So I just bought a case of beer from the store. They said it was just delivered from the distributor today. The expiration/sell by date is 6 weeks from now. But the beer is TERRIBLY stale! It's ALL watered down and completely flat! I did return to exchange it, but everything they had was the same delivery, same dates, and we went into 3 different cases, all with the same results. What could be the cause of this? I frequent this particular store and know the owners well, so I'd like to be able to give them some kind of information to work with when speaking with their vendor because they seem quite clueless as to what could be causing the problem and they said this isn't the first time a customer has complained of flat beer.
Distributor's truck needs new shocks/struts? Can you give more information like what beer, where are you, and maybe even what store.
"watered down", "completely flat", and "totally stale" all sound like the problem is on the brewers end and most likely something with their packaging. Cans or bottles? Also when you say you went into 3different cases does that you and the retailer sampled beers from 3 different cases and the retailer agreed with your criticism?
Contact the brewery. A reputable brewer will want to know about this. I recently contacted a major regional brewer to tell that their small-batch runs are seeping around the crimp. They apparently can small-batch beers on a different line than their mass-distributed line. I observed the seeping on several different beers. I contacted them, gave them info from the can, they asked for more info, and they sent me a nice shirt. I suspect they've already addressed the issue.
Something's not right here besides the flat beer. Is this a new store? If they've been in business any length of time they'd know beer well enough to have an idea what's wrong. But the reason really doesn't matter because there can be several causes and knowing the specific one really doesn't help anything. I hope you were treated right and finally got some good beer. P.S. Welcome to the BA site. Hang around and enjoy the discussions in the fforums and all of the other features on the site.
Another thought here is that the store, despite having had several complaints, is still selling the beer. Did they pull it after you helped them find the additional bad cases? The retailers need to deal with bad beer, but some don't want to risk their relationship with their distributors. If your retailer isn't pulling the bad beer, find a new retailer.
Properly packaged beer does not go "flat" within the normal "Best By" periods used by most breweries (3 months to 1 year). Nor can it become "watered down". The beer that you bought might be defective (since the retailer appears to agree) but it likely isn't because of age but without knowing some basic facts - name of the beer and the brewer - no one can really help answer your question. It's not up to you, the customer, or the retailer or even the "vendor" (the wholesale distributor) to diagnosis the problem with the beer - it's the brewer's responsibility. 3 cases that are "Flat" and "Stale" should be enough for the distributor to take it back and contact the brewery. Alternately, you or the retailer should contact the brewery.
Members have answered the flat issue very well. Just to add, this sounds like a place I would like to buy my beer. They check 3 cases to verify it’s bad! Amazing in this day and age. Granted they don’t want anymore crap beer going out the door. Now that’s customer service. And the beer was . . . .?
This happens all the time and I’m not trying to be offensive when I say this, but it’s normally a customer buying a beer or style that they are inexperienced with... Guinness for example gets returned all the time for being “flat.” My dad has done that on multiple occasions before realizing the beer isn’t supposed to be carbonated normally. JW Lee’s barleywine is another one that gets this critique frequently.
Understood there, but the retailer seems to be agreeing that the beer is off. Reason to be determined I guess.
When I was 18 I went back to a retailer with a six pack of Guinness that a 21 year old had bought for me. I told them I bought it at their store and that it was flat. They told me it shouldn’t have been, apologized to me, and let me exchange it for a different beer without even checking for proof of receipt. More recently, I had one of my own retailers (of a beer I brewed) complain on Untappd after having a customer say the beer was “off” and the retailer rated it a half star. Every other review from the location was positive and the beer has a 4.2 rating on that site... I wouldn’t assume that a lot of retailers know more about what they’re selling than customers knowing what they’re buying. Unfortunately, these issues are very common in the industry.
I’d agree with to that point, the manager at Total Wine used to also manage Party City. Certainly plausible given these kind of retail managers seem to jump around a bit. The one beer manager TW I know is far from a beer geek, but the beer geek side of his business is a small fraction. They make their money off AALs and wine sales.
The local Vons is selling Lagunitas IPA with dates (they use day of the year code on the box) from early Summer on them. Anyone who buys it will think that beer is awful. Some Ballast Point 12'ers, which is a crying shame because it is/was "local", is rotting on the shelves as well. Years ago I worked in a retail warehouse and a giant pallet of Yuengling was wrongfully ordered and sat on the dock through three seasons in the Pacific NW. By the time the retailer decided to sell it the packaging was mush because it had been rained on, frozen, baked in the sun, etc. It was on sale so people bought what could be salvaged from it.
