MD b5 Wax Question

If you're worried, drink it now. That's my opinion.

 

After seeing your comment I checked my bottle from the release and it is cracked as well. I have had it in my wine fridge at 62 since the release. Not sure if there is a problem with the beer or not. Does anyone know if cracked wax means that there is something wrong with the beer? I am thinking about contacting T&G to see if this is a problem.

 

My remaining MDb5 bottle does not look like that (everything seems like it did when I picked it up in Decorah at MD release) but I have seen a couple of posts in Trade subforum asking about the cracking around the cap of MDb5 bottles. I don’t recall reading anything beyond that though.

 

Wasn't there some issue with bottles from the SR-71 release this summer having compromised cap seals due to the wax being too hot? You think they'd stop with the damn wax after that. Use a foil neck cover - just as useless of a decoration and more difficult to forge.

 

I don't know if there is any posts here you can search for on the old thread about it but remember seeing it pop up on Twitter. During one of Clark's late night hype tweet-a-thon's someone tweeted at TG about when they cut the wax to open a bottle of the recently released SR-71 there was carb bubbling out. I don't remember where I even read it but I guess someone figured out the issue was the wax being so hot it compromised the seal on the crowns. This was shortly after the release this summer.

EDIT: Starts on page 98 post #3915. Looks like TG even deleted some tweets which was a neato detail I forgot and adds another level of griminess. https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/toppling-goliath-releases-and-updates.447087/page-98

 

Just checked my two remaining bottles. Both have small cracks in the wax as well.

 

Just check my bottle it has cracks in the wax too.

 

my wife’s bottles also have small cracks in the wax, around the cap - Much smaller than @Thrillhouse82 ‘s photo - We’ll open one sometime this weekend and report back.

 

Checked my bottles last night. No cracks. It made me thirsty though so I opened one. Reminded me of how awesome this batch is. Tasted great, close to batch 2, although my memory is a little fuzzy.

 

Sprayed both bottles with a mix of dish soap and water this morning - no apparent air leaks. Will be opening in a few hours!

 

No issues with the first bottle at all - I agree with @nmoe on this batch. Such a wonderful balance between the coffee and maple.

 

Has anyone contacted TG regarding the cracking of the wax issue?

 

Why? It's wax, not the beer itself. Next thing: HEY MY LABEL IS SCRATCHED!?!??

Coffee stout, drink ASAP....

 

If there’s internal pressure and cap/seal is compromised, that could be the reason for wax cracking in that spot. That might not be what’s happening in this case but it’s not unheard of. And TG recently did have a leak issue around the cap with SR-71 b2. So I’d say it’s perfectly reasonable to ask why a bottle which has a thick wax layer has already cracking issues right around the cap after just 3-4 months.

Could be just how wax was applied too, but who knows... this is why we ask.

 

It’s a coffee beer man!

Did it ever get determined if the bottles released at KBBS this year are the same batch as the MD b5 release?