Liverpool Weekend (Day Three) – The Dead Crafty Beer Company

After a busy morning of visiting galleries and museums, Bev demanded that we go to a craft beer bar. Always eager to please, I felt that this was a rather good idea. After rushing Bev and Susan across the road, we went to visit The Dead Crafty Beer Company.

It’s rare to see this set-up now, most venues got rid of it in 2022. We had a little bit of a wait for a team member to see us, but we were then shown promptly to a table.

It was clean internally and the atmosphere was pleasant. Not being negative as I’m sure it works for most customers, but I didn’t like the table service arrangement. I had already chosen my beer on Untappd on the way there and it meant I was sitting there for some minutes without being able to order, whilst Bev faffed about choosing. Despite my trying to pay for mine individually when he took the order, the team member ignored me. Instead, the team member then came over and tried to charge the entire table for drinks rather than just allowing payment at the bar. Rather than unpick that mess, Susan kindly bought my drink as I think she was impressed with my tour guiding 🙂

I’m not sure I felt the team member was entirely happy with us wanting to pay separately, but there we go. He also didn’t seem entirely impressed at Bev’s choice of drinks for various reasons. The beer I went for was the Separate Self from Verdant which was suitably dank and rather delicious, with the pricing being reasonably for a premium beer. I had wanted to try another two beers, but despite sitting two feet away from the bar I had to wait for table service to be offered and it wasn’t when I needed it and I wasn’t quite sure of the protocol of going to the bar. The beer selection is though well curated and there are some intriguing options on the menu.

I didn’t feel the love here unfortunately. I’m used to going to the bar, engaging with the team member about the options, boring them about my obsession with Untappd and then paying or being offered a tab. Instead the table service just felt a little awkward, although I appreciated that they had their menu on Untappd which made things much easier. Their web-site is also excellent with their range of beers in the fridges being listed, although I only realised they had these after I had left. If I had realised the extent of the beers in the fridges, I would have likely bought a couple, they have some delicious options from Three Hills.

The reviews are generally very positive though, so I have to note that they are surprising and delighting their customers which means that everyone is happy with the arrangement. They’ve also been trading for many years, so it’s evident that they know what they’re doing and they’ve also won numerous awards. It was still a positive experience, but I did feel uncomfortable at some points.