Jackie O's (2018)

Sure, almost every question on this site could be answered by contacting a brewery or looking on their website. But this is a message board, asking and discussing things is kind of the point.

 

Perhaps I interpreted the "you will be then be able to trade out the bottles listed above for available bottles at the taproom" as you use the cost of the infected beers as credit for others. Perhaps that is not how you interpreted it. I don't know who is right or wrong.

 

All I know is if the worst thing that happens to me is I have to drive down there to exchange my VaBM for Poly3 and cheese curds, it's a good day.

 

I'm hearing bottles are finally being pulled from stores in bulk. At least that saves the largely innocent, ignorant public, but this begs the question just how many bbls of tainted beer have essentially been packaged over the past year. Considering even BBDA is on the list, the initial knee jerk reaction to blame 'adjuncts' seem to be premature, unless brown sugar is now one of the culprits

Maybe having everything under one roof is...ill-advised. Whod'a thunk!? I don't think that "really big fan" in the funky room is cutting it.

Gotta wonder how they will stay solvent after all this--I hope insurance helps! This has been going on for years. We were told that thorough, additional testing was being conducted over a year ago, at least. Come to find out, even the beers sold to us in huge numbers on Anniversary weekend turned up infected. So far on the stout front, only ABDA is not garbage...yet. The infections seem not to have declined, but increased exponentially.

Considering so many people are affected, I feel like something other than requiring consumers drive all the way down to Athens needs to be done at this point .

Kane Brewing recently had an over-carbonation issue with their Mexican Brunch. They literally refunded everyone that bought it, even though, to this day, they've not found any actual infection with any of those bottles, and very few people actually experienced overflow, and everyone could KEEP their bottles!

I feel like Jackie O's relatively remote location shields them from the full blow-back they would get if they were located closer to a major city. Jackie O's expects people to drive from far and wide, many of whom spent many hundreds of dollars on Anniversary weekend, in order to exchange large swathes of their Stout and Barleywine lineup which turned out to be offensively infected, for other beers that were bottled during or before this mass infection period. I feel like the only way to walk away from that transaction confidently is to only exchange for actual sours, which is clearly not a 1:1 transaction in both style and price.

I've sat on the sidelines regarding how they're handling this, but I can no longer passively support the idea that what they're currently doing is enough to make it right. It's not.

 

Have you contacted the brewery to see if they can do anything else for you? Who knows they might be able to work with you and figure out a solution, that best suit your needs.

 

Whether it’s silly to over-ask questions or even look for more specific clarification on a detail, I think redundancy is okay in a situation like this.

 

I have to agree with you, @Sabtos

If I had infected bottles, I wouldn't want to make the 3hr+ trek to Athens to go exchange them. I would probably just not buy JO again after being burned. At a minimum, a refund should have been allowed with proof of purchase via internet/email (especially if you don't live in/near Athens), or if you don't have a receipt or proof of purchase, you then would have to be done in person like it is currently. Or allow a few major accounts (say one or two places in each major city) to be an exchange point for bottles. I am sure there are a few stores/shops out there that would help out.

I don't know... I mean, it sucks that JO had such an issue and they are in process of eliminating such problems going forward. While they are trying to make things right, it's not enough with the current exchange program. I'd be pissed if I had a stash of infected bottles with how it is setup now.

 

Exchange points is what I said needed to be done on day one of this announcement. Cleveland, Columbus, Cincy, Dayton, Toledo, Youngstown.

 

Unfortunately it is illegal to do “exchange points.” We looked into this extensively. If you can’t make the trek please contact [email protected], I am so sorry that this has all happened. This is a huge disappointment on many levels. I completely understand the frustration, disappointment, and over all feeling of WTF. From all the infections (60% old bottling line, 30% adjuncts, and 10% human error) we are making the investments and changes to protocol to turn the corner on this. If this was a cross contamination issue our cans and our draft would be showing which it is not. Moving forward I hope Myself and Jackie Os can win some of you back. If you have not sent an email to [email protected] yet, please do. My sincerest apologies.

 

I've never really dealt with infected stuff before. The first bottles I had of VCDA and DA seemed fine, would they have turned in just a few weeks?

 

If they are infected, then yes. The thing is though, it's so hit and miss. I've had evrey bottle on the list, including many multiples of a lot of them and have had zero issues, then out of nowhere I had a sour bottle of Chiron's Flame (not on the list). That's partially why the bottling line itself makes sense to me as the highest % of the issue, since it's seemingly random bottles that got hit.

 

Ah, this is a mess. Everything involves making it back to the brewery, except for merch. I'm 3.5 hours away and gave bottles to buddies 6 hours away. I'm sure they're thrilled at the thought of a gift card or a t-shirt (/s). I really wish a refund was an option, a la Kane. I guess it comes down to the almighty dollar.

 

When the dollar in this case means the difference between the brewery suffering a hit they probably couldn't recover from, thus having to close... I think they're doing everything they can do.

 

Again....contact the brewery directly

 

I did contact the brewery and received a response prior to that post. I'm just commenting my thoughts as everyone else currently is.

 

Where did you read this at? Per their post, only 2.5% of their production goes into 375 mL bottles. With not all of their 375 mL bottles being infected (thus offering refunds for), I'm not sure how that could cause them to shut their doors?

 

Can you offer ideas on ways to make it right or just general unhelpful kerfuffery?

 

Why would it be the consumer’s responsibility to come up with ideas on how a brewery they aren’t affiliated with can make it right? If a meal at a restaurant comes out wrong, should the consumer go to the kitchen and give the chef pointers?

 

Your comments in this thread have provided zero help to consumers, BA’ers or Jackie O’s. You made similar remarks earlier and were chewed out unanimously by the rest of this community.

As this is a touchy subject for a lot of us who purchased their beers and Jackie O’s who are in turmoil and distress, if you feel like commenting or offering a thought, make it constructive and helpful to others. Keep your quips and antics to yourself as they are not needed here.

 

I did make the 7 hour round trip to trade stuff in last Friday, and to get some Poly's. 2 days later, the bottles I traded to get are now on the list (and all the ones I bought at the anniversary party). I have a LOT more bottles sitting here that qualify. I need to seriously step back and think about what to do now. There are pictures posted of the new bottling line, so there is hope, but, how long will it take to know if that "solves" the issues? How many months? Of the upcoming releases, which ones to pass on and which to wait for?

Don't get me wrong, I love these beers, the brewery, and the people I've met that work there.. I just really don't know what to do now.