Beer Forum

I had heard about Arcadia Brewing Company and was looking forward to trying them. My local beer store, Lukas Liquors, picked up 3 of them, the Pale ale, the IPA and a summer wit. The Wit, being the only one that was cold, is what I bought.

There was something wrong with the beer. There was no head, the bubbles were large and looked like warm soda. There was an apple cider flavor and a bitter, metallic thing on the back of my tongue. There was also a lot of yeast on the bottom of the bottle. All in all, not what I was expecting.

I called the brewery and was able to talk to someone. I told them about my experience. They weren't happy to hear that I had had a bad time with one of their products. I called the beer store and they said that they would exchange what was left of the 6 pack (I opened a second beer to see if it was only one bottle that was not good). I exchanged it for a 6 pack of the IPA.

The IPA was great. Granted, I wanted something like a double IPA, but it was a nice beer. Nothing of the flat, spoiled beer I had tried at first. I called the brewery back and told them that I had exchanged for another of their beers and that I liked it.
That was about 2 weeks ago.

Today I got a call from my wife asking me to call the owner of Arcadia Brewing. He wanted to thank me for letting them know that there was something wrong with the beer that I had bought and that I went back and tried another of their products after a bad experience.

So, first I have the beer store following the brewer’s code by doing right by me as to the six packs, something that they didn't need to do. We also have the owner following the brewer’s code by taking the time to call someone who was not happy with his product. That takes guts.

Tim, the owner of the brewery, is sending me a pint glass for my trouble, again, not something he needed to do.

http://www.arcadiabrewingcompany.com/

It’s true that customer service keeps people coming back and it’s easy to say that he was just covering his ass but I think he did it because it was the right think to do.

We are only as honest as our actions.

KC-Dave

I have heard of several breweries doing something similar if someone calls about a bad batch of their beer. It goes to show what a great group of people are involved in the brewing community (both professional and hombrew). Nice effort on the part of Arcadia, especially since it is not always the breweries fault if the product sits on the shelves for a while.

that's pretty cool, and you will not only buy it again, but you've told all of us about it. Seems that pint glass was a small price to pay.

I know these 2 guys from Canada who tried to take a beer bottle that had a live mouse in it back to the brewery, and the brewery employees tried to KILL them!

Sounds like the breweries we ahve here in the states are MUCH more open minded and willing to accept responsibility for their mistakes.

Those guys at that Canadian Brewery are just a bunch of Hosers!

Wow, now that is good business.

I hope to one day own a restaurant and I am going to take this story to heart in my customer service philosophy.

Did you ever find out if it was a bad batch or anything?

I once had a problem with some nasty crud in some bottles of a six pack of IPA from a local brewery, but all I got was a short email back saying it had something to do with protien coagulation or something. Basically brushed off my concerns and left me with a bad impression.