I just tried three Wingman brews in 16 oz cans. The Ace IPA was full of floaties, and the P51 Porter and Outlaw Ale were both bacterial with the usual plastic and wierd bitterness. I see there was a 2009 forum posting on their cans being flat. I'm sorry to see local breweries putting out such poor products. Cans all came from 99 Bottles near SEATAC. Any similar experiences? are their tap offerings OK?
I've only had two of their beers, so a small enough sample size as to be completely meaningless, but my experiences are in line with yours. I had the Coconut Porter in bombers last year, and thought it was phenomenal. Probably the most unexpectedly amazing beer I had all year (and reasonably priced). After tearing through way too many bottles, I tried the base P51 Porter in cans, and thought it was awful. My notes aren't very detailed but they mention "off" flavors and suggest that I thought it was a bad batch or possibly infected. and that I should try it again when a new shipment hits town. So the short answer is: you might be right about the cans, but go out and buy bottles of the Coconut Porter if it's still around!
I had a can of Ace, and while I wasn't terribly impressed, it was more due to it being a beer that was just kind of "meh." A curiously bland tasting Belgian IPA, it seemed more like a not terribly interesting beer than anything else.
Just had an Outlaw, and there was something not quite right with that one; unexpected sourness in the finish. Wasn't sure if it was intentional, but I won't be trying it again.
My experience too. I didn't try to review the Outlaw as it just so unpleasantly weird with that sourish note. The folks need their equipment sterilized.
This is what makes the coconut porter so strange; it's like they accidentally made a really good beer.
OK - to confirm that it was in fact an accident when they made a good batch of the coconut porter, I just opened a bottle and it was one of the most foul beers I've ever had. You know how sometimes you open a bottle and maybe the carbonation is a bit intense and there's a subtle tangy undertone that makes you think ... "could this be infected?" Well, that's not how this was. The first splash of liquid created a billowing foam that filled the entire snifter. It was kind of miraculous really, kind of like how amazing it is how much silly string can come out of a can. Unfortunately, once the superfoam made its state transition to beer, it kind of tasted like drinking coconut infused silly string. An acrid chemical aroma - sort of wood polishy and sour - followed by a taste that combined dried lime / dill (there are these black limes that are used in Persian food, infusing stews and pilafs with a lime + dill flavor ... you don't want them in a coconut stout) and coconut. Beware!
I've never had any of their canned or bottled beer, but I've had their beers at the brewery and at festivals and I don't recall anything being awful. Looking at my untappd history, I don't see any low scores at all. Not sure what's going on with the canning/bottling line though. Sounds bad.
So your saying that this will pair nicely with doing shots of silly string? Sweet! ...in all seriousness that blows. I always hate opening a beer and it's bad.
This can happen even with big time breweries. I had an Avery gold foil (super spendy) explode out of the bottle recently. Got 5 oz to drink out of a 12 oz. And it was nasty. I would let Wingman know directly about the beer. They can probably check a lot number and figure out what happened to the batch. I had their peanut butter cup porter at the Father's Day beer festival and it was awesome. Plus, the owner seems like a really cool guy. They definitely have potential and would probably appreciate feedback .
So, I did contact them. And someone got back to me that day and seemed genuinely concerned. One thing that was interesting, is that they claimed to not have heard anything about these infections / issues. Which is troubling in a few ways ... either people aren't contacting them, people are and the message is getting lost, or people are and I was being lied to (I don't think that's the case, but it's a possibility). The final thing that's troubling about it is ... all you have to do is look at social media and forums to get a pulse on what consumers think. Too many businesses out there don't realize the internet is a real time referendum on what you're doing, how people feel about you. I skimmed Untappd and the ratings here and there's enough inconsistency that it seems hard to say "you don't know" if you're paying attention. If I owned a small business I would be ALL over the forums and social networks monitoring perception and addressing customer issues. I wish them luck ... the few good things I've had have been really enjoyable. Next time I'm in Tacoma I'll swing by to see if it's really just a packaging issue.
