Tonight I opened a pale ale from a local brewery and I could tell something was a little off kilter with the amount of carbonation in the headspace. It wasn’t a gusher but when I poured it into a glass, it was ALL head which quickly filled the glass. I got a second glass and still wasn’t able to pour the complete beer into the glass. It had a distinct musty, sour flavor as well. and LOTS of bubbles.
Are commercial breweries interested in finding out about infected brews or is it just a matter of "oh well’. Not that I want anything free, in fact I don’t. From a homebrewers point of view, I’d want to know if there was a potential vector for infection in my brewery. Would you email the brewery and alert them?
Just wonder out of my own curiosity. I think this is the first commercial brew I’ve ever gotten that was possibly infected.
Yes they will want to know. What they do about it is a different story. A brewery with a valuable brand will take care of the issue and work to minimize the fallout. Infections in bottles don’t just ruin the beer, they could cause bottle bombs if there is enough residual sugar in the beer.
I’ll probably email them then. I saved the bottle. THe head calmed down after a half an hour and what I tasted was a VERY fruity, sharp, tanic, musty, cidery flavor. No pleasant at all.
Nah, I’ve never returned beer, yet, LOL. It was a single bottle. Came close once. Bought some IPA’s from an un-tried store only to find them over 2 years old. Still didn’t return them, although I should have. As far as this instance goes, I though about it more from a homebrewer stance trying to help out a fellow brewer.
Wow, received a response to my email within 30 minutes from one of the owners. They seemed to show genuine concern and offered to replace my one bottle with a six pack. This type of customer service and concern with quality is an example of why the craft brewing industry will, IMO, continue to thrive.
I don’t know that it speaks of the entire craft brewing community at large, but it does show that this particular brewery seems to have the right priorities.
Very dependent upon the brewery. I had a beer from a local brewery that was horribly sour, when I informed them they did not really care about it. They offered me a refund, but no questions about where the beer was purchased or what the bottling date was. I was very unimpressed and have not bought one of their beers since.
I bought a few bottles of Rogue’s Double Dead guy from the same retailer. All of the bottles were skunked and crappy. Rogue sent me replacements, a few extras, and a homebrew recipe for Double Dead Guy (my request). The recipe was from John Maier himself.
I also had a bad bottle of a Tenaya Creek Brewery DIPA. They replaced it with a few bottles.
If you purchase a bad beer from the retailer, inform the retailer. Once beer leave the brewery, it is beyond brewery control. You can inform them about your experience but do not expect replacement from them. If you insist on replacement, ask the retail location where you purchased it. Proof of purchase is a good thing.
I have notified breweries of off favors, but only if I personally knew the brewers.
One time they emailed me back that they sampled another bottle from the same batch and confirmed a problem.
I didn’t want a replacement, and I do not believe my message stated anything of the kind, I wanted to inform them of where they had infected beer. Can’t blame a retailer if you beer is sour, leaving it in a warm warehouse won’t cause that.
I taste every beer before it goes out the door. When it goes out the door I am sure that the beer is fine right then. With bottles, a lot can happen. It could be as simple as that particular bottle did not get purged properly with co2. It is hard to police beer once it leaves the brewery.
I certainly want to know if someone has encountered a bad beer in the market place. I can’t imagine why any brewer would not want to know but sometimes people prefer to remain ignorant because of their ego.
Some would be glad to hear of any problems, but from some you could expect a yawn at the vey least…same goes for distributors. Or in some cases, worse.
A number of years ago I called the NJ distributor for an established and very respected West Coast brewer, after several times having a less than satisfying experience with both bottles and drafts of what is normally an excellent product. I was not only brushed off by the distributor, but firmly schooled by his response: "I only sell this crap, I don’t make it, so once it’s delivered and paid for, how it tastes is not my fscking problem. His words.
I guess I shouldn’t have been too surprised…his company was also NJ’s largest AB distributor. LOL
You as a consumer have direct relationship with retailer. You also have a power of choice (purchasing power) over the retailer. This is why retailer is more likely to listen to your concerns. Product with more volume will get more attention then products that do not move.
You do not have any relationship with wholesale part and you do not have purchasing power over them. This is why they will not listen to you. They also not not have infrastructure to deal with final consumers. However they will listen to their customers and their customers are retailers.
Contacting the manufacturer and voice your concern is a nice thing to do. If you bought beer at the retail location you do not have direct relation with the brewery and you do not have purchasing power over them.
Depending on the size of brewery you might or might not talk to right person. Again please do not expect that you will be compensated for your concern unless you purchased the beer directly from the brewery.
One time I had a person contacting me and he/she complained that all beers in purchased 4-pack were flat. This person lives about 200 miles away and purchased it thru liqueurs store. He/she wanted to know what I am going to do about it.
So let’s look at it from brewery perspective.
There is no way for me to know if this person is telling the truth. I did not have any complains about my beer and it is very unlikely that all beers in 4/pack were flat. And even if they were telling the truth, was I supposed to jump into the truck and hand deliver one 4-pack 200 miles away? I did not have district relationship with him/her. Was I supposed to drop beer at the liquor store? At their house?
