Quick question--got two Bombs in two trades. One had yellow waxed top, the other has white plastic shrink-wrap top. Is there any difference as signified by the tops other than possibly bottle date? Thanks!
While i'm no Bomb! expert... here it goes: Gold wax is the one of their earlier batches (back when they waxed all bottles). White tape is their last attempt to do something on the cap before deciding to just leave them uncovered. IMHO and experience, waxed bottles are superior than white tape and waaay superior than no wax/no tape bottles. I want to say Gold Wax bottles date to '13? So I don't know if it's lost some of the spice or coffee from aging and you may want to drink it soon. Either way, I believe you'll enjoy the waxed one more. Cheers!
If it's from Arkansas (an Arkansas trade), it will not have wax. Arkansas liquor law prohibits selling of single 12 ounce bottles of beer. Therefore, prairie is usually sold in 4 packs with plastic holders which will not fit over wax tops. No wax on Arkansas bomb.
Date/Batch #. Latest batches have all been the white shrink wrap since they stopped waxing bomb! Not sure which batch yellow was but think there's a thread on here. Gold and yellow I believe are distinct batches. As are pink and red...etc edit: http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/prairie-bomb-wax-color-signifigance.119834/
The thread @budsandsuds8 linked to is a good one. But since Prairie's wax color choices have led to confusion in the past (the gold could be considered yellow, the pink could be considered white and the orange could also be considered yellow), here is another thread where a user has helpfully posted pictures of the gold and orange bottles to help tell the difference: http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/wax-colors-for-prairie.153328/ And this is the specific post with the comparison pictures: FWIW, gold was the first batch and orange was the final waxed batch. So now, the burning question is--which one did you get OP? Gold or orange?
No wax was amazing (I'm in NYC). Fyi: The chilis came out as the beer warmed up (you tasted the flavor of the chilis, not the heat). Enjoy!
Just for info, they stopped waxing their beers due to rusting issues underneath the bottle caps. If you have gold wax @mbmiche, that is awesome. I started with pink wax, which has mostly been my favorite so far, though there's always been batch variation with Bomb!, even within the same batch. Orange wax was solid and got better with a few months of age. I was probably the most disappointed with the latest batch (no wax).
I've had it waxed and wrapped (all from trades). My latest trade was the orange wax (as was my first, I'm pretty sure). I've never had an infected one, never had a problem with them, and the orange wax is still drinking absolutely great (including coffee flavor; if it's muted, then it's more than made up for by all the rest of the awesome flavors in that beer).
Anyone know how to read the bottling codes on the prairie stuff? I picked up a Bomb! today (finally) but some of the flavors seem muted/faded so I'm trying to figure out when it was bottled or at least the last batch of this beer. No wax of course.
The new batches have no wax...before they got rid of the wax it had a white plastic top. Sometime before that it was yellow...but I don't think they have been covering the top in 6 months to a year
In Nor Cali these are easy to find, and no wax for a year now. Still as delicious as ever. Oh yeah $35 per 4 pak.
These honestly don't age well unless you like chocolate brownies. The chili and coffee fade a fair amount losing the beauty of all the pieces creating Bomb!
Last few I've purchased in the last year (in Atlanta & NC) had nothing extra just the cap. Like stated must be some older bottles. About $9.00 a bottle in NC at the moment.
