Is an infected beer always bad?

I've seen people discuss trade value of infected Matilda....I guess that would be one?

 

Not really. Usually when people refer to "infection" it refers to unwanted yeast and/or bacteria that do not complement the beer. The only example I can think of is the "infected" Matilda, in which Lactobacillus got in and resulted in an arguably complementary tartness.

 

No- I personally love the infected abyss a few years ago.....

 

Cigar City had an infection in one of their batches of Guava Grove. I liked the infected version much better than the intended one.

 

I had an infected Christmas beer this winter (Carolina Santa's Secret). Tasted like sour and gingerbread cookie spices. I told the brewer I loved the hell out of it. He said he shouldnt serve it because it was infected.

 

Batch 2, Boulevard Imperial Stout, 2011 release. Reports of an off-flavor, later recognized by Boulevard, and offered refunds. I bought up every bottle I could get my hands on. The sour stout was absolutely amazing, much better than the non-infected batch 1. Also, infected Matilda, thrown into ex-BBN barrels, i.e. Dominique was quite amazing.

 

Either come to an agreement with the brewer or dump the beer.

Drinking it to "get your money's worth" is a really bad choice, it's bad beer...

I know I won't be buying beer from Central Waters, thanks for the warning.

 

Yep, CW is a horrible brewery, dont ever buy anything from them.

 

What's your reasoning?

 

It was a bit of sarcasm, I love CW, I think all their beers are fantastic, from their year round line up to their seasonally released stouts, etc. Looking forward to the expansion of their barrel program, etc. If someone want's to steer clear of their beer though, that's fine, more for the rest of us. Sorry about the confusion, I know it's difficult to tell via text sometimes.

 

I had a feeling that this was meant in sarcasm, just seeing if there was something I was missing!

 

I thoroughly enjoyed the Abyssident, ask Maximum12, he might offer the world for that beer.

 

I likes the infected Mirror Mirror from a couple of years ago.

 

if beer is fermented with a bacteria we like, it is good.
if beer is fermented with a bacteria we don't like, it is infected. and that is bad.

by definition then, an infected beer is a bad beer as it did not meet the brewers intent nor did it meet the expectations of the buyer.

i can't think of any commercial beer that went tragically off course with good results, but i have had enjoyed more than a few batches of homebrew that began as an infected mess and ended up being tolerable.
Cheers.

 

Not usually, though I do remember an unintentionally infected batch of Craftsman Spring Braggot back in 2010 that was delicious to say the least.

 

I didn't think the 09 Abyss I had a few months back was that bad.

 

I have opened at least 5 bottles of 2009 Abyss and found nothing wrong with it.

I did like Alpine BA Token when I first had it on tap and out of the bottle. Now it is not so good.

 

I just had one of those and thought the infection was pretty light. Noticeable, but very tolerable and maybe even a bit complimentary.