Tired Hands Brewing Company

Located just off Lancaster Ave in Ardmore with a Starbucks look and feel. There were lots of empty seats, but service wasn't very quick. We tried two beers at $7 a pint and neither were memorable. Oddly, a small taste of one of their homebrews costs $3. Also, you have to be careful ordering food as the duck prosciutto platter has six thin slices of cured meat, a touch of compote and two slices of bread for $9. The "HamAmerica" isn't so insanely priced at $11 for an actual sandwich. It's hard to find pluses for this place as it's a very crowded pub market with many options in the immediate area. It's hard to see how the current business model can work.

I want so badly to like Tired Hands more, but I've had so many strange experiences that I can't review it better than two stars.  Some of those experiences:

- Growler fills are practically worthless here.  Beers are woefully slow coming out of the tap, which results in a near-flat growler by the time the bartender gets around to closing it.  Beers that are lightly carbonated to begin with stand no chance in the growler - why even offer fills?  When informed of a completely flat (seriously, flat.) growler that I paid far too much for, several employees kept me on the phone for 20 minutes + trying to explain to me that I somehow wasn't aware of the fact that the beer is lightly carbonated (I had it on tap, it was fine) and I should have opened the beer "as soon as I left".  Oh, please.

- I got a 4 oz pour of a beer that was horrendously yeasty and not at all what was described on the menu.  Quite frankly, it seemed as if it was still fermenting... it had a dull chewy yeasty flavor and nothing else.  Anyway - I mentioned this to the waitress and she mentioned that several people had sent it back, and asked me to describe what I found off about the beer.  We had a conversation about a few people having the same complaint, and then she went to get the check.  She hadn't removed the beer from the check, and when I asked her about it, she said "It looks like you drank an ounce or so."  Oh, please.

- I ordered a panini from the chalkboard.  It came out with a completely different set of ingredients.  I mentioned this to the server, who proceeded to check with the kitchen about it.  They then took my plate away and said "We'll make this change, but please do not ask for substitutions in the future." - but you had it on the menu!  A minute or two later, someone was erasing the chalkboard and writing in the panini that was brought out to me in the place of the one I ordered.  Oh, please.

I could go on, but the reason Tired Hands doesn't get one star is because it can occasionally be very pleasant, turning out some very good beers (there's a very good one (the clementine pale ale, for example) for every failed experiment (MotherAnimal or Westy13, anyone?)), and the prices for pours at the bar are reasonable (just don't get a growler fill).  The food is okay, though portions are absurdly small for a brewpub atmosphere at times (paninis and salads aside - don't order the meat or cheese plates or prepare to leave hungry).

Tired Hands is the ultimate example of an establishment that has so much area for improvement, but has too much of an elitist attitude towards what they do to ever consider making those improvements.  They're right, you're wrong, deal with it.  Eh, I might take my money elsewhere more often than not.

This place is pretty kick-ass for being in the burbs. The beers they had on tap in early March were very good. The mild stout was great in cold weather, although would have been better a touch less cold. The saison was also light and hoppy without being overpowering (unlike a lot of micro brews these days).

The food is okay. The cheese and meats we tried were very good with a raspberry tapinade on the side, but I usually like it when they throw in some apples or grapes. The bread it comes with is house made and very good.

Left with happy stomachs and a buzzed husband.