Commercial bottled product failures?

Can't answer your technical inquiries but to answer your question I would take them back.

 

Last year I had a craft tap beer at a restaurant. The more I drank it, the stranger it tasted, but as I was busy talking to others at the table it was not until I had about finished it that I decided the metallic taste just wasn't right. Rather than complain - which should have been done before it was gone - I ordered another different tap in the hope of getting rid of the metallic taste. That didn't work, so I tried whisky, tried eating, etc. The taste lasted until the next afternoon. Reading up on it later, it appears it was infected. So - in this case, I did nothing, but should have at least let them know they had a problem.

 

Beer #1 - You sound pretty certain that it is an off-flavor, so I'd take it back. If I were a bit uncertain, I'd get a second opinion from someone who also knows what that beer is supposed to taste like.

Beer #2 - Your description is very exactly like an infected beer (acidity and over-carbonated), and I'd definitely take that one back.

For both beers it doesn't hurt to email the brewery to tell them that you're returning their beer to the store for the reasons that you think are correct. The brewery needs to know that they screwed up and that they need to beef up their QC efforts. Beer #1 possibly could be the result of poor storage which could place the blame on the distributor and retailer in addition to the brewery.

I have taken a 12-pack back to the store only once because of an infection in the two bottles that I had opened, and the store graciously took it back with no issues and credited me the full price of the purchase. Other stories that I've read seem to say that stores are willing to take back beers with an exchange for another beer or a refund.

Like you said, I've also read that the Star-San does not need to be rinsed from the bottles before filling, but I don't know how much is too much left in the bottle. It believe that it is a mild acid solution, so over-doing it certainly sounds harmful. However, I don't know if Star-San is the product of choice in commercial breweries so that you'd need to suspect it as a possible cause for an adverse taste issue.

 

If there's any dating or production code printed on the bottle or 6pk holder, note it for the breweries when you contact them. If your state allows the retailer to accept returns, take it back. I'd be real surprised if both breweries weren't interested to hear about your experience.

 

I have had this happen a couple of times. At a high end restaurant that was peddling itself as a beer mecha with food. My first beer was a yellow rose and it was perfect good head, good lacing and proper carbonation. The second beer was Brash ***** Wagon which is in the same wheelhouse as Yellow Rose, they actually look similar. This one came out and I didn't notice it when it was placed on the table, but after my first sip/look (no head, no lacing) I knew something was wrong. I chalked it up to my palate being jacked. It was flat tasting. I finished the night with another yellow rose and realized then my palate was fine, they had a beer/tap issue. I said something to the manager and he sloughed it off. Here recently had the same issue at a new restaurant that just opened. He opened a few months later than he expected and I am afraid he had his beer that whole time. I got a Hopadillo that was flatish, darkish, stale tasting and malt heavy. I notified him that night in a private facebook message.

 

Just to be clear, star san isn't soap, and will not leave a soapy residue behind or make a beer overcarbonated.
Beer #1 sounds like possibly autolysis, beer #2 sounds like a typical infection. In both cases you did the right thing. I would follow up with contacting the breweries.

 

Same thing here when a new owner took a place and wanted a big selection on the beer menu. Of course the distributor complied by unloading some old stock.

 

@Mothergoose03 nailed it.

Also, infections start at the brewery and often are not detectable until weeks or months after the beer has gone to distribution. So, very often the only way a brewer learns they have a problem is from customer/distributor feedback. Send them a polite email describing the off-flavor(s), provide any posted batch numbers or packaged/best by dates, the store you bought it, etc. A good brewery should be very receptive and appreciative of the information, and in my experience they will often try to compensate you in some manner.

EDIT: Infected beers are harmless to drink, so don't worry... And if you're one with a taste for sour beers, a mild infection might even be preferable, but obviously not what the brewer intended.

 

I know what my faves taste like so if there is a problem I relish in sending it back.
For the unknown or a beer I'm uncertain of I always ask for a sample.

 

I found that mixing an infected beer with a hoppy IPA can prevent drain pours.

 

I work for a beer distributor and it is possible that he got a delivery that sat in his restaurant for a few months. I've seen it happen.

 

In answer to the OP, both definitely sound like off flavors that I would have wanted to send back. The Shake I could see as perhaps being oxidation, the Backcountry like an infection. If I were at a bar or the brewery, I would have mentioned it to the server/barkeep, asked to have it replaced if the flavors I had detected were not as intended, and mentioned to them potential causes of the problem.

I can't think of an instance where a production brewery could have accidentally left a bunch of sanitizer in bottles on the line, most bottling lines I've seen really wouldn't physically allow for that to happen.