How often do you get a bad batch?

That's pretty much what aged Orval tastes like, at least in my experience. The one time I had an old bottle, it foamed like crazy, and almost tasted like a leathery Perrier.

 

Finestkind huh? I drink a lot of that and never ran into a problem.

 

I went ten years without experiencing more than a handful of obviously infected or off-style beers that were still within their date codes. And then about forty new breweries opened up in Minnesota, so yeah, nowadays it's more often than I'd like it to be.

("But Chaz! If you don't buy those infected or off-style beers, how will your local Craft Revolution GROW?")

 

Interesting that most people have zero to very little experience with bad batches but you have it frequently. Either the store you buy from has terrible storing conditions or it's you. I've had some off flavors but nothing that was so much different from the expected flavors.

 

50/50

 

Stale urine and not in the Citra sort of complex strangely satisfying way. I'm not alone on this. All my neighbors have had the same experience. And yes, fresh beer

 

Not very often. While bad batches certainly do exist, they don't occur as often as some would lead you to believe. Or maybe I've just been fortunate (and I drink a lot of beer, for what it's worth).

 

Stopped by Total Wine the other day and picked up Sierra Nevada's Fall Pack.

When I got to the last three bottles of the SN's Pale Ale, I noticed something tasted off--way off. My first reaction--am I getting sick?
No. I looked into my glass of Pale Ale and it looked like a snow globe with a load of flakes just swimming around the glass. WTF. Dirty glass?

Went into the fridge and grabbed the other SN Pale Ale into the light and behold....



Says it was bottled in June 2014--for the Seasonal Fall Pack...

This is THE only bad few beers I recall ever getting.

 

That looks like a slug.










Whattaya mean that's not funny anymore?

 

It's a bottle conditioned beer, so that's probably coagulated proteins and yeast, and if it tasted fine I wouldn't be too concerned. It's probably getting to be past its prime in that case- maybe @sierranevadabill can help out.

 

Had it tasted fine, no problem...but as stated, something tasted way off. Definitely something went wrong with this one.

 

Yeah- at 4+ months it shouldn't be that off. SN is usually pretty good about taking care of that kind of thing if you let them know, though.

 

As stated by @TongoRad That beer is bottle conditioned and almost always have floaties. The pale ale is blended with 8 - 12 different batches so that would mean SN has a major QC problem. I think it was just old.

 

I've never gotten a Heineken that wasn't part of a bad batch...

 

The schmutz in the bottle isn't too concerning due to the bottle conditioning, but if there's a taste issue, that IS a problem. We haven't got any word that there's an issue in the market, but it'd be good to check this out. Do you still have the remaining bottles? If so hang on to them, and private message me so I can get your info: (email, phone number, etc.) and I'll get our people on it ASAP. Did all of the other beers in the pack taste good?

Let me know as soon as you can and we'll get it sorted out.

-Bill

 

I've had a few bottles I've suspected might be off but never one obviously infected. Bad tap lines however seem unfortunately common.

 

Hi Bill - Thanks for the note. My guess here is I was unlucky in getting some stale beer. The remaining beers in the variety pack were all excellent. Didn't check the dates on those, but I suspect having the beers sitting in room temperature for months would affect the taste. The weirdest thing is, only the PA's tasted off--the Tumblers were just fine.

To clarify, when I say "off", I mean they tasted like an entirely different beer. Hops took on a different flavor which reminded me slightly of Victory's Hop Devil. We're used to getting our SN's freshly made living in Nor. Cal. so this was a surprise.

I do have the remaining PA--but I was thinking of holding on to it (chilled) and cracking it open in case of an emergency (i.e., no beer).

I will be grabbing a COLD Snow Pack soon!!

 

Once I got Lagunitas undercover investigation ale I think it was, and I swear one of the bottles was lil Sumpin Sumpin.

 

Last night we cracked a Boulevard Harvest Dance Wheatwine from 2011 (before they instituted pasteurizing some of their barrel aged beers). It was very overcarbed but this made it light on the palate and it had a wonderful orange aroma. Seemed like a brett infection but it was pretty tasty and quaffable. It's been a while since I've had this beer fresh but I remember it being quite the sipper. Anyway....can go both ways I guess. The last drain pour I had was last spring drinking a Grey Sail flagship...had never tasted so much diacteyl in beer before.

 

It has happened to me twice. Both instances were due to the date. I don't know if it is a retailer or distributor problem, but things are put/kept on the shelves when they're outdated.