The Glass Jug Beer Lab - RTP — Restaurant in Durham

Update: I’m actually really glad to hear the owner’s very reasonable explanation. It is true that we did arrive about 10 minutes before noon. I’ll repeat though that I have nothing against kids and I don’t even have anything against well-behaved kids coming to a brewery with their parents in reasonable numbers. Being unaware that you were making a rare exception for a longtime neighbor, and having sadly seen this kind of transformation happen to other drinking establishments, hopefully you can understand my initial dismay. I’m looking forward to visiting again soon.

*We used to visit this place frequently, especially in the warmer months, nearly every weekend. We loved it for their great rotating beer selection, expansive and pleasant outside beer garden, diversity of clientele, and overall relaxed vibe. We moved further away though and don’t get to visit as frequently. But the drive from south Raleigh is totally worth it, or at least it was. Yesterday (6.24.23) we made the trip for the first time since last fall. Unfortunately, when we arrived to the beer garden we stood there in stunned silence for a moment and then turned around and headed back home. It was swarming with screaming little kids and there was even, I swear to God, a freaking bounce house back there. At a brewery! There were balloons and stuff too so I guess there was also a child’s birthday party going on. I cannot express my disappointment enough that this favorite place has turned into Chuck E Cheese. Don’t get me wrong, I adore children. I think it’s a hoot to watch kids play and to talk to them. But when I go to a bar or brewery, I am NOT there to hang out at a playground and neither is anybody else. I mean, a couple of well behaved kids accompanying their parents is to be expected and not annoying at all. But to throw a damn kids party??? With a freaking bounce house??? I do not understand why parents insist on ruining every single establishment, even ones specifically intended for adults. This brewery does not serve food and they do not serve milk, juice, and sodas. I also don’t understand why more adult-focused businesses don’t stand up for their adult clients. Well, yes I do. It’s the power of the almighty dollar. But they can do it without harming their business. Ponysaurus has a sign specifically saying that their establishment is not for...

Poor service. The two male bartenders (possibly the owners?) were a bit rude when one of their draft brews kicked. Rather than ask us what else we might be interested in, they moved on to do other things (not help other customers, cleaning glasses or something). We literally stood there for a minute or two thinking they were going to come back to us and ask us if we wanted something else (I say "they" because both of the guy bartenders did this to two of us who ordered separately). We got tired of waiting and ended up getting something from the fridge. Also, they close at 10, we had our group there in the back room and were all nearly finished, maybe a sip left each, and at 10:00 exactly one of the bartenders who was cleaning up asked us and another group if we could move into the bar so he could finish cleaning that room (tabs were closed, mind you, we just wanted to finish our beers). I would think a small bottleshop/brewery like this would be treating their customers like gold in this competitive market. I guess they're doing well enough that they don't have to.

The female bartender, I didn't catch her name, was awesome. Very friendly and seemed genuinely interested in keeping the clients happy. She earned them one extra star, two stars instead of one.

I won't be back, too many other options where they're happy to have my business.

Edit: I see where they respond to some reviews mentioning have last call 15 min before close because it takes their staff an hour to close up. I call BS. Our tabs were closed, we had maybe a sip left each. They essentially kicked us out at 10:01 and my friends and I stood in the parking lot maybe 5-10 minutes talking about the poor service, I look back and lights were out. They were closed up and gone by 10:20. No one wants to keep staff late, but you can wait until your customers have finished...

I went here on 5/5/2018 for a few drinks. The place was small but nice. Their drinks list was not as long as let's say the Brier Creek beer Garden but what they have are really good. My favorite was a chocolate infused stout. However, I must say I felt very cold and unwelcome here. The staff was nice to your face however actions speak louder than words. They need some hospitality training about greeting people, about serving people in an orderly fashion...not just your preferred guests first. A few times I felt a bit invisible waiting to place an order at the bar while everyone else around me was served. Could be nothing, could be coincidence or could be my ethnicity but giving the benefit of the doubt to staff. Here's my other problem and it may be unique to me...I go to drinking holes like this not just for the drinks but so I can meet new and interesting people....let me clear not to pick up women or anything like that but just meet and have conversations with anyone really. When I got here around 6.30 PM on a Saturday, it was mostly deserted (see my second photograph). Whoever remained seems to be regulars who for some reason did not even acknowledge my presence let alone speak to me. So weird. Oh well. I probably won't go here again though. Better to spend my Fri or Sat evenings at any of the other bars in the RTP....