Review by Cory Smith
During our Detroit-area Brewery tour last Saturday, we made sure to stop in to Dragonmead at least for a drink before we got to Atwater for the tour. I hadn’t heard of Dragonmead until the Harvest Brew Fest in Detroit last month, but there is something about them that just draws me in. Think about it, dragons? Good. Mead? Good! Dragonmead? How can they go wrong? Plus, their taphandles (below) were too cool not to give them a pull. So I opted for the Dragonslayer, an altbier that was smooth and had a nice malt flavor with a subtle hop balance. I liked that sample enough to search them out when we finally made our way to Warren.
A Little Background Info:
Dragonmead is a brewery that has a cool, old-English feel to it. They craft beers in styles found all around the world. Their website offers beers in American, English, German, Russian, Scottish, Norwegian, Belgian, and Czech styles. All of them seem to be made within traditional guidelines. Though I didn’t get to try a lot of their beers, there doesn’t seem to be a ton of flare with their offerings– just good, old-school beer. This formula has won them many awards and medals that they proudly displayed on the wall behind the bar. They have also been voted by RateBeer as one of the 50 best breweries to visit in the world. And with that statement, let me dive in to our journey to Dragonmead.
Our Visit:
As I said, we weren’t planning on staying for long, more or less just popping in for a beer while we were close. We walked in, admired the old-English style Decor and original artwork, and took a seat at the bar. Since I’ll I’ve ever tasted from them was a three ounce sampler of one of their beers, I didn’t quite know what to order, so I asked the bartender what mead I should order (the name is DragonMEAD afterall). Her response? “Well, I don’t like our mead so I don’t recommend any of them”. This really put me off. First, the prices of their mead were more expensive than their beer and she cost her company money by not just pushing me into an expensive selection, or even just a popular one. Second, she should know to never stop the sale. For all she knew, I could have just walked out after being told that all of their mead sucks. Third, she barely smiled, was disengaged, and seemed almost hungover as she doddled around behind the bar. Not a good start.
She finally offered to give me a small sample of two brown ales I was between, the Mariann’s Honey Brown, and the London Brown. At first I liked the Mariann’s more, but after I made the decision to order it I realized that I liked the London better. Consider that the “Pepsi-Challenge affect”, in small samples I chose one, in a large quantity I prefer the other. Neither were bad brews, but neither blew me away. The Mariann’s was sweeter and smoother, but both were very middle of the road beers. Maybe I’d give them B- ratings. Ron ordered the Rev-Fred’s Oatmeal Stout but didn’t seem impressed. It was served in a small, dimpled glass mug (my least favorite beer-ware), while my brown was served in a straight edge tumbler glass (my second least favorite beer-ware). Call me a beer snob, call me picky, whatever, but when you brew the beer you should know how to serve it. The best thing they did for my “drinking experience” was to supply a basket of pretzels and mustard to snack on between sips.
We finished our beers, but were in a hurry, so we asked for our check so we could go. Our bartender was close enough, and seemed to hear us, but didn’t respond. Then she didn’t grab our check, and another bartender had to ask if we were ready to go. Maybe she honestly didn’t hear us, but she seemed to be paying attention, then as we asked for the check she just walked away and didn’t get it for us. I don’t know who trained her, but their customer service left a lot to be desired.
Conclusion:
Dragonmead has me severely puzzled. On one hand, they are winning awards and receiving praise from well respected sources. On the other, it was the least enjoyable stop we made on our visit . Mediocre beer and terrible customer service has ruined my perception of Dragonmead. I’m all for giving their beer another shot, but I’d rather do it from the comfort of my own home. It’s a shame that with such a cool idea (dragons/old-English styling) and apparently good beer that they have turned me off so much. I’d like to think I’m in the minority here, and that I just went to them on an off day, but there’s just so much that could be done to make the customer experience better, and because it was so bad I don’t see myself visiting again any time soon.
I really wish someone could convince me otherwise. What are some Dragonmead beers you’ve had and loved? Where can I find them bottled? Has anyone else had a similar experience with them? Please leave comments below.
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