Does good beer go bad? Or did i get my first infection?

So on my fourth batch ever I took a porter extract kit from Midwest and after primary racked onto 3 vanilla beans that we soaked in vodka for two weeks then bottled(sept 10). After bottle conditioning for 3 wks I tried one and it was tasty with a hint of vanilla. Taste tested with a few guys in the neighborhood all agreed that they were excellent. Two weeks later I found them to be rough --the first sip heavy off flavor I want to say smoking and still there throughout but the first sip really knocks you back-- wasn't like that before.

I have been trying one every week since mid Oct and I still don't like it. A couple of sips and down the drain

Have about a case left staring at me everytime I go into the beer closet in the basement.

I have about 9 gallons of beer in bottles that need to be dumped and I haven't yet...

And they only get worse because my beer palate is getting better.

Ultimately it's a good sign.

It's a sign that one day you'll make such great beer that you won't even understand what bad homebrew means anymore and you'll tell newbies to not dump their swill.

iambeer said:

I have about 9 gallons of beer in bottles that need to be dumped and I haven't yet...

And they only get worse because my beer palate is getting better.

Ultimately it's a good sign.

It's a sign that one day you'll make such great beer that you won't even understand what bad homebrew means anymore and you'll tell newbies to not dump their swill.

Click to expand...

So it ok to dump a beer that you don't like. Not sure what happened with this one-- infected, oxidation, bad vanilla bean addition or something I did to it. I would hate to push this on my friends and neighbors since I've gotten such rave reviews on my other beers.

Bad thing is my pipeline is thin on variety after Halloween and Thanksgiving get togethers. All I left to drink is 6 Autumn ales, 8 cherry stouts and a case and half of Christmas ale.

Good news is that I have a honey brown and an irish red bottle conditioning for the past two weeks and see be ready to enjoy just in to for Christmas.

It's your beer, do as you like. If it were mine, I would put them in a closet and forget about them for a few months. Try one then, still bad? Keep aging them and try one a few months later. After a year? Dump them. The only porter I have made took 3 months to carb. They were pretty good then, I've been sitting on a case since June, I pull a couple out every once in a while and they just keep getting better. I'm saving the last 12pack until next May.