Griffin Claw Flying Buffalo

Pretty much, yes. Not sure why they changed the name around as they also have a BA Imperial Stout.

With that said: DO NOT get the 2014 BA Flying Buffalo 750ml bottles. They are known infected and not good at all. Hopefully this years will be better (and cheaper).

 

So there are bottles of BA Flying Buffalo and BA imperial stout that are basically the same thing? I had 2014 BA imperial stout not long ago and thought it was pretty damn good.

 

Whoops, I meant 2013.


I think most skipped out on 2014 when it was released as the last batch was so bad in bottles

 

Considering the base beer is the same as the Ba stout used for their BA coffee I'm surprised to hear it was infected. I've had quite a few pours of both and haven't had issues.

 

Well crap....I have one of those too....

 

So when they bottle their stout they don't call it flying buffalo? Only when they have it on draft or something? I have had a growler of the flying buffalo and a 2015? bottle of bb imperial stout in my closet, why bother with the multiple names? Either way around it was delicious.

 

So the 13 was infected and not the '14?
I have '14 BA Imperial Stout/ Flying Buffalo and the BA Coffee Stout and both are excellent.

 

I 2nd (or 3rd) the coffee. I had it at the MI summer beer fest a few weeks ago and it was delicious.

 

I just acquired a bottle each of the BA stout and BA coffee 2014 and was quite bummed the other night to read of the infection issue. Glad to see now that it was the '13 bottles. Looking forward to opening each of these in the next few days.

 

So when did the infection issue surface? Griffen Claw sold me the 13 and14 together either late last year or early this year. In fact they charged more for the 13. Gonna be pissed if they sold known infected beer.

 

I've had both, and neither seemed infected...nor that great. Their BA coffee stout though, that was really damn good.

 

I can most assuredly tell you that the infection issue was with the 2013 bottles of the Griffin Claw Bourbon Barrel 'Imperial Stout' !! We bought 2 at 22.99 + tax each. We opened one and it was AWEFUL !!! We drain poured it and kept the other one in the cellar.

Later we started hearing about all the infection issues with this beer.... so we took the other bottle and receipt to the store we bought them from. The store offered to give us our money back on the one full bottle but not for the one we opened. We kept chatting and we decided instead to take this all to Griffen Claw in hopes that they might just comp us for a meal there for the price of the 2 bottles. BTW: We surely would have spent over the comp too.

We went to Griffen Claw with bottle and receipt in hand, spoke to the bartender who agreed with us after hearing our claim, and he said "I'll get one of our general managers, he's a great guy and he'll take care of you" Well, the young guy who came out listened to our claim, we told him about all the talk of infection issues....and he looked at us incredulously and said he had NEVER heard of any issue with ANY of Griffen Claw's beers, EVER. He said, "look around at all the happy customers here, we have great beers" and other stuff about how great they are. He also told us it would be illegal for him to comp us for the price of the beers. Well, he sure made us feel like we were liars and freeloaders. We promptly left. Bottle and receipt is still sitting in the cellar.....

 

Wondering if you should have offered to uncap it right there in front of him and offer him a sample pour and see if he thought it was up to quality standards. If it turned out to be a good bottle, maybe they would let you finish it there in the pub. Worst case you cork it and take it home. Since they seem to think it's worth more, wondering if I should take mine back and exchange it for a 15 when its available. Should be a win for them if it really is a great beer.

 

That's BS as they posted on FB awhile ago about how they opened a ton of bottles and all were fine. Yet they were doing that due to the issues many people brought up to them.

Regardless, all current batches of BA Imperial Stout and FLying Buffalo are great, with the coffee being outstanding.

 

Anyone know if they are still selling the coffee at the brewery? I may need to grab a few more.

 

Nope, been a while since they had any. A quad and lemon tripel are bottled there right now IIRC. #datWax

 

No bottles when I was last there last Friday. It is still on tap though.

 

The Griffin Claw BA Stout/Flying Buffalo was one of the highlights of the Great Taste for me - just an amazing beer.

It was my first experience with the brewery & I will definitely be keeping an eye out for the next release.