HotHandsHanon
Member
I would like to cover two things in this post:
#1: The shelf life of properly filled growlers.
#2: The taste of Pliny the Elder.
The story is a little lengthy but I believe it makes a good point.
It all started with a friend from high school who since moved to California and now works in Napa at a winery. Anyway, he flew in this week to for South by Southwest (SXSW), the giant annual music/film/media festival in Austin, TX. I consistently reminded him everyday the two weeks prior to him flying in to go to Russian River and procure me AT LEAST six 500ml bottles of Pliny the Elder. Long story short, he thought that getting a "giant jug" as he called it was "cooler" than bottles. Problem, or so I thought. Now I'll go through the lifespan of the growler...
03/12/12 Monday PM - Growler filled at RR.
03/13/12 Tuesday AM - Plane ride. No big deal.
Here's where it gets fun. After his plane landed, another friend of mine picked him up in the airport. Naturally, he put all of his luggage, including the growler, in the trunk of the car. Granted, it's only March in Texas, but it was a steady 80 degrees during the day outside the entire week.
Fast forward two days.
03/15/12 Thursday - I arrive in Austin from Dallas, meet up with my friends. We eventually end up talking about the beer, and I come to find it has been sitting in the trunk of a car for two days unshaded from the sun. I rush to the car and rescue the growler as if it was a kitten from a burning building.
Here's where I got stupid. Not until I searched the forums for storing growlers yesterday afternoon (Saturday), I just put the growler in a dark place at room temperature like I would my freshly bottled homebrew.
03/17/12 Saturday - Finally refrigerate the growler. It's been five days.
03/18/12 Today - SXSW is finally over and I begin my four hour trek back to Dallas. I go to the local sporting goods store and buy a cooler, fill with ice, and packed that growler like an organ transplant delivery man.
I got home a couple of hours ago, put the growler in the freezer for about 30 minutes, and popped the top hoping for the best...
Carbonation was good, no signs of oxidation, and no off flavors I could point out. According to the beer profile, it was all spot on. The picture taken was after the head settled for a while, but it started out at about two fingers.
My point of this whole story is that after all the conditions this growler went through, it could/should have been terrible or at least flat from the comments I have read pertaining to growlers from HBT due to time lapse and temperature conditions. However, I will point out, that there was ZERO head room in the growler. After initially looking over the growler when I first saw it, the outside was very sticky as they filled it to foam over. I turn the bottle upside down and no air bubbles went from the bottom to the top. I guess if bottled properly and under the right conditions, beer can last more than a few days in a growler.
As for actual taste of PTE:
It was a VERY good beer, but at the end of the day I think PTE is mostly hype. For the ABV it was super smooth and the flavors were very pleasing. I feel like I lost a minimal amount of carbonation, but as I said, couldn't find anything wrong flavor-wise.
What I take away from this experience?
#1. Growlers CAN contain beer unopened without any apparent ill effects for more than a couple days if properly filled and sanitized.
#2. Even though your friend is a wine sommelier, don't doubt yourself on what you know about beer. Give him explicit instructions next time, and for heavens sake, just make him ship you some bottles instead.
Any comments or criticisms are welcome! Thanks for reading guys/gals.
#1: The shelf life of properly filled growlers.
#2: The taste of Pliny the Elder.
The story is a little lengthy but I believe it makes a good point.
It all started with a friend from high school who since moved to California and now works in Napa at a winery. Anyway, he flew in this week to for South by Southwest (SXSW), the giant annual music/film/media festival in Austin, TX. I consistently reminded him everyday the two weeks prior to him flying in to go to Russian River and procure me AT LEAST six 500ml bottles of Pliny the Elder. Long story short, he thought that getting a "giant jug" as he called it was "cooler" than bottles. Problem, or so I thought. Now I'll go through the lifespan of the growler...
03/12/12 Monday PM - Growler filled at RR.
03/13/12 Tuesday AM - Plane ride. No big deal.
Here's where it gets fun. After his plane landed, another friend of mine picked him up in the airport. Naturally, he put all of his luggage, including the growler, in the trunk of the car. Granted, it's only March in Texas, but it was a steady 80 degrees during the day outside the entire week.
Fast forward two days.
03/15/12 Thursday - I arrive in Austin from Dallas, meet up with my friends. We eventually end up talking about the beer, and I come to find it has been sitting in the trunk of a car for two days unshaded from the sun. I rush to the car and rescue the growler as if it was a kitten from a burning building.
Here's where I got stupid. Not until I searched the forums for storing growlers yesterday afternoon (Saturday), I just put the growler in a dark place at room temperature like I would my freshly bottled homebrew.
03/17/12 Saturday - Finally refrigerate the growler. It's been five days.
03/18/12 Today - SXSW is finally over and I begin my four hour trek back to Dallas. I go to the local sporting goods store and buy a cooler, fill with ice, and packed that growler like an organ transplant delivery man.
I got home a couple of hours ago, put the growler in the freezer for about 30 minutes, and popped the top hoping for the best...
Carbonation was good, no signs of oxidation, and no off flavors I could point out. According to the beer profile, it was all spot on. The picture taken was after the head settled for a while, but it started out at about two fingers.
My point of this whole story is that after all the conditions this growler went through, it could/should have been terrible or at least flat from the comments I have read pertaining to growlers from HBT due to time lapse and temperature conditions. However, I will point out, that there was ZERO head room in the growler. After initially looking over the growler when I first saw it, the outside was very sticky as they filled it to foam over. I turn the bottle upside down and no air bubbles went from the bottom to the top. I guess if bottled properly and under the right conditions, beer can last more than a few days in a growler.
As for actual taste of PTE:
It was a VERY good beer, but at the end of the day I think PTE is mostly hype. For the ABV it was super smooth and the flavors were very pleasing. I feel like I lost a minimal amount of carbonation, but as I said, couldn't find anything wrong flavor-wise.
What I take away from this experience?
#1. Growlers CAN contain beer unopened without any apparent ill effects for more than a couple days if properly filled and sanitized.
#2. Even though your friend is a wine sommelier, don't doubt yourself on what you know about beer. Give him explicit instructions next time, and for heavens sake, just make him ship you some bottles instead.
Any comments or criticisms are welcome! Thanks for reading guys/gals.