Blue Point Brewing Company

I've been going to Bluepoint for over twenty years. The tipping point for writing this review was watching one of their beertenders exit the bathroom without washing his hands. How you can walk past a patron in the restroom who is washing their hands and walk straight out, grab the door handle and go right back to serving customers is crazy. They even have something to open the door with your foot. Regardless you're going back to serving customers. I know exactly who the gentleman is and he's a really nice guy but that's completely unacceptable. Leaving his name out because perhaps it's time for a refresher course in what's unsanitary in a food and drink establishment. Food is not very good even when compared with other breweries on the island. Chicken, bacon, ranch quesadilla was my go to. Beer may not be as great as River Avenue days but that's definitely not something I'd call out as bad especially with so many selections. I do question how often the lines are cleaned because after drinking there you may not feel your best. This is something that I've heard enough where I can't chalk it up to being a fluke occurrence. I give Mark and Pete a lot of credit for creating and building this brewery to the level that it got to and do not fault them at all for selling, but the potential it had in growth is lost. I think it just fell into the wrong hands when it sold. I've been a patron for over twenty years. If after reading all of this, you still feel like it's worth a visit, Tuesday-Thursday most pints are at a reduced price. Otherwise you're going to pay what most micro brew pints are going for these days. I'm not sure if they still qualify as a micro but there are so many small micro and nano's available that are great and would truly appreciate your business. At this point you're paying what you would at any bar that carries Bluepoint. This was never the case in their much smaller location with far less capital. They say the reason is that the local bars complained that Bluepoint was charging less than them so it wouldn't pay for the restaurants nearby to carry it. Obviously as a big business now, they went for more money over a local community business model.

Stopped in on a Saturday after lunch on Main St and my overall thoughts on the Blue Point Brewery are "I was expecting more." This brewery was bought out by one of the richest companies in the world, and is in what looks like a massive building, yet everything is too small and cramped. In other reviews people have written about the "cavernous" taproom, it is not and these people have obviously never been off Long Island. Everything needs to be bigger, including the the merch shop and to-go beer area. They stuffed all the merch and to go cans in the hallway of the bathroom and stairwell. The cans to go are the same cans in grocery stores, nothing exclusive. This place has lots of potential but falls short in all the areas that are important for a brewery. Maybe they need to finish building it?