Yeast Ruined?

I recently purchased White Labs liquid lager yeast online (local shop went out of business) and the yeast arrived warm. I immediately put in the fridge but am worried it’s shot and my batch is going to come out poor/not at all. Any thoughts on whether or not I can still use it? Thanks!

Good chance that you’ll be OK.  Make a starter to assess viability.

This is the very reason I went to dried yeast. I just couldn’t take one more DOA liquid strain delivery.

I hope yours is just fine.

How long was it in transit?

Like BrewBama, I switched to dry yeasts a few years ago. Not so much because of DOA yeasts, but my LHBS was selling yeasts that were outdated by several months and when I checked, most of their inventory was at or near the best by date. When I called them on selling outdated yeast, the response from one of the owners was to suggest that I make a starter. I made starters anyways but, between that indifference and my refusal to pay a premium price for an outdated product I quit buying yeast from them.
I live in the high desert and ordering liquid yeasts is out of the question during the Summer. Even with an ice pack, the yeast often arrives hot. I just picked up a kit from my old LHBS just to support them in these strange times. I got a Pure Pitch pack with it and checked the date. It was packages just a month ago. Will I go back to liquid yeasts? Not after the great results I’ve been having from dry yeasts, and at about half the price.

I order liquid yeasts from RiteBrew and based on my location it is 2 day shipping.  I include an ice pack every time I order.  I try to order my yeast for all summer in the spring to avoid issues but it still happens.  I just ordered some a week or so ago and of course it was much warmer then normal that week and it arrived around room temp with the ice pack completely melted.  I’ve had it happen before a time or two when it took an extra day of shipping or it was extra hot and haven’t noticed any ill effects.  I would definitely make a starter but you should be okay if it wasn’t warm for too long.

48 hours. Hopefully it wasn’t warm for too long but I will make a starter and cross my fingers. Thanks everyone!