Upon submitting the article a dialogue started with the owner of MacNiven's and he was very interested in hearing about the experience that night. After a few messages back and forth I pulled the article as a sign of good faith that I was not desiring to complain just to complain. I wanted to have a quality discussion about the experience and at that point had yet to have happen. We set a time for later that day for me to come down to MacNiven's. We spoke for between 30 and 45 minutes.
During the discussion I was told the emails that were sent never came through or he would have addressed them immediately. Being very apologetic about the situation he went on to discuss that when he started the restaurant many years ago very few people drank beers outside of the big three. So he dedicated MacNiven's to educating the staff about beers so they could teach the clientele. The conversation developed and another point was hit that people know significantly more about craft beer then ever before. Going on to say that it is possible that some of the patrons at this point could know more than the staff does about craft beer.
After that was covered we spoke about what care craft beer needs. I could tell he had tremendous passion and knowledge in this area. Making several comments on how he goes about making sure the beer is cared for at MacNiven's. Showing me pictures and going into detail how they take responsibility for the rotation of the beer I was very impressed. Having worked in a bar I knew the measures he was discussing were both practical and effective.
I hated writing my original post but after having this discussion with the owner I now once again have complete confidence in recommending MacNiven's. There are very few places that are so dedicated to helping grow the craft beer community. With an owner that obviously cares about the experiences of his customers I have the very strong opinion that people who love craft beer should help support him and his business.
