Chapter One Restaurant

I was there about 18 months ago. They had bottles of Heineken, Miller, Tiger and one or two others. Just the usual really.

the beer revolu wrote: »

Yup, annoying, disappointing and disheartening but not surprising! !

Yep

the beer revolu wrote: »

Hotels tend to be just as bad.

An going to get worse since a load of them are not been run as proper business

olaola wrote: »

You don't go to Chapter One to drink beer.

do you go to drink wine?

olaola wrote: »

You don't go to Chapter One to drink beer.

oblivious wrote: »

do you go to drink wine?

Sorry my reply appears little blunt, but beer is much more than mass marketed lager or bland nitro stouts and can accompany food. I would have though true foodies would want to accentuate their meals as much as possible, other than the classic Irish stout and oysters

Chimay blue with duck, duvel with clams and past are examples

chahop wrote: »

Its very hard for restaurants to stock a good selection of beer. I find a very small % of people order beer with their meal and most of them want muck (Bud, Miller, Coors light, heineken). + beer goes off wine doesnt.
This is my own exp as a restaurant owner, I had a descent beer list and had to bring most of it home. Now I just stock the usual + Tiger and paulaner and might sell 12 of each in 3-4 months.
I have never had to do that with wine.

Fair enough but it's not correct to say that beer goes off and wine doesn't.
Of course wine goes off and certainly goes past its best.
Some beers have very long shelf lives (and some will continue to develop long past their BB)

It would be correct to say that beer has a Best Before Date and wine doesn't.
Personally, I don't see why wine doesn't have a BB date!

BeerNut wrote: »

Out of interest, what was on it?

I'd be interested to know that as well.

Lots of establishments think they have a great list but, in fact, just have a weissbier and several 'premium' lagers.
(I'm not suggesting that that was the case with you, chahop!)

olaola wrote: »

It's not a Belgian influenced restaurant.

it was just examples, but what about french Bierre de Garde


but i suspect the have a wine list form around the world?

I don't get you tbh, if I was going to Belgian influenced starred restaurant, I would perhaps expect a more extensive list of beer.
It's a French influenced starred restaurant. Classic French cuisine at this level doesn't tend to include beer as an accompaniment to the courses.

If you want to drink beer, go somewhere else! I don't order 1/4 bottles of plonk from the local, and I don't expect them to hold onto a stock of decent wine either. As that is not what their clientele going for.

I had Sam Adams boston larger, the Chimay blue and red, Duval, Pilnsner Urquel, Fransinkaner, Spaten, Tiger, O'haras stout, Spitfire and there was a couple more.
Sorry about the spelling but just getting ready to open up.

olaola wrote: »

I don't get you tbh, if I was going to Belgian influenced starred restaurant, I would perhaps expect a more extensive list of beer.
It's a French influenced starred restaurant. Classic French cuisine at this level doesn't tend to include beer as an accompaniment to the courses.

If you want to drink beer, go somewhere else! I don't order 1/4 bottles of plonk from the local, and I don't expect them to hold onto a stock of decent wine either. As that is not what their clientele going for.

I never understand why people get so upset and defensive when it is suggested that quality establishments serve a choice of quality beer.
No one is suggesting that it should be instead of an extensive list of wine or Port or whiskey or brandy or liqueurs or aperitifs etc etc.
It is simply being suggested that a list of quality beers should compliment the other alcoholic beverages available. Choice is the key word.

Olaola, are you suggesting that that beer shouldn't be served in restaurants at all or are you suggesting that only mainstream, industrial lager be served?
They don't serve mainstream industrial food of wine in Chapter One, so why serve beer like that?

In these sort of discussions I'v come across so much hostility from people who seem to think that providing choice will somehow negatively affect their experience.
I quote: "I'll drink what I want, where I want and don't want whingy beer snobs like you telling me what to do".
Now, I don't care what anyone else decides to drink but I would like to see more choice of quality beverages for everyone.
Why are people so afraid of that?

PS Chahop, that was a fine list to offer - such a shame more people didn't avail of it.

Personally, I like wine with my dinner but I really enjoy a good beer after my dinner (and sometimes before). Maybe if a bottle of dark beer was suggested to people with a cheese plate, they might go for it. Or certain beers with dessert. Unfortunately lots of pubs and restaurants stock good beer but often the customer has no way of knowing about it or are never encouraged to try something new!

OK rant over!

BeerNut wrote: »

Excellent point. Beer goes with foods that wine struggles with -- cheeses and chocolate in particular. Suggesting a small glass of Samuel Adams Triple Bock or Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout in place of a port with a chocolate dessert is a great idea; or Rochefort 10 with a cheese plate.

And, also, the concept of serving 75cl bottles to be shared would be a good idea - even 33cl can be split nicely between two if it's a heavy/strong beer.

BeerNut wrote: »

About the only proper restaurant in Dublin with a decent beer list (and the only retail outlet for Double L cider AFAIK) is The Winding Stair.

Yes but, as I said, many establishments stock beers but do nothing to encourage customers to try them.
I just looked at The Winding Stair's website - not a single mention of the beer that they do stock (beautiful wine list, though).

drkpower wrote: »

I would exclusively have wine with food (and love a good one) and always assumed that the reasons for the lack of good beers on the menu of good restaurants was the perishability factor. But I also like a good beer every now and then. But when I read the comments of the beer officianados on here about the shelf life of beer, it amazes me.

Why are restaurants doing this?
Is it possible that there is a commercial reason? Does beer have less of a profit margin? Is it possible that the average spend of a person who drinks beer is less than if they rae forced to drink wine?

I am grasping at straws here because it really makes no sense that such excelllent restaurants would choose to restrict their choices for no ther reason than a bit of old-fashioned snobbery.

To be honest, I don't think it is really deliberate. I think that many restaurateurs don't realise that international best selling beers are the beer equivalent of Jacob's Creek or Blossom Hill. More restaurateurs realise this but reckon on the market for quality beers being too small to bother with. I think it's a bit like restaurants catering for vegetarians - most make a token effort - but the market is too small for them to really bother.

As was said before, everything about a restaurant should reflect its standard. A Michelin starred restaurant simple should not serve industrial beer any more than they should serve instant coffee or Vienetta for dessert.