Wintzell’s needs a beer intervention
I ate at Wintzell’s in Huntsville (University and Wynn) today. They made a lot of changes to the former Green Hills Grille - moved some fixtures around, rebuilt the bar, and of course changed the decor. They brought up some staff from Mobile (black shirts) and some from Guntersville (red shirts) to help train the Huntsville crew (blue shirts).
The food was great, as expected. The service was excellent and the staff was friendly, as expected. I like Wintzell’s.
However – Wintzell’s needs a beer intervention. They have 10 beer taps and serve six beers (four taps are duplicates). Their best beer on tap is Sam Adams – the rest are Bud Light and PBR type products. They serve Olde Towne in the bottle, but have a very limited beer selection.
IIRC the Washington Square restaurants (Humphreys, Masons, Chophouse) sell more Olde Towne beer than all other beer brands combined. Huntsville likes (and buys) local products. I suggest that Wintzell’s try serving Olde Towne and Good People beers, made in Alabama, to go with their Alabama restaurant.
While we’re at it, maybe Olde Towne or Good People (or the soon-to-open Straight to Ale) could brew some ‘Oyster Stout’.
And I thought we had the beginning of a great friendship. Why wasnt I invited?
I too visited wintzells in huntsville and per conversation with bartender this is what i have to offer on you comment. They onlyhave 6 beer taps available, just looks like more because they have 2 tap stations but they run off the same kegs, as far as beer selection it looks pretty good. Restaurants that cater to families are far more limited than the “bars and pubs” mentioned in your comment. Wintzells does carry several high gravity beers and good range of ambers, ale’s, lights and lager beers. They have more old town selections ordered and waiting for delivery. It seems you may have been there before all beer got delivered as the license wasn’t delivered to them until opening day,making it impossible to have all selections on site . I definently enjoyed my blue moon beer from the unique chill rite keg system they have installed and the pricing beats other area bars for happy hour by far.
Yep. Beer selection needs work. Rest assured, I’m on it.
Here’s the thing about local blogging – there’s a good chance that you’ll run into the people you blog about, so trying to get your point across while being polite comes in handy. Case in point – I met Dana Price and Wes Long of Wintzell’s at a party – they had read this post, agreed it was constructive criticism, and we had a great time talking about the business. They know I want them to be successful.
Dana even offered to buy me an oyster next time I visit!
dawn – thanks for commenting. The keg system is really nice – I got a chance to talk with their rep from ATL. Let’s hope they get lots of business in HSV.
Damon – we’re depending on you :)