Alpine, you have a problem

You vacation in Pasadena? That may be problem #1.

Problem #2 is Alpine self distributes and I can't imagine they'd be driving up to effin' Pasadena to WF. The bigger problem is how WF came into those bottles...they could be old as shit.

I went camping 3 weeks ago and we bought a case of bottles. Not a single problem with any of 'em. Sucks if their hardware is having issues. Hopefully it's an isolated incident.

 

A few Whole Foods in the LA area have carried Alpine from time to time.

 

I'd ask the beer manager how it's distributed to them. Either someone is going to the brewery to pick it up or....who knows.

 

Does Alpine have any quality control?

 

Really doesn't seem like it.

 

I am a HUGE Alpine fan. I am at the brewery at least once a week. They do have issues (as many breweries do).
When I bought a case of BA Token (the first release) I was beyond excited. Then after about two months after really trying to like this beer I could not take it anymore. The beer is beyond infected. I emailed Pat. He asked me if I have kept the beer refridgerated. I said no. He told me I should have. I asked him about age on it and got no reply. He then told me to get back to him in 6 months and let him know how it is. We opened up a bottle over a week ago. I could not even finish after one sip. The beer is just a mess.

My plan is this: I will keep buying growlers. I have found no issues with bottles of Nelson, Duet or PH (yet). I still have 11 bottles of BA Token left. The bottles of BA token I am bringing to the brewery next week and dropping them off. I am just going to ask them to take them from me. I do not want anything in return. I just want them to throw those awful bottles away.

 

This from the source:

Under Carbonated Bottles of Pure Hoppiness


We have traced the source of the under carbonated bottles of Pure Hoppiness to the power failure we experienced on July 31st. We tried our best to recover by alternate means after our carbonating stone got plugged up. We thought we had slightly low carbonation at the worst but it appears people feel otherwise. We will be trying to re-distribute bottles back to all the retail stores so they can handle exchanges. Bottles purchased in the brewery can be exchanged as long as supplies last. Sorry for any inconvenience.​

 

This info was posted already above.

 

This would certainly be consistent with their approach to infected BA Tokin and Odin's Raven.

In any case, I'm confused... what about the flat bottles of Duet and Nelson people have been reporting?

 

Thanks bro. Must of od'd on too many "hops" last night.

 

My opinion (nothing more than that)... The only barrel aged issue was with BA Token.

BA Odin's Raven was outstanding. Chez Monieux, while it had some odors/flavors I didn't exactly care for (I liked the first CM better) was no more infected than ANY sour beer is supposed to be. The "cheeziness" was a result of the Berliner Weisse brew that was used to blend the beer. I think people are mistaking that for a flaw.

Yes, BA Token has a touch of sourness that I think is wrong for the style, however, they had a keg of it on tap at the pub last week, and I thought the off flavors were so far in the background that it was barely perceivable. The keg had been in cold storage the whole time. Maybe unrefrigerated bottles WERE worse for the warm storage. Danielle at the pub may be interested in those bottles, Brian, she likes that beer, see if she can work something out for you.

BA Odin's Raven (the most recent, unblended version) was aged in NEW Heaven Hill 12 y.o. Bourbon barrels (unlike the BA Token, which was the last beer in older barrels.) I tasted ZERO flaws in it (bottle or draft) and thought it was excellent.

Those are the barrels that now hold the barleywine, and, considering it's following the OR in there, should be REALLY tasty- in another 10-12 months, after aging.

I think that the people who are complaining about flaws in the BA Odin's Raven and Chez Monieux are mistaken (at best) or don't know what they're talking about (at worst.)

Let the debate continue!

 

I don't think people were claiming there are infection flaws in Chez Monieux. I think they were complaining that it's terrible.

 

No, people complaining about Chez Monieux are saying that it tasted so bad that something had to have gone wrong, because normal beer just does not taste like that. That's on my list of "worst beers of 2012".

I haven't had the new Odin's Raven, but that was because the old one wasn't particularly good, and after I drank it people were talking about infection. I'm not totally sure if anyone has claimed that the new batch is bad.

 

The first batch of Odin's was definitely infected. I had it on tap several times and thought it was fine, but it was undrinkable out of the bottle. I haven't heard anyone say that the second batch was infected.

The first batch of BA Token in bottles was infected also. I did a side-by-side of 2 bottles that had been refrigerated since the release, and 2 that had been sitting in my closet. All 4 were drainpours. So, despite what Alpine would have you believe, refrigeration was not the issue. On a side note, my roommate probably thought I was crazy going through 4 bombers of beer solo that night.

 

Fail.

 

I bought 1 bottle of the Odin Raven the first day it was released at the brewery. My very first time I had it. Yes I did have a glass of it inside the pub afterwards. Heard so much rave about it thought I better try it this time while getting growlers of Bad Boy and the usual bottles of ipa's. Opened the bottle a week later with bro-inlaw. I thought it tasted good. But thats me. I usually dont drink stouts, porters or the darker brews. So what do I know? Maybe the cigar I had with it made it taste good to me.
But the latest bottles of PURE. Thats a different story.

 

The first batch of BA Odin's Raven and BA Token were infected as all get out. BA Token was pretty good at the pub but if you let those bottles sit for a couple of months, you couldn't even tell they were the same beer. BA Odin's Raven also suffered from the same problem.

 

Fail in that I'm wrong or fail that they self distribute? They make so little beer I didn't think they had signed on with a distributor like Stone.

 

You are the one who is very very wrong pal. I have opened many of those bottles with many people who live in alpine and around SD (like me) and we have all said the same thing. The bottles sucked.

 

I bought 4 of the recent batch of Odin's Raven and every single bottle was FANTASTIC.