Not to add more fuel to the fire...but I guess I am Unfortunately, yeah this is acidic and tart...in otherwise SOUR ..its like strait sour candy to me. I know everyone tastes certain things differently, and I don't get any funk at all. Its just sourness with a little butterscotch (I don't know if that means the dreaded diacetyl as well, but there you have it). Regardless, something is off here. I normally get at least a six pack, if not more each season of this. Though cause of this thread, I just got a single at my local bottle shop I go to. As it is just singles, I don't have a canned date...but I will certainly go back and ask the owner, Johnny, if he has noticed or heard anything odd going on with this.
Yep, as several have pointed out, you got an infected beer. I've had only two bad experiences with this in a lager beer. One was Märzen from a brewery here called Arches. They make a very good Märzen but had one batch a few years ago that had a slight but noticeable tartness to it. Arches is a good brewery and got it straightened out. The other was Burnt Hickory here in Atlanta. They put a bunch of German Pils out that had a horrible band aid-like (best I can describe) taste and aroma. Totally undrinkable. Had to drain pour the whole sixer. Needless to say, they are out of business now. Live Oak has a good rep, they will get it right.
Sorry to hear that you ended up with a bad can too, though glad you only picked up a single. Very interesting that yours came off as "sour candy" with some potential diacetyl. I don't think I picked up on any butterscotch flavors but would need to revisit it to be sure. Your palate may also be better attuned to detecting off characteristics. I guess it's also possible that there's some variance to how the defect, whatever it may be, ended up playing out. Whatever the case, Live Oak were extremely generous when I dropped off the 3 cans I had left this afternoon (along with the cardboard box I dug out). They offered to replace the Oaktoberfest and gave me my choice of whatever 2 other 6 packs I wanted. Then, after I had ordered our beers (a flight for me and a pint for my wife), they said that the tab was on the house as well. Ultimately I ended up only taking 2 of the 3 6-packs that they offered because I felt like they were being quite generous. I happened to spot the head brewer at one of the tables, and the bartender was both familiar with the situation and immediately handed it to him, so they obviously were taking it very seriously and had already briefed the staff about it. Here's to hoping the issue wasn't too widespread, and yeah, I'm sure they'll figure this one out. At the end of the day mistakes do happen, and I'm more than happy with how they responded.
Kudos to them! This is excellent customer service and they seem to understand the gravity of the situation, and want to learn from their mistakes. Also, kudos to you for not taking full advantage of what they extended towards you. I wouldn't consider taking it all to be greedy by any means, but you've shown that you are a real gentleman throughout this.
Cheers. I felt a bit bad for posting it on here because my intention certainly was not to call them out -- I considered withholding the brewery name when posting, but I think in the end I think transparency is best (particularly here on BeerAdvocate, if we're to advocate for beer). No word yet -- the staff indicated that they had received word of the issue, and I reached out to advice that I had dropped it off and inquired if there were any updates, but I haven't heard anything yet. I'll keep this thread updated if I do hear. On a somewhat related note, on of the 6-packs that I selected as a replacement was their Smoaktoberfest, their smoked Märzen. I detected absolutely no off flavors in this year's brew, so it seems the issue must have been isolated only to their Märzen and only a certain canned batch(or batches? Their Märzen on tap seemed fine as well).
I had an infection issue years ago with Victory Summer Love and PBC Pale ale. Both took the beer back and gave more than I had purchased. Neither would tell me the issue. Victory did tell me that after checking a bottle that they had in their library with the same date there was an issue with that batch. They also told me they going to pull those dates from the beer distributors. Enjoy
