Odd Side Black Friday Bottle Release

Drinking a Hipster right now. I'm not detecting anything resembling an infection. Lots of maple on the nose. Taste is very maple forward with hints of smoke. Barrel aging is still detectable. Classic Odd Side thick creamy mouthfeel. Coffee flavors are mostly gone. Maybe a slight metallic note as others have mentioned, but not sure if I would have noticed it had I not been looking. Everything here is about the same as I remember from my last one about 3 weeks ago except for a little less coffee. Beer has been stored at 50 degrees since I bought the case on black Friday. Will tackle a Mokka next when this is gone.

 

You should try a Right Brain Dirty Girl Scout if you like Mokka Munt. No barrel and thinner but it has about the same amount of mint as Mokka, just enough...

It's a thinner Mokka and worth a try if you like mint stouts.

 

Had one of those in the beginning of February. Your description is pretty spot on. It had a nice little mint flavor. But thin for sure. I liked it.

 

I finished a Hipster about an hour ago. Like several on here have already stated, I got a notable tart flavor tonight. The maple was still there but the coffee, chocolate and bourbon were either gone or almost gone. It was still a decent beer. It just wasn't what it use to be any more.

Man, I sure hope these don't turn any more sour. Probably wishful thinking.

 

Didn't want to believe the thread but had one tonight and just not as good as when released. Have been drinking them every couple weeks since the release. My last one was towards the end of a tasting so....last sober one was a month ago. Not adrain pour but not what it should be. Had to message the trading partners I had some set aside for to let them know. Over half a case left so hopefully Odd Side recognizes the issue and does something.

 

Is there any chance their sour program is interfering with the other beers? There's cross-contamination, then the barrel-aging process exacerbates the issue? It seems like they've released a lot more sours in the past 6-12 months. I'm not sure if this is an issue, but I hadn't seen it mentioned yet.

 

Yeah, I just sent a message to a guy I sent some to last week before I knew this was an issue. I was supposed to send some to a partner next week but unless he want it for science, I'm not sending it or Mokka Munt.

The radio silence from Odd Side is deafening although I'm sure they have been following this thread. Address it and they gain my respect, ignore it and they lose my future business.

 

Are people experiencing confirmation bias? I'm seeing posts that say the beers are still good (Hipster, BBIMM, etc.), and I'm seeing other posts that say there are off flavors. The ones getting the off flavors seem to be the people who are drinking the beers to "test them out." Thus, they may be actively looking for something wrong. We already know recency bias is a real thing in beer rating and reviewing. If we're combining that with confirmation bias, this snowball is just going to keep rolling down the hill getting bigger until the warmer weather comes around and melts it into nothing.

ETA: That's not to say there aren't legitimate problems with Hipster and BBIMM. I've been hearing rumblings of BBIMM issues for a few weeks now. I've just gotten the feeling today that quite a few raced to have one of these tonight almost begging to find something off.

 

On to a Mokka now. Nothing with this beer concerns me. I don't doubt that some are detecting off flavors and early signs of infection, but it is either not wide-spread or very very early in the process of turning. I've now had a BBAIMM, a Hipster, and a Mokka in the past week or two and each one seemed fine to me.

 

There is nothing more than I wanted for this to be true. I went into it thinking this and even came back to the beer a few times as it warmed. Again, not a drain pour but I was looking for an excuse to say it was good. I seriously could not taste coffee or barrel. Got a little choc right upon opening and then poof, it was gone. I like Odd Side, love Hipster. Truly went into this prepared to leave a post saying everyone was crazy. Really wish I could have. I believe in confirmation bias and higher ratings beget higher ratings and the same with lower. Same applies with "infection" issues. FWIW I do not have a fridge cellar, so those that have refrigerated since the release may be experiencing something different.

 

Yeah dude, I don't finish beer (BBIMM) and pour it down the drain because I can't identify off flavors and souring.

And I've been drinking Hipster regularly since the day of the release and it definitely is starting to turn. But I don't know what I'm talking about because I'm clearly suffering from "confirmation bias".

 

I don't think I'd take it personal what he said because what he said is true in general, and it does happen where people think they're supposed to taste an "off" beer and so their mind confirms it. Again, that's not saying it happened to you. But, a seed can get planted in people's heads, and then it just keeps growing. However, as @KBS mentioned, sometimes it just comes true. I'm certainly hoping for the best with my remaining Hipster bottles (my first bottle I acquired in a trade was fantastic a month ago). I won't hesitate to give my opinion whichever way the bottle shows.

 

Drank a BBIMM tonight. Overall, there was tons of pepper and cinnamon with chocolate and barrel flavors in the background. Coffee was pretty faint but the bottle is admittedly 5 mos. old. On the first few sips I thought that I *might* be getting a slightly metallic aftertaste, but over the course of drinking the beer and it warming up, that hint (if that's what you can call it) seemed to clear up.

I will say this--there were no hints of acidity or tartness in this particular bottle. And I can't really chalk up my experience to anything other than adjuncts fading over time. Here's to hoping my other 4 bottles are ok. I'll probably open a Hipster this weekend.

 

Maybe a more prominent dedicated thread is needed versus the black Friday one.

 

Killed my last BBIMM last night, no issues.

 

Lighten up Francis.

The dude was just asking a question, one which I thought about while drinking a BBIMM last night. No one was attacking your precious taste buds.

 

Popped my only bottle of Moka Munt last evening and wow what a tremendous beer and I don't even really get into thin mint cookies. Definitely no sign of infection in my bottle thankfully. Drank my only BBIMM about two weeks back and both of us did taste a slight sour tang at the back with the heat but I wrote that off to the high level of peppers used in that beer.

I had brewed a beer last winter with peppers added and in just a few months after I bottled had a similar sour flavor developing so that's the only experience I have to draw on.

 

Chill, Winston. Last I read, you were one of the first on here talking about it.

BTW, what do you want them to say publicly? Their private message is there is no issue. So they're going to say it publicly and make more people mad? Hopefully they do own up to the issues and take care of everyone. However, this could potentially take down a brewery, so I can see why they haven't made public comments. Hopefully, they're taking the comments here seriously and are working to determine what happened.