I opened a witbier from Ten Ninety - HalfWit - It gushed. Only about half the 12 oz. bottle was left. I poured it and it tastes funny - soap and grass. I won't review it. My question is - when it is infected like this is it the brewery's fault or the way it was handled? Cheers!
Unless a someone else opened the bottle, stuff happened, and resealed it before it got to you (I'm 99.9999% sure this didn't happen), its the brewery's fault.
Unfortunately this happens. Probably a good idea to let the brewery know but in my experience some don't seem to give a shit
The owner Jamie responded through e-mail. Thank you. Jamie said it never happened before and he will send me glasses and contact the distributor in Milwaukee. And, sent apologies.
Do you really consider commenting on a beer as described in the OP---- ----to be "nitpicking" ? Why not? What is the point of only reviewing "good" examples of a beer when a brewer is releasing "infected" or otherwise defective beer?
As for the review or not to review - I've been at odds with the idea of reviewing an infected or messed up beer. It could be that this is one bad beer out of thousands, and is not remotely representative of the common end product most will encounter. I don't want to give a rating on it if I think I was unable to experience the true beer. At the same time I feel a responsibility to make the community aware that I experienced the issue in case it is more widespread than I understand. I think that making a thread about it is something of a middle ground. Take my opinion with a grain (or tablespoon) of salt though, as I don't even use BA for my reviewing needs anymore, since the (100th?) revision of the grading system.
You should absolutely review and describe what happened. Lots of breweries out there not doing the greatest job in the world placing their products in bottles and cans. We'll never know if this isn't a larger issue unless multiple people report it.
I personally wouldn't use this gushed beer as the basis of a review. I would get or drink another, that is not infected / bad, and use that for the rating. I would, however, mention the fact I had a bad bottle, and potentially take a bit off the score for that. If it is a one-off issue, I don't see why it should really get dinged badly. If this turns out to be a widespread problem, see the Lost Abbey issues from a couple years ago, it definitely should be reflected in the score.
When I took the cage off a bottle of Lost Abbey Red Poppy Ale the cork shot out immediately and almost smacked my wife in the face. Needless to say, that bottle was a gusher as well. One of the differences is that Red Poppy is a barrel-aged, mixed fermentation ale; "infection" is built into the beer. Good beer and true to style IMO.
