Bad Shorts bottles?

Haha, I'm sure you were! And I honestly felt like I was throwing you guys under the bus with that post. But it is unavoidable, must keep discussion honest and open. You guys still kick ass! We'll get through this together.

 

I grabbed a couple bottles of Key Lime Pie - a beer I have liked in recent times, but the stuff I bought was infected. Needless to say, I'm done buying Shorts outside of the brewpub.

 

Send you issue to customer service, via our website- I'm sure we'd do right by you. This is the first I've heard of that beer. People were weirded out by the floaties, but it's just from the ingredients.

 

I had a similar experience - some very strange off flavors - and definitely not key lime

 

Had one tonight, it was a bit tart & abrasive on the finish.

Looked up the beer on their website; they say it's supposed to be tart.

I've never had it before. I think my bottle was NOT infected; I just didn't like the flavor profile. Just one idiot's opinion.

 

Huma is so amazing out of the can, the 8/01 batch is amazing! Can't get enough of it. I dont really buy Huma bottles anymore because I enjoy it from the can so much.

 

I have had the beer in the past, and while it wassn't a full blown infection, it was getting there.

@HopHeadHerman, I have one bottle in my basement. Is there a batch code or something on the bottle customer service would want? I only bought two bottles and don't want money back or anything, but I will try to let them know.

 

The code date (when it was bottled) is on the neck in black ink. Every year, it's always one bottling day, though.

 

Doesn't Shorts pasteurize all their beer? How could it be infected?

 

Bottled at 10:05 on 8/16/2016. While not my favorite beer from Shorts, absolutely no sign of "infection". Sweet marshmallow, some graham cracker, typical Shorts yeast flavor, and tart lime finish.

 

I think we all may be a little jumpy post-BCS...any tartness = "infection" fever.

It is possible, since beer is not made by robots, ingredients vary crop by crop & palates change over time that folks just enjoy this beer less in 2016. But I truly don't believe this batch is infected. I think Anchor Drops has nailed it.

 

If it's not infected, it's just a very bad batch. I still have a bottle, I will probably open it for shits and giggles; maybe I will take more than two sips this time before drainpouring.

 

While no one has confirmed it here (and please correct me if I'm wrong), it is my understanding that Shorts uses a flash pasteurization system, which would kill any live organisms BEFORE bottling. Any off flavors would be created prior to bottling. If you want to taste some truly infected beer, I can send you some BBA stouts from Odd Side Ales.

 

Oh no no no no no, don't crossbreed THAT thread with this one.

 

Hahahaha...it just serves as the perfect example of a truly infected beer. Just because people don't like some of the flavors in Shorts beer, doesn't mean it's infected.

 

I have been around long enough to have plenty of infected beer, and I have had more than a few from Shorts.

As far as the process Shorts uses, I don't think there is any sure way to prevent an infection after the beer has been bottled. In any case, they have had their share in the past.

Key Lime Pie might not be infected... I didn't drink much of the bottle. But if it isn't infected, it shares some of the same characteristics you would associate with infection.

 

And is it possible that is why they have been flash pasteurizing for years, to prevent these events from occurring? I have a friend, he's a microbiologist, and just for fun runs panels on various beer. He says he has never found anything alive, bacterial or yeast, in a bottle from Shorts in the last several years. Even their sours are essentially "sterile".

 

Yes, they were pretty vocal about the reasoning when they started doing this. More so than infections, they were having problems with secondary fermentation in the bottle. Different beers (mostly experimental ones) were over-carbonated and people were mis-identifying it as an infection.

 

I drain poured my Key Lime pie after 2 sips. It was absolutely awful. I mean seriously disgusting. But it was just me not liking the beer. I don't even like real Key Lime Pie.

Maybe your bottles were infected, but please exercise caution when using that word. It gets thrown around a lot when it isn't true, and seems to make things escalate when unnecessary.

 

Fair enough, but it's pretty bad when I can't tell an infected beer from an awful one.

I have had issues with almost every Shorts beer I have bought in Ohio, but this was the first one that made me think it was infected.