Rare DOS Restitution

How is it my fault their beer was infected and subsequently fell through the quality standards that the reputation of said beer has been built on?

What a ludicrous analogy. The quality of a shoe is defined by me on it's comfort and the longevity in which it holds up. The ineptitude of an individual using the shoe as a means with which to jump higher is that consumers fault. This beer in the form I received it was not merely a beer that didn't taste good because I didn't like the ingredients or the style in which it was created. This beer didn't taste good because of God's divine intervention or brewer negligence. That is in no way mine or anyone else's (But the creator's) fault.

Keep in mind I never said I didn't like the beer because of what it was in my head and what it was when I received it. I didn't like it because of an inherent defect in the product. I did make mention of it's status as a means to defend my right to seek restitution in light of the premium price I paid. Though many would seek to deny me the point I'm making consider this; if Peg's posted they were selling infected Rare DOS growlers even at half the cost they charged us they wouldn't have made a dime.

I'm not arguing Peg's response to my inquiry any longer. It has been as I expected. The position I'm defending is the rights of the consumer in light of events such as this one.

 

Again I moved away from involving Peg's response to this incident many responses ago. It has been satisfactory. Now and going forward I'm defending the right of a consumer placed in a situation such as this. You've got me wrong here.

 

I'm all for it. I'd just like everyone here to understand where I'm coming from.

My frustration came from individuals telling me I didn't deserve anything from Peg's. Which brought this argument to the fray. Peg's has acted in the manner I would expect and I'm satisfied, however I think they have a duty to stand behind their product. As much as any other industry does.

 

Finally, the deadline has passed (on the east coast at least) and we have a pretty complete count for growlers that need to be made up for. I would first like to extend a sincere apology, this was not how we intended for things to go and for those who have had the beer on tap I am glad you know what the beer is supposed to be like, I am even more sorry for those who have never tried it before.
We have been extremely busy opening the new brewery space, running our already fast growing operation, and on top of that I have personally spent several hours every night writing back to everybody. This is not an excuse just an explanation for anybody who feels communication has been tardy. I can assure everybody that we take great care when putting these growlers together, our focus at that time was 100% on that project as at least 1 or 2 people on this list can attest to because they were there. We don't take our customers for granted and we don't take packaging our beer lightly, we do the very best with what we have.
The first accounts of issues were surprising, cut pretty deeply (I didn't sleep that night) and were hopefully pretty isolated. In our first responses to people we made promises for care packages and things of that sort but as time went on we realized that was not going to be feasible. An extra apology to those who hoped for a care package from the brewery, the problem turned out to be too big and we feel we have a better way to handle it.
In considering how best to compensate people we realized how complex the craft beer trading world is, we aren't able to just invite everybody to the brewery for free beers on tap or even just refund people what they paid considering a trade is not often for cash so the people farthest away not only wouldn't be made whole with 20 bucks, they can't easily come to the brewery for a beer as well so now what?
In addressing putting a deadline, these were never advertised as anything other than growlers and a growler stored in unknown conditions for over a month is certainly not worth as much as a freshly filled one, I wouldn't try to sell it to anybody as if it were just as good and I would think most anybody in the craft beer world would be skeptical as well. While I appreciate that some growlers, many in fact, do hold up longer I would always advise treating it like milk, carbonated, alcoholic, delicious milk, and just like cows, we brewers are always making more.
Here is our plan, and without bankrupting the brewery we are prepared to offer 3 options to everybody on this list. Unfortunately we have to insist that you pick one option for all of your growlers, the logistics of keeping all of the names and quantities straight and splitting up the growlers over the 3 choices is just too much and would only lead to more issues.


Option 1 is the simple one, cash money, 20 bucks, you can get cash at the brewery or we will send a check, please call or email ahead of time if you want cash. Its guaranteed to be good for something. For this we would like some form of proof, an empty growler is preferred but I know from several emails that many have been destroyed already so if you select this option I will go back through our conversation if proof isn't readily available.

Option 2 is slightly more complicated but guarantees good quality barrel aged beer, and in a wide variety. We will be doing Barrel Aged Day again, the Friday before Hunahpu's Day, and I will send tokens, 2 per growler, to anybody planning to attend. This is the only way I can guarantee our barrel aged beer is up to standard, we will be drinking from the same kegs through the same taps. If enough people take this option, we will likely do an early access pass with the tokens so you can avoid the lines and try whatever you want from the taps.

Option 3 is the riskiest option, but one I expect most people are anticipating and that is replacement growlers. We don't have any Rare DOS, we don't have the stout brewed (running the next batch tomorrow though) and none of the barrels are Rare DOS either so it just doesn't exist. We have done some taste panels and the winner is Single Malt Whiskey Barrel Aged Batch 300. Batch 300 is a strong ale, amber to brown in color and very malty. The single malt barrels are quickly becoming a favorite, and though this isn't as big of a beer as the stout the taste panels felt like it balanced beautifully with the barrel, even better than the stout in my opinion. The only way to get a growler of this beer is to be on this list, it will never be brewed again and no growlers will ever be sold.
The reason this is the riskiest option is because we are only going to guarantee these growlers for 7 days from the day it leaves Peg's. At this point I am hoping that everybody on this list is well aware of how our growlers can go wrong, we are doing our best but we are limited in our equipment and even our best might not be good enough as we saw with Rare DOS. For those folks far away wondering how they will possibly get the beer in a reasonable time, we are hopeful that your initial trade partner is still a friend and can help you out, but before making this decision it would probably be best to contact and designate a trustee. Any issues with shipping times etc. please just get in touch, we are reasonable people, the 7 day guarantee is hopefully more of a motivator to drink the beer as its intended than anything else.
Future growler releases are on hold indefinitely and option 3 only exists because we understand that beer is the best compensation for beer and we want to do everything we can for people, this is our last shot at putting a great beer in your hands in this form for a while, we hope it goes smoothly.

What I need from everybody is a reply to this email, not [email protected] if you can help it, with your choice from the options above, the total number of growlers, and if you traded (outgoing and/or incoming) who you traded with. I know right now the list has overlap, and I am concerned that some that were traded might have been bad but I never heard from the other end and would like to track them down as well.
It would be extremely helpful if the replies to this email were brief, just your full name, total number, option selection and trade partner names (with quantities if it was multiple), and lastly the name of your trustee if you opt for that route.

We do have something to offer local trade partners/trustees, and thats free beer when you pick up the growlers. We can offer a free pour (or 2) of anything on tap (barrel aged batch 300 will be on tap and exclusively available to trustees), or a growler fill of the non-BA beers we are pouring. We can't ship beer directly to consumers, definitely not on this scale, and understand that FedEx and UPS will be the ones coming out the farthest ahead on this deal, we want to take the sting off and we are grateful to the people who are willing to ship beer again, that means a lot to us.

After the choices are made, a release date will be set for the replacement growlers and we will go from there. To be clear, you do not need to make it to the brewery the day it is released, the 7 day clock doesn't start til the beer is picked up and we will know that date because we will be crossing your name off the list at that time. I would say that within 2 weeks it would be best to get the growlers but if you have concerns please contact me and we will see what we can work out. Depending on when everybody gets back to me the release could be as early as next week, the beer is ready to go.

We are thankful to have such great customers, thank you for taking the time to get in touch and your patience as we work things out.

Doug (and everybody at Peg's/Cycle)

 

Definitely an accurate picture of my mindset throughout this debacle. Do I want to Internet win? That would be nice, but a better consolation prize to me is not sitting by idly while posters (in the beginning) took a harmless question and distorted it into me being pretentious or an " Internet asshole" as you so adequately described me.

The real assholes here are the people that took my question. "Has anyone else heard anything" and twisted it into something it never was. You seem estute enough to figure out why I'm acting in the way I am, but you haven't taken consideration of how it got to this point.