager. SOL.

From what a bartender friend mentioned, at some chain restaurants, they charge what is basically a tap charge for breweries to always have tap space. It's likely that Sam Adams doesn't want to pay for two taps if this is the case.

This.

You see yellow fizzy water on tap at chains because the big guys have the money (and will) to pay for the space.

Glad to know I wasn't imagining that. :D

The only place I've seen it west of the Mississippi in the US is at the Venetian--at an eye-watering $12 per bottle. :eek:

I'm in Sweden right now, and I have been consuming it as much as possible.

Is this also why OP hears "Bud Light" always mentioned first.

BamaVol Jr #3 is a manager in one of those chains. I will ask him. I get the tap charge, but unless the server comes out with a "Can I start you off with a cold Bud Light draft?", I don't think it trickles down. In most cases, I'm the one who brings up the subject of draft beer.

Ouch. About $2.25 retail here when you buy the fourpack.

Why do they always start with Bud Light?

Anticipation. Things just have to get better, right?

Unfortunately, they rarely get good enough. As someone who loves Belgian and German ales, Mr DV doesn't even bother asking what's on draft, skipping directly to the list of bottled imports. Even then, he orders water more often than not.

Wow...that's sad. I had no idea Nashville was such a lousy beer town. You should move to Chicago. He'd be in heaven here.

Nashville is NOT a lousy beer town. DV must be avoiding the places that serve good beer. There's even a brewery in town that specializes in Belgian-style ales.

The wait staff described above remind me of the staff who man wine tasting rooms in Napa and Sonoma. They know the script but absolutely nothing about wine.

Other than places like the Flying Saucer, where would you recommend for Belgian (not -style) Blondes, Tripels, or Witbier (aside from Hoegaarden), German wheat beers, or perhaps anything from Samuel Smith on tap?

Pharmacy in East Nashville. Check out their beer list on their website.