Refunds for 2015 Regular BCBS and 2015 Prop

I opened Prop and a regular last night and they both smelled sour and tasted sour the prop was more pungent and much worse. I don't know if they are infected or just awful. I had them on tap to begin with and I enjoyed them. The prop was sweet and this one was nothing like it. Anyone have this issue? My Bro in law did the same with the Regular and it was 10/22 bottling and awful as well.

 

Had a 13.7%, Oct 10 bottle last night and it was all good. So far my only issue has been with the BW I bought (one bottle of after hearing all the infection stories and lo and behold). The store where I bought the infected BW still has cases of it sitting there for sale despite me telling them about the issue and them refunding my money.

 

Drank an OCT26 this weekend, bought in Chicagoland on or slightly after Good Friday, stored in my basement since, approx 65* or so. Put it in the fridge a few hours before drinking. Split the beer into 2 drinks, one earlier in the day and one later with the bottle left out to warm and topped with a wine bottle stopper. Regular pour resulted in a decent head unlike my last bottle that fizzled away. At first sniff it had the sour smell and metallic scent. First few sips were ok but had the sour taste at the end. As I went through that glass it got much better each drink with less sour flavor, enjoyable. The second half of the bottle later in the day, with the bottle room temp, was typical BCBS tasty goodness. Very interesting. I've got one left, a November bottle. Debating drinking it soon or waiting for a more special occasion.

 

From the goose island instagram page (I have a screenshot):

dabzncheese: Ok so you know all the regulars are infected too @GooseIsland I'll leave it be now just SUPER BUMMED as I'm sure anyone who loved your beer was. @GooseIsland

gooseisland: @dabzncheese if you think we are not also super bummed releasing a beer that does not meet our high standards, then you are sadly mistaken. We are looking into an unprecedented situation and really appreciate patience and understanding, friend. Thanks.

 

This is my batch as well, although purchased in Indianapolis. I threw a few in the fridge and will report back. I meant to do it this weekend but got a little side tracked.

 

All mine were purchased in Central Illinois on Black Friday. Let me know how your's turn out. Really hoping I'm in the clear and infections don't develop over time. Have to imagine - or perhaps hope - that if my bottles haven't turned yet, they'll remain as wonderful as the day I purchased them.

Also, seems like folks are starting to report issues with Prop as well? Any word on issues with Rare? I mean, imagine the shit storm if those bottles experience issues...

 

Wow, serious deja vu all over again.

What stage of acceptance of this problem are we at now? Widespread? Still lots of doubters? Haven't been keeping up so much now that I have consumed all I care to drink (saving the last 4 for you know science)

 

I haven't read anything about Rare or Regal, or any draft for that matter.

 

I only had one Oct bottling it was fine, I have one Sept bottling the rest are Nov bottlings. Concerned ? Sure and I took the only precaution that I can, in the reefer at 50 and dark. It's too late now anyway, but the ones Ive had have been completely as I expected. I'm not chugging them , I don't really have a lot maybe 6 bottles, so I'll spread them out as usual. I still have an assortment of 12/13/14 put away so I'm ok. Not sure what GI can do at this point it's a complete disaster from a financial and public relations standpoint.

 

I wouldn't count on those bottles staying wonderful even kept cold, they could turn somewhere down the road. It happened to me with another ba stout, my first 2 bottles where amazing then I opened my 3rd and final bottle a couple years later and was shocked to find a total drain pour.

 

Well, like I said, I'm hoping I'm in the clear. Luckily, with the impending birth of my first child, I'll have a good number of reasons to celebrate big moments in the coming months, so they don't have to hang on too long

 

Does anyone know at what stage large amounts of the Coffee variant were discarded? I'm wondering, because if they found it post bottling, what if they re-used the bottles but some were not fully cleaned? There have been next to no reports (that I know of) of draft BC being infected, so perhaps a bottling issue? Just a thought. Even if it is not the specific scenario, it seems likely that the problem had to occur sometime during packaging, if in fact there are no problems with the draught product.

 

It would be nice for Goose Island to come clean and have a little transparency. They claim to have fixed the issues, but what better way to prove it then to explain what went wrong and how they fixed it? Contrast their secrecy with how @Grimm_Artisanal_Ales has handled the Maple Bourbon Double Negative issues (ie, explained it's an oxidation issue with a certain bottle run and no limit on getting a refund).

 

From the flavor reports it appears Goose Island had exactly the same intermittent issue at bottling that we had -- we tested our bottles with off flavors and confirmed there is no infection, and the off flavors are oxidation related. With a huge multi-national company like AB InBev there's not really anybody who's authorized to speak freely, so what looks like secrecy is more likely just an issue of bureaucracy, there being nobody who's allowed to really talk about it!

 

I've got one of the Maple Double Negatives in my fridge (and a regular barrel aged Double Negative). Which ones have issues?

 

100% - once they actually identify the specifics of the issue, you can bet there are 3+ layers of review of any statement (Marketing, Legal, then Senior leadership for sure), and this sort of thing is being run up to the top of the organization before anyone can make a public statement.

No-one is going off script until they figure out exactly what is going on, and exactly what the appropriate corporate response is going to be... Patience will be needed - it isn't like there is a single owner who is just going to decide what to do and say.

 

Were you able to figure out how it happened to you and what is needed to avoid it happening again?

 

Just another data point, my Oct 26th drank quite well last night. I haven't gotten a bad one yet, thankfully. All of mine have been in the fridge since purchase.

Either way, I'm not too upset about the excuse to drink one on a Sunday night...just glad it was good

 

Based on the number of errors in writing checks and sending out wrong size shirts, etc. that we've seen reported in this and the other threads, I suspect that "going up to the top" only goes as far up as GI since I'd expect the ABInBev organization to have better control over getting those things right in the first place (and faster).

 

Regular BCBS has been awesome every bottle I've opened. The barleywine on the other hand was fine up until recently.