Out For Bloodies

After attending a Saint Francis Brewing Co. event at Ray’s Growler Gallery, we were inspired to take a trip to the Saint Francis Brewery for dinner.

In addition to their seven original beers on tap, the brew-pub offers an extensive menu with everything from fish frys and burgers to ribs and jambalaya.

The restaurant is spacious with a large bar area and several dining alcoves. Thus, although it was busy, we were able to get seated within 5-10 minutes on a Friday night.

While Saint Francis is known for its beer, obviously, I wanted to be sure to sample their Bloody Mary while I was there. Their menu said they have them on special on Saturdays and Sundays, so I figured they must have a good one. Plus, bonus, I’d get to sample their beer via the chaser, the best of both worlds.

So, I ordered the Bloody Mary with a pumpkin beer chaser:

Mix: Homemade mix (I think?)

Chaser: Yes–for an upcharge!

Fixin’s: Celery, pickle, olive, mushroom, lemon and lime

Price: $6 + $1 chaser

The Bloody Mary was pretty standard, but good. The pumpkin beer was spicy and delicious. We enjoyed our food as well.

The only downside occurred when we received our bill.

Much to our surprise, there was a $1 upcharge for the chaser:

Our waitress had, indeed, asked if we wanted a chaser, but she said, “Would you like a chaser?” not “Would you like to add a chaser for a $1 upcharge?”

Now in the grand scheme of things, we realize $1 is not a big deal, but the fact that this is a brewery just compounds the issue. Don’t you want people to sample your beer? Don’t you have a lot of it back there?

If they really need to turn that profit, in my opinion, they would’ve been better off charging $7 for their bloody mary than looking like they are nickeling and diming their customers for a beer chaser.

We didn’t bring this issue up at the time of dinner because, like we said, it’s not a huge deal, just something we thought very odd and something that did not sync up with the rest of our experience.

If we ever return, we’ll stick to ordering beer as our beverage of choice.

11/16/15 Update: See the comments below! St. Francis Brewery took our review to heart and is eliminating the $1 chaser charge! Good news for all the Bloody Mary lovers out there!