I purchased and brought home a waxed bottle of beer tonight. It was laying down in my car for a 15 minute drive but was secure and not rolling all around. When I was almost home, I smelled beer. I reached for the waxed bottle and, sure enough, there was the tiniest leak in the wax spurting out beer. I wrapped it tightly with a napkin until I got home, got it in the house and it stopped leaking. It seems fine and the hole in the wax is so tiny that I can't even locate it when flashing a flashlight on it. Has anyone had this happen to them? What was the outcome? I'm kind of freaking out because this is a very limited, very expensive beer. Obviously I'm partially to blame since you're not supposed to lay bottles on their side but still, the cap should be secured tightly enough that a mere 15 minutes on its side, even in a moving car, shouldn't cause this to happen right, am I right? I only lost maybe an ounce of beer but I'm still upset. Just looking for some feedback to see if others have had similar experiences so I can decide what my next step should be. Thanks for reading.
Have not had anything like that happen to me before, I'm sorry to hear that. If you are determined to keep this specific bottle, I would try to add a fresh layer of wax onto the bottle to ensure that its completely sealed. Plan B if you want to open the bottle, you can always re-cap/cork it and then re-wax it. Seems to me like somehow when the wax hardened it loosened the cap and you had some agitation when it sloshed around a bit on the drive home.
Bo & Luke? I just got one yesterday. If that's what you're referring to, I have had no noticeable issues with mine. I have also never had that issue with any other beers.
You should probably see about getting it replaced or drink it right away. It shouldn't have anything to do with laying on its side, probably just a defective cap. I had a similar issue with a growler someone sent to me which was securely taped and everything but the cap was bad and there was a thin stream of beer shooting out from under the tape. I think if you put more wax on it, it'll just continue to leak underneath the wax until it breaks out again and the beer will probably be bad (or at least flat) by then.
I'm worried that, if I try to contact the brewery about getting it replaced, they won't see it that way.
What ever you decide to do the fact that it leaked from around the cap and out from under the wax indicates that oxygen is also getting in, which means the beer is/has been aging/getting oxidized much faster than intended. It also means that where you bought it sold you, probably unknowingly, a "defective" beer. They may take it back for a refund or replacement. But in any event let the brewery know that the beer you bought had a poor seal and was leaking. If you don't get it replaced then bite the bullet and drink it soon as possible since you have no idea how long it has been oxidzing (or how much) inside that defective seal. BTW, laying a beer on its side is not verboten, its just not a good idea if there will be sediment settling out. So you are not "to blame" for laying the beer on its side and have every reason to believe that a properly sealed beer should be able to withstand 15 min of laying on its side without leaking.
If you do contact them try to include a picture so they know you aren't just BSing them after having drank it. Or... bring it back to the store and see if they have more so you can swap it, since you said it was purchased rather than traded. What was the beer??
I had this issue with The Beer that Saved Christmas, but i drank those the same day that i bought them.
All right, so I didn't want to disclose the beer's identity until I gave the brewery a chance to get back to me which they finally did. @Boomer4ES Yes, the bottle is Bo & Luke. Sam from Against the Grain responded to an E-mail I sent him, said it sounded like the cap on the beer was not seated properly and that the seal was made with the wax. He said it sometimes happens and must have slipped by their final check. He then gave me instructions on how to possibly reseat the cap and seal the bottle. I decided that I didn't want to take the chance of not only attempting to reseat the cap and having it be unsuccessful, but also taking the chance of doing further damage to the cap and/or bottle. So I split the bottle with my friend earlier today and it was perfectly carbonated. Not only that, but it's one of the most phenomenal beers I've ever drank and my friend agreed. So I'm basically just writing this to alert all those folks out there who have purchased a Bo & Luke to the possibility of leakage if the beer is laid on its side. If you are trading this beer or attempting to trade for it, make sure that it is packaged upright since there's no telling how many of these defective bottles are out there. Hopefully it's just an isolated incident, but you never know. I in no way have any hard feelings toward the folks at Against the Grain and am not looking for any compensation since the amount of beer lost was minimal. Yes, I was intending on cellaring this beer and opening it for a special occasion but at the end of the day, splitting an awesome beer with a good friend who also was dying to try the beer was a special enough occasion for me. Not to mention the beer is drinking great right now. Sam at AtG was very courteous so, if anyone out there has any issues with their bottles, I recommend e-mailing him to get things straightened out. Thanks to those who posted feedback on this thread.
P.S. Does anyone thinking posting a thread about this in the Beer Trading Talk/Help forum would be overkill?
