Jnorton00
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Anyone submit for a refund and get anything back yet?
Regular Bourbon County Stout 2015 Infection
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capnmike
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Sent in the day after it was announced - haven't heard anything yet.
anteater1
Well-Known Member
I'm still waiting on the second half of my coffee/barleywine refund. They sent me $40 for 7 bottles, emailed me saying I would get a second check, and nothing ever came. Hopefully I'll get refunded for my four 10/23's, which were tasting perfectly fine as of about two months ago.
cyde
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My case of 11/12/15 UPC: 36920-11405 have been fine ...so far. I need to open a bottle that hasn't been in the fridge since purchase later tonight.
anteater1
Well-Known Member
My Oct 23's are trash. They were fine three months ago or so and now I'm dumping them. Hopefully I actually get my full refund this time.
furley
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(was this posted already?)
http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...20160826-story.html+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
Bourbon County Brand Stout
The original Bourbon County beer, first brewed at Goose Island's Clybourn Avenue brewpub in the 1990s, is the beer with the largest footprint and greatest production. Nine bottling dates — Oct. 9, Oct. 12, Oct. 21, Oct. 22, Oct. 23, Oct. 26, Oct. 30, Nov. 4 and Nov. 5 — were recalled, though the brewery hasn't said how much of the total production was tainted.
The bottle Jon brought in, dated Oct. 22, immediately smelled off but certainly not bad. Goose has released a couple of Bourbon County stouts with berries added, and that's how this bottle smelled: like a chocolate covered raspberry. So far, so good.
The beer carried that berry-chocolate motif upfront — quite nice! — but then faded away, replaced by an oddly dry and musty finish.
Jon pointed out that the vanilla aspect of the beer, which is one of its most essential characteristics, was completely lost. What remained was a tart, dry and fruity imperial stout that hid its 14.3 percent alcohol quite well due to the dryness. Simply pouring this beer down the drain would be a waste. A better bet might be blending it at home with a readily available bourbon barrel-aged stout, like New Holland's Dragon's Milk, to shave off the musty edges.
If you have a bottle of this, get it cold and drink it soon. There's still value here.
Proprietor's
"It's not great, but I don't hate this either," Jon said.
Agreed. And it was my favorite of the four.
The original version of Proprietor's in 2015 was a bit of a sweet mess. While this bottle was clearly off from what was intended, it was off in an interesting sort of way: grapey, with a tart sweetness replacing a cloying sweetness. Maple, which was a key ingredient in the original recipe, is completely gone, and Jon and I wondered if the bacteria (which lactobacillus is, don't forget) ate those sugars. What's left is an odd amalgamation of peppery-tart sweetness.
Neither of us needed more than a few ounces, but believe it: The infected Proprietor's, which was bottled Sept. 18, is worth tasting.
Coffee Stout
After a long whiff, I wondered whether this bottle might not be infected after all. It smelled a touch peppery, but the nose was thick and heavy with all sorts of wonderful sensations.
"It smells like leather and coffee," Jon said. "Like wet leather. And tobacco."
Yes!
And then we sipped.
No!
"It tastes terrible," Jon said.
It was so bad that it's difficult to come up with clever words to explain what filled our glasses. But I'll try. It's like metallic pepper spent a year at the bottom of a garbage can in a sweaty gym sock and ... well, just don't drink it. However, a full bottle of Bourbon County Coffee makes for an outstanding paperweight.
Barleywine
Without the big, roasty body of a stout, the effect of lactobacillus might be clearest in this English-style barleywine.
Tartness.
It was a factor in all four beers but was particularly pronounced in a beer that should be anything but tart. When done well — as the 2013 and 2014 releases of Bourbon County Barleywine were — an English-style barleywine should be a long, sweet and decadent ride, especially after aging in a bourbon barrel.
This version actually started OK on the palate, as though it might come off as a well-executed sour beer. But then it lurched into a few unfortunate directions: astringent, and something like a burnt rubber band.
"This might be the first sour barleywine," Jon said.
Hopefully, it's also the last.
The most interesting thing about drinking this beer was wrestling with whether it or the Coffee was worse. After long, careful deliberation, I settled on the Coffee. And then I drank some water.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...20160826-story.html+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
Bourbon County Brand Stout
The original Bourbon County beer, first brewed at Goose Island's Clybourn Avenue brewpub in the 1990s, is the beer with the largest footprint and greatest production. Nine bottling dates — Oct. 9, Oct. 12, Oct. 21, Oct. 22, Oct. 23, Oct. 26, Oct. 30, Nov. 4 and Nov. 5 — were recalled, though the brewery hasn't said how much of the total production was tainted.
The bottle Jon brought in, dated Oct. 22, immediately smelled off but certainly not bad. Goose has released a couple of Bourbon County stouts with berries added, and that's how this bottle smelled: like a chocolate covered raspberry. So far, so good.
The beer carried that berry-chocolate motif upfront — quite nice! — but then faded away, replaced by an oddly dry and musty finish.
Jon pointed out that the vanilla aspect of the beer, which is one of its most essential characteristics, was completely lost. What remained was a tart, dry and fruity imperial stout that hid its 14.3 percent alcohol quite well due to the dryness. Simply pouring this beer down the drain would be a waste. A better bet might be blending it at home with a readily available bourbon barrel-aged stout, like New Holland's Dragon's Milk, to shave off the musty edges.
If you have a bottle of this, get it cold and drink it soon. There's still value here.
Proprietor's
"It's not great, but I don't hate this either," Jon said.
Agreed. And it was my favorite of the four.
The original version of Proprietor's in 2015 was a bit of a sweet mess. While this bottle was clearly off from what was intended, it was off in an interesting sort of way: grapey, with a tart sweetness replacing a cloying sweetness. Maple, which was a key ingredient in the original recipe, is completely gone, and Jon and I wondered if the bacteria (which lactobacillus is, don't forget) ate those sugars. What's left is an odd amalgamation of peppery-tart sweetness.
Neither of us needed more than a few ounces, but believe it: The infected Proprietor's, which was bottled Sept. 18, is worth tasting.
Coffee Stout
After a long whiff, I wondered whether this bottle might not be infected after all. It smelled a touch peppery, but the nose was thick and heavy with all sorts of wonderful sensations.
"It smells like leather and coffee," Jon said. "Like wet leather. And tobacco."
Yes!
And then we sipped.
No!
"It tastes terrible," Jon said.
It was so bad that it's difficult to come up with clever words to explain what filled our glasses. But I'll try. It's like metallic pepper spent a year at the bottom of a garbage can in a sweaty gym sock and ... well, just don't drink it. However, a full bottle of Bourbon County Coffee makes for an outstanding paperweight.
Barleywine
Without the big, roasty body of a stout, the effect of lactobacillus might be clearest in this English-style barleywine.
Tartness.
It was a factor in all four beers but was particularly pronounced in a beer that should be anything but tart. When done well — as the 2013 and 2014 releases of Bourbon County Barleywine were — an English-style barleywine should be a long, sweet and decadent ride, especially after aging in a bourbon barrel.
This version actually started OK on the palate, as though it might come off as a well-executed sour beer. But then it lurched into a few unfortunate directions: astringent, and something like a burnt rubber band.
"This might be the first sour barleywine," Jon said.
Hopefully, it's also the last.
The most interesting thing about drinking this beer was wrestling with whether it or the Coffee was worse. After long, careful deliberation, I settled on the Coffee. And then I drank some water.
CornAndBeer
Well-Known Member
"A better bet might be blending it at home with a readily available bourbon barrel-aged stout, like New Holland's Dragon's Milk, to shave off the musty edges."
God I hope he isn't serious but I know he is.
God I hope he isn't serious but I know he is.
SerenityNow
Well-Known Member
Drinking 20 Oct 15 1404 batch side by side with 2012. Liking the AB InBev batch better. No sign of infection thankfully, but worried because I bought a case of 2015. Not the worst problem in the world to have to quickly drink lots of BCBS in a short amount of time.
thebandit1
Well-Known Member
yamar68"A better bet might be blending it at home with a readily available bourbon barrel-aged stout, like New Holland's Dragon's Milk, to shave off the musty edges."
Jnorton00
Well-Known Member
I have to be going on 4 weeks now with no refund. I hope they get that check to me soon and don't screw me.
preluderl
Well-Known Member
Sending my refund packet in the mail today. Four bottles.
JBP
Well-Known Member
Had a Regal this weekend and it seemed fine. If anything has actually gotten better since release. Yes I know a beer with fruit will be harder to pick up possible infection but there were zero other potential signs. Carb, mouthfeel, etc were all spot on.
That being said I don't think it's safe to assume any of the 2015 brands are 100% free of problems but maybe Regal is a much lesser percentage, or there's some sciencey reason it's not developing off flavors like the others due to the adjunct additons or something? I don't know.
Side note I also had a 2013 regular this weekend and holy **** is that beer perfect (still). How they have fallen so far as a program in 2 years is really depressing.
That being said I don't think it's safe to assume any of the 2015 brands are 100% free of problems but maybe Regal is a much lesser percentage, or there's some sciencey reason it's not developing off flavors like the others due to the adjunct additons or something? I don't know.
Side note I also had a 2013 regular this weekend and holy **** is that beer perfect (still). How they have fallen so far as a program in 2 years is really depressing.
user 308679
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Just sent my refund application in for the regular BCBS (a case worth). If I get a check by Christmas I'll be in shock.
stupac2
Well-Known Member
No check yet here, several weeks later, and sadly despite cold storage the last one I opened was pretty clearly sour.
ApocalypseZombie
Well-Known Member
To be fair, 2015 (before infection started to show) was my favorite regular BCBS since 2011. ALL the chocolate.
Did you get this at Market District? I picked up mine at Market District and the timestamp is 0749. Does anyone know how the time stamps work? Are 0747 and 0749 close enough that its unlikely to be infected based on the 0747 time stamp report? I haven't seen a report either way (good or bad) for Oct 10 (1820 time stamp) which is the other bottle I have.
Looks like it is 0747:
Did you happen across a bad bottle from this date? I have a few more - we don't get a lot of BCBS in Pittsburgh - but I'll happily open a few more to see what the variation is like.
uvm2003
Well-Known Member
Whole foods Wexford - tagging wyckydsceptre because I know he'll have bottles from the same date/time. I haven't had infected bottles from 9/30 but admittedly it's been awhile since I've opened one. All of mine turned out okay.
Shakedwnst
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My 9/30 bottles that seem infected all have higher time stamps. 09xx has been ok, but the 11xx have been awful
Jnorton00
Well-Known Member
I emailed GI and was told they hope to get the refunds out within a couple of weeks for whatever that is worth.
nodamagedone
Well-Known Member
two in the bush.
Jnorton00
Well-Known Member
so DVP?
preluderl
Well-Known Member
How long ago did you send your labels and all in?
8/08 I dropped them in the mail.
preluderl
Well-Known Member
Thanks. Mine has only been about 2 1/2 weeks. Fingers crossed that I get a check by the end of the month.
Jnorton00
Well-Known Member
Received my check back on Monday.
stupac2
Well-Known Member
Check received today. Hurray infected beer!
sacrelicio
Well-Known Member
I got in just under the wire. And some of them were fine, so free beer!
PHBoiler
Well-Known Member
Got my check today as well.
Aaron from the Wood
Well-Known Member
I sent my labels in the beginning of last week.
Tonight I cracked open the first bottle of the case I purchased (10/12 bottling date)...a little excess carbonation and definitely tart, bordering on sour.
Tonight I cracked open the first bottle of the case I purchased (10/12 bottling date)...a little excess carbonation and definitely tart, bordering on sour.
StevonHanby
Well-Known Member
Anyone got a good crock pot recipe?
StevonHanby
Well-Known Member
nice
steimie
Premium Athletic Supporter
You bought a case of BCBS and didn't open the first one until tonight?I sent my labels in the beginning of last week.
Tonight I cracked open the first bottle of the case I purchased (10/12 bottling date)...a little excess carbonation and definitely tart, bordering on sour.
Aaron from the Wood
Well-Known Member
They're worth more if you don't open the box, like lego kits.
But seriously, I had a number of loose bottles from different bottling dates that I was drinking through first. Also, I go through 15% stouts a lot slower than I used to...
preluderl
Well-Known Member
No check yet, been about 3 1/2 weeks. Hoping it comes soon.
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