Refunds for 2015 Regular BCBS and 2015 Prop

the other thing is, it sounded like the missing Coffee was tossed pre bottling. so i agree, bottling probably isn't the originating source.

 

I had BCBW on tap way back in December that was already tart - definitely not just bottles, and it has been going for a while...

 

Didn't they have to dump a bunch of BCBBW and/or BCBCS before bottling them?

 

No, they said they haven't (yet) found evidence of lactobacillus acetotolerans. The low pH levels are enough to say that they have found evidence of infection. The problems with regular and prop could be different from the problems with coffee and bw. Or they could be the same. But there certainly are some regulars and props showing signs of infection.

On a more cheerful note, I had regular and bw on tap at Syracuse WOB this weekend and they both were awesome.

 

I'm basically done trying to fight and argue with GI. I honestly don't care how "sorry" the brewer "sounds" in the interview or how "serious his tone is" (as some GI supporters keep stating in the GI FB page). It doesn't make up for the weeks of being told I was wrong or having them ignore emails and FB messages and delete any comments about the issue posted on social media.

According to them, they started getting reports back when they first opened up refunds for BW and Coffee yet they continued to deny and avoid for over 4 months. That's just shady in my opinion.

By the way...opened two 10NOV15 bottles that were sent to me in trades, and both have also started to exhibit "off flavors"

Not undrinkable yet but definitely infected. So, I recommend everyone drinks their bottles sooner rather than later. I plan on opening my Regals and all the rest of my regulars this weekend and then putting this fiasco behind me. I'm not going to claim that I will never buy GI or BCBS again but I definitely won't stock up like I have in the past. And I will drink what I buy with in 30 days rather than getting burned again.

 

I genuinely sympathize with your position, but I currently disagree with the sentiment that everyone should drink their bottles ASAP.

I've gone through two cases of 10NOV15 bottles between Black Friday and last week. I've also had '15 on draft recently and a bottle of '14 last week. I've still yet to notice any off flavors from my 10NOV15 bottles.

This isn't to say that there isn't a possibility of them turning in the future, but I'm not yet convinced that every last bottle is at risk. Curious to see what comes of the tasting tomorrow, which may impart a new perspective for me. For the time being though, I feel confident sitting on my remaining bottles.

Hoping I don't have to show up in a few weeks and eat my own words...

 

For what it is worth...even GI is saying that people should drink their regular and prop ASAP.

 

poured tonight a 10/30 that's been stored at room temp up until yesterday. definitely turning...thinner bodied and noticeably tart. drinkable but not exactly a pleasant experience. the last 10/30 i had about a month ago also seemed a bit off (slight metallic aftertaste at cooler temp) but improved considerably as it warmed....not the case with this one.

 

Not to disparage anyone personally, but I think folks that don't at least put their BCBS in the fridge after hearing this latest admission from GI are really foolish. Mine now are in the fridge and I don't plan to save any for aging.

While it is possible that Fla. drew the short straw and received bottles that were infected, while other states didn't, it is far, far more likely that the beer was kept in warmer conditions at some point in its life in Florida that started L. Acetotolerans on its merry infecting way, and accounts for the problems reported. The rest of the bottles in the country likely are just waiting to hit some magic number of days and/or certain temp. to turn into shit.

 

Don't know how I missed that through all of this. Can you share a link to this statement?

 

It's not really a PR piece at all. Extremely honest. They going into detail about their quality control, sourcing process, etc. They don't admit anything specific broke down in their QA process, and that's fine, because they're testing everything that a known beer spoiler. They've had to move into the realm of testing far beyond what anyone else is doing, and the broader industry will benefit from what they learn.

 

Brilliant! Simply brilliant.

(Now that I understand the effect you are after with your Reverse Psychology strategy I definitely think you are having the intended impact. But I'd best say no more as my enthusiasm may already have muddied the waters you are so artfully stirring. )

 

Huge props to Goose Island for being so responsive on this issue.

Glad to see they're handling it in a meticulous and methodical fashion, without being pressured into jumping to a premature resolution.

 

personally i think it's a bad move Jared left things hanging in a way that suggests maybe Regular & Prop are turning due to a different issue. like (1) undetected problem isn't causing them enough headache?

notice how your underlined sentence is pretty clear & direct to the point while Jared went to the beer thesaurus & periodical table to sort of loosely imply exactly what you put in a simple sentence? MHO. get out in front of the issue. it'd be best if GI abandoned the "politician caught in the headlights" approach. it's always the attempts to avoid acknowledging the truth that wind up undoing & worsening the integrity.

 

The thing is (and what I was trying to get at in my last post) .. I don't think they're in a position to make an official statement regarding whether regular/prop are infected or not until they have a bacteria to point at. I don't see this so much as them trying to avoid acknowledging the truth, but rather, making sure they know the story before they tell it.

I don't wanna come off as an apologist, but I'm willing to give them a bit of rope here. We asked for transparency and we've pretty much gotten it at this point. Hopefully, as they find the source of the contamination and get conclusive data on regular/prop, they continue to give us details.

 

I think the change in the PH is enough to let them know something is wrong, I just don't think they are ready/want to admit it yet until the know more. I think on the coffee/bw variant it was so wide spread that they just did the blanket refund. As with the others showing issues with off-flavors (their words not mine) they have confirmed the PH issue, but it is so all over the place (location wise), I don't think they are ready to open up for refunds on that until they can nail down the exposure. So yeah give them some rope (someone will surely pun this) and let them figure out what the issue is and how widespread it is and then announce what they plan to do. I think there are a lot of people out there that would be glad to hear something along the lines of "If you have this date and these timestamps, you are screwed" so they could continue to age their beer without fear if it doesn't fall in those ranges. But I don't think that will come, just the fact they are telling people to drink fresh, well not a good sign.

 

this. but let's be real. what exactly it is - no longer matters in the scheme of : is the beer subject to unexpected spoilage/souring. the answer appears to be yes.

"We don't know exactly what it is", is mostly being used at this point to stave off/ provide time to decide how to deal directly with the affected customer-base. it's not like they won't get their ass(es) handed to them if they go with some form of : Coffee & BW had this bacteria which we offered a refund window; but because Reg & Prop contain this other, different bacteria, we feel like the 2nd bacteria & mishap is the customer's responsibility to eat. you can imagine how that'll go over. my POV. the whole we don't know is simply their next stall tactic. #staytuned

 

This was referred to in the Chicago Tribune yesterday as well.

 

I only bought 5 bottles this year of BCBS and all are 10/21/15. The first one I drank in November the day I bought it was great tasted exactly as it should. I had my 2nd one last Friday and there was zero bourbon and all tart so I figured I'd give it another shot tonight and it was exactly the same no bourbon at all just a sour tart taste. Disappointing that for $50 I get 1 drinkable beer.

 

and i'll be drinking both bottles by myself tonight. wish me luck