Samuel Adams Beer Recall

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PearlJamNoCode

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Boston Beer Voluntarily Recalls Select Bottles of Samuel Adams Beer
2008-04-07 13:15 (New York)


BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 07, 2008
The Boston Beer Company (BBC) today announced a voluntary recall of select 12 oz glass bottles of its Samuel Adams beer which may contain small grains or bits of glass. The precautionary recall comes after routine quality control inspections at the Company's Cincinnati brewery detected defects in certain beer bottles, manufactured by a third-party glass bottle supplier that might cause small bits of glass to break off and possibly fall into the bottle. The affected bottles come from only one of the five glass plants that supply the Company with bottles. This plant supplies about 25% of BBC bottles. While the Company believes that the number of bottles from this plant that actually contain glass is significantly less than 1%, it took this measure to protect the safety of its drinkers.

The affected products are embossed on the base of the bottles with the following marking: The letter "N" followed by the number "35"
followed by the letters "OI".

The following products are not being recalled:

Samuel Adams draft beer

24oz bottles of Samuel Adams

Samuel Adams Utopias

Samuel Adams Triple Bock

Bottles with embossed code N08 followed by the letters "OI"

Bottles with embossed code N17 followed by the letters "OI"

Bottles with embossed code N26 followed by the letters "OI"

Bottles with embossed code N31 followed by the letters "OI"

Consumers who have purchased beer in the defective bottles are advised not to drink it and dispose of the product. The Company will issue a full refund on potentially affected product.

The Company has had no reports of any consumer injury but the presence of small bits of glass in the bottle could pose a health risk under certain circumstances. While the possibility of injury to an individual consumer is very low, people who bite or swallow a fragment could possibly be injured. Anyone who has consumed beer from an affected bottle and becomes ill, or shows signs of complications, should see a physician immediately.

Boston Beer has stopped distributing all products in the defective bottles. Additionally, the Company's direction to its wholesalers is to hold all of the affected products in their warehouses, and to remove it from retail shelves immediately.

For additional information, consumers are encouraged to contact The Boston Beer Company at 1-888-674-5159 or access the company's recall Web site at http://consumerinfo.samadams.com.

"We are disappointed and disturbed by this development, and we are doing everything we can to address the situation," said Jim Koch, founder and brewer of the Boston Beer Company. "Since our founding, we have never issued a product recall for any reason, and are deeply disappointed that these bottles did not meet our quality standards.
Brewing great beer is not enough. Because of these bottles supplied to us from an outside vendor, we didn't live up to our drinker's expectations. Our brewers, management, and all employees remain committed to doing everything possible to resolve this situation quickly, and to ensure the safety of our drinkers and the quality of our beer."
 
PearlJamNoCode said:
The following products are not being recalled:

Samuel Adams draft beer

24oz bottles of Samuel Adams

Samuel Adams Utopias

Samuel Adams Triple Bock
utopias should be ok
 
<<<<This guy defiantly doesn't have a case of Utopias! The coin it would cost to buy that many Utopias would be better spend on tuition.
 
Anyone ever taste Utopias? I had some the other week at a beer festival and it doesn't really taste like beer. It's more like a cognac or a brandy or something. Definitely interesting but not really for me and definitely not at that price
 
Sir Humpsalot said:
I'm still trying to find the longshot...

Weizenbock and Grape Pale Ale? My local beer store has them, but I have no desire to try either.


GRAPE APE! :fro:
 
When it says glass shards can break off I start thinking that the glass chips from the cap area. I always run my fingers around the top of any beer bottle before I drink it as I once found a chip missing. A few friends of mine also do that.
 
I personally am not worried.

A little glass in your system won't hurt a danged thing--completely inert and will pass right through. Hell, I've had patients eat toothbrushes, albuterol canisters, screws, bolts, and those all passed on their own. One guy ate 13 toothbruses--crapped everyone of them out later.

A miniscule, microscopic (or even visible piece) of ingested glass is harmless. I think its more of an honesty/public image thing/ward away bad reputation/damage control measure on their part than anything.
 
I've tried the Longshot beers. Seems kind of redundant to say I've tried them both, seeing as how you kind of get both. Anyway, I was a bit sad to see that the hop crisis did indeed prevent Sam Adams from putting in that third entry, the IPA.

Here's my quick and dirty synopsis. The grape ale, is fairly refreshing, but has a heavier-than-anticipated mouthfeel. You have to really search the initial taste for the grape flavor; also note the hop presence is only there to a moderate degree, if that. All in all, in my opinion, it tastes like a fairly middle of the road pale ale and for some reason, it reminds me of Sierra Nevada's pale ale or extra pale.

The weizenbock is the real gem in the box. I think that the brewer made a fairly innovative mixture of two very different flavors and made them complimentary. Tasting it was as if a bock should always have been made with a hefeweizen yeast. All throughout you get the standard fare clove and banana flavors of the yeast and a strong, quality bock to back it up. In my experience, you get the yeast flavor first with the taste of roasted malts carrying up the after taste. In my opinion, a good balance and something I'd like to make my own personal spin on sometime.

Vague overviews? You bet. But if anyone has any questions. I'd be happy to do what I can.
 
Just got this in my email, thought I would share. Searched and didn't see a copy that anyone else has posted - if this is a duplicate, mods, feel free to zap this post. Just a heads up for anyone interested/concerned.

As a loyal supporter and fan of our beer, we wanted to get in touch with you about an announcement that we made yesterday. We have announced a cautious, voluntary product recall of some bottles of Samuel Adams. While there is no problem with our beer, we believe a small proportion of bottles from our outside glass supplier could contain some small bits of glass.

The bottles we've identified as being possibly affected are from one glass plant of the five that we get our bottles from. The issue affects less than 25% of our bottled beer and of that amount, we believe far less than 1% of the bottles we're recalling are actually affected. We have no reports of any injury from our drinkers related to this issue. But because the safety of our drinkers is of paramount concern to us, we are being cautious and issuing the recall for all bottles from this glass plant.

But not to worry, this doesn't mean that you have to stop drinking Samuel Adams! All draft beer is perfectly fine and most of our bottled beer is not in these possibly affected bottles. It's easy to spot the bottles we're recalling: they are all embossed to say "N35" at the base of the bottle below the label (see photo on web site). We are working with our wholesalers and retailers to ensure that the affected bottles are removed from stores quickly.

We wanted to be sure that our loyal Sam fans are aware of the problem and know that we are doing everything we can to address this situation quickly. We are disappointed that because of these bottles supplied to us, we didn't live up to your expectations as a loyal Sam Adams drinker. We believe that we are taking all the right steps to ensure that the bottled Samuel Adams beer out there meets our quality standards and your expectations. If you have any questions about the recall, we created a special web site and a toll-free number 1-888-674-5159 to answer your questions.

As always, we appreciate your support.

Cheers,
Andrew & Bert


If you have received this newsletter in error or you would like to leave this mailing list just click here to unsubscribe.

© 2008 The Boston Beer Company, Boston, MA
 
Oh, get this...

I manage a restaurant and had to sort through our Sam Inventory last night checking each bottle.

135 bottles with those production codes on them. Scared the crap out of me when it came through on email. Could you imagine if somebody got hurt? Thank goodness Sam Adams is being on the safe side and doing this voluntary recall.

I tried to get our area director to let me dump the beer at the restaurant and take home the bottles, but I got a pretty expedient "no way in hell."
 
That sucks. Reminds me of when I poured a canned pepsi in a glass, drank it and found a piece of metal at the bottom. I thought it was in the cup but then later heard about pieces of metal being found in cans.
 
They should just relable the bottles and market it as "Mainway's Bag O' Glass Ale"
 
If anyone comes across some affected bottles, go ahead and send them to me. I need to make some krystalweizen.

*rimshot*

:)
 
I'll have to check some beer I bottled a few weeks ago. I have seen flaws in Sam Adams bottles - mostly creases in the glass from, I assume, the bottle making process. I don't know if such blemishes are a concern, but I did do a beerectomy on a recently bottled beer. Within such a crease was what looked like a couple of holes. I was worried that, as pressure built, the weak spots could lead to a bursting bottle, so I opened it and put the beer in a different bottle.

Chris
 
I was just looking at the bottles I bought from my local brew supply store. Some of them have the same N 35 OI on them. So, I suppose these are defective as well.
 
I drank a Pacifico a few weeks ago and found a tiny screw in the bottle after i had poured it out. IT looked as if it was a screw from a pair of glasses, very tiny but still... Never know these days.
 
schilkedog said:
I was just looking at the bottles I bought from my local brew supply store. Some of them have the same N 35 OI on them. So, I suppose these are defective as well.
Maybe. The SA dedicated recall website asks for the imprinted production number (on neck) in the qualification process.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, I have a six-pack that fully fit the recall, getting some refund sometime in June.. hmm, maybe I could get it in hops instead of currency..!??!
 
schilkedog said:
I was just looking at the bottles I bought from my local brew supply store. Some of them have the same N 35 OI on them. So, I suppose these are defective as well.

Maybe. The SA dedicated recall website additionally asks for the imprinted production number (on neck) in the qualification process.
N35 OI is actually very common, form what I saw in my empty bottle stock...
 
Biermann said:
I personally am not worried.

A little glass in your system won't hurt a danged thing--completely inert and will pass right through. Hell, I've had patients eat toothbrushes, albuterol canisters, screws, bolts, and those all passed on their own. One guy ate 13 toothbruses--crapped everyone of them out later.

A miniscule, microscopic (or even visible piece) of ingested glass is harmless. I think its more of an honesty/public image thing/ward away bad reputation/damage control measure on their part than anything.

I swallowed a nickle in the 2nd grade. I don't remember if it ever came out or not. :drunk:
 
schilkedog said:
I was just looking at the bottles I bought from my local brew supply store. Some of them have the same N 35 OI on them. So, I suppose these are defective as well.

I bought a case of bottles at my LHBS that meet the specs in the rules.

I washed the bottles.

I sanitized the bottles.

I bottled my Longshot entry.

I went to SA.com to download the dang form.

All my Longshot beers are in N35-OI bottles.

Oh the irony.
 
Poindexter said:
I bought a case of bottles at my LHBS that meet the specs in the rules.

Your bottles, even though N35s, don't have a "valid" SA batch number imprinted on the neck, which is part of meeting the specs, no...?

As said earlier, I found I have a bunch of N35s of various origin (SA, Long Trail, Harpoon).
 
umm...ouch!

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=3783293&postid=47412096

g60baller said:
On March 31st 2008 I had to have emergency surgery to remove about 12 inches of my colon due to perforations. What caused these perforations? Well 48 hours pre-surgery I had bought a 12 pack of Sam Adams Boston Lager. I started drinking my 12 pack while getting ready to go out with my girl and a group of her friends for a birthday party. Long story short, I drank 6 bottles of the Boston Lager and by noon the next day was having abdominal pain. Less than 24 hours later I was in the emergency room with excrusiating pain and high fever. Within 30 minutes of my E.R. exam I was prepped for emergency surgery.

I don't know the validity of the story but the pics...double ouch!

I wonder about this considering the lack of news coverage but if it's true, someone is gonna bank.....
 
Did anyone receive their check or anyhitng from Sam Adams yet regarding this recall?

I originally meant to post it here but about 2 months ago I did receive a $14 check or something like that. I only paid $11 for the case and drank it all so I'm calling it a win all around.
 
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