Peruvian Morning infected again?...

Seems to me CW should hire you. Three years in a row is unacceptable. One would think they would take every precaution plausible this year to ensure a high quality product.

 

This doesn't surprise me... I drank my first two weeks after the Anniversary Party and instantly got that twang. It was hardly noticable, but after the last two batches, I knew this was the beginning of the end. The twang is connected to the coffee flavor, and in my opinion, the infections are ABSOLUTELY coming from the coffee. It blows my mind the effort these guys have taken to correct this - irradiating the barrels and such - yet still let the coffee get the best of them.

 

If I recall, the last three years have been from the same roaster/company. At some point would you not use a new supplier? I do agree, it is only the PM, the BB version is still awesome.

 

Just cracked a 2011 and it is still pretty darn good.

 

It's one thing if it's infected one year. it's something that unfortunately happens, Boulevard Deschutes, Goose and even some New Belgium Pumpkick have been recalled. But three years in a row is inexcusable.

 

I was recalled in 2012 and is (apparently) being recalled this year. I don't think it was recalled in 2013, so it isn't actually three years in a row.

(None of the 2013 PM we've drank has been bad, FWIW.)

 

There was a bad batch last year too.

 

can anyone explain how individual bottles within a 4-pack would be infected but others be fine?


just throwing this out there.. with some reporting awful, obvious infection and others saying "my whole case was fine" could this be a Gubna redux?

i can't get past the horrible vegetal, rotten grass flavor.. thought for sure i had spoiled/infected beers. other people i know swear Gubna is the greatest thing since getting head. maybe some people are just more sensitive to some flavor in PM that, to them, reads like infection?

i'm just a 5-digit know nothing but is this possible?

 

If I understand you right, you're asking if there's something inherent in PM that different people perceive in different ways (that is common with coriander BTW). In this case though I would say no. I've had uninfected PM that was awesome, near best in its class in my opinion, and I've had infected PM that was awful. It's not just differences in perception or preferences of the same beer.

Having said that, there are people out there that like the flavor of some infected beers so maybe they are playing a role in the controversy too.

 

yes


i only ask because i've yet to have any that are even close to "off". seems weird to me that bottle by bottle and BA to BA there would be such variance. trying to think of possible reasons why that would be.

 

I suspect something that may be at play here is that some people mistake a stronger, more acidic coffee flavor for infection.

I had some clearly infected bottles in 2012. In 2013 I've had no infected bottles (out of several cases consumed so far), but we have had some four-packs where the coffee flavor was stronger and very distinctly more acidic – like the difference between Costa Rican coffee and Venezuelan coffee. If you're used to a smoother coffee flavor in your stouts and you encounter a sharper, more acidic coffee flavor, it could easily be misinterpreted as resulting from an infection.

 

CW update on the facebook.

Can we get some clarification on Peruvian Morning being pulled from shelves here in Iowa?
Central Waters Brewing Company.... we should have a post up very soon about this, we are still getting the answers on our end.

 

I can only speak for the 4pk I bought at the 16 party, but it definitely wasn't simply more acidic coffee flavor. There was very little coffee flavor at all, and I did a side-by-side with a 13' PM that actually had a more pronounced coffee flavor despite its age. The 13' was delicious, had to pour the 14' (and I like black, bitter coffee).

Just guessing here but the variation among bottles or cases could be the result of differences in growth rates of the contaminating bacteria, which could be influenced by the storage temperture of the bottles, differences in initial micro load, even the amount of agitation, etc. etc. Also, don't they transfer to brite tanks in several batches so there could be both infected and unifected 2014 PM as there was in 2013?

 

Why so agro?

 

Yes, most often when beers hit the market and are later discovered to be infected, the load is too low to detect, especially by culturing. It's especially true pulling bottle cultures from bottle conditioned beers since there will already be competing yeast on any media that is non-specific.

Paul has stated on facebook (and maybe here) that the 2013 infection was only to one of the six batches and was a result of someone using the wrong filling tube (the one used previously for Exodus). The 2013 incident was an unfortunate coincidence and could have happened to any batch. I can't provide any concrete info on 2012 or this year. I believe 2012 was attributed to the barrels, but don't take that as concrete. No idea what they have come up with this year, but they do have people testing these things so they should have some idea.

 

Interesting, I wasn't aware of the filling tube issue and that the problems in 2012 and 2013 were unrelated. If there's a third, new issue this year, this beer is officially cursed haha. Really hope they get it all sorted out, I love PM when it's right, along with all their BA beers.

 

Dealt with this two years ago, and wrote them off after last years issue. You can keep em'. How does the saying go? Fool me once......

 

I understand everyone's hesitation with this beer, but to outright cast them off is hard for me to understand.

I have had PM from both 12 and 13 and had no infection. Was I nervous to trade for 13, absolutely, but what did it cost me? These are $12 4 packs.

CW continues to make some of the best BB session beers on the market at an affordable price point. Hell there are pallets of their stuff at the grocery stores in central Wisconsin.

Wisconsin, you can have my Parabola and Sucaba. Send me your CW BB anythings.

Signed,

Las Vegas' Biggest Central Waters Fanboy

 

Quite the paradox.

 

Except sometimes what you get is some of the worst BB beers on the market and you've wasted your money, and that's apparently for three years in a row. Not hard to understand why some would avoid it completely.