I have a box getting shipped from the west coast and arriving Friday. Noticed that's it's going to be in the 90's the next few days...am I in trouble with these beers?
You will be fine. Best bet for summer trading is to ship on Mondays to keep a box from sitting in a hot warehouse or in the back of a truck over the weekend.
What he said. The other part I'm leery of is twist-offs. If you're sending any, make sure it's not hot. The only bottles I've ever lost went into the furnace & the twist-offs all went down.
They will probably get there and they will probably taste ok, but they will definitely suffer for the trip. I had a growler leak last summer and a box was returned to me. I had a Surly Hell that went along for the ride as an extra that was returned undamaged with the growler. I drank it side by side with a Hell that was originally from the same 4-pack, but spent 8 days in the fridge instead of traveling cross-country. The fridge Hell was excellent as always. The traveling Hell was average to bad. I still trade in the summer, but not as much.
Ugh that sucks and doesn't make me feel too good. They're some sour beers does that make any difference in the chances that the heat could really do something to them?
I'm no scientist, but I'd guess that lighter, more delicate, and hoppy beers are more prone to this type of heat trouble. Not sure where sours fit in there, but they are probably more resilient.
I would be careful shipping sours in the heat simply from the aspect that they can/will leak. I haven't had this happen personally, but have heard from trading friends that it has happened to them, specifically Sanctification and Supplication.
Only bottles that I have had leak were a Fou Foune and a Cisco Dark Woods - both sours sent during hot periods. That said, they both tasted fantastic.
Cork, higher carb, and the live bugs with a couple days hot. I'm sure someone can elaborate further, but since I live in Florida, I know I won't be shipping sours in summer. Heck, we can't even store them at room temperature, it gets so hot.
I would avoid it on super hot weeks. It's going to be bad for the beer, whether very subtly or more so, to sit in a 100 degree truck/warehouse for days on end. Try to time the shipping to coincide with non super hot weeks.
I once had a beer sent to me with a few ice packs around it. It was a waste of ice packs. Cool Story Huh.
