Skunkie Sam Adams

[robertbartsch]

I'll drink this on the train communting home at night. Overall, it is a good beer. On occasion, I have had this and it has been a tad stale tasting.

I'm not sure what it could be. One last night was stale and it was stamped for consumption by 12/10.

Anyway, this may be from getting hit with light or perhaps stored in 100 degree temps?????

 

[BigEd]

I think you can be confident that any good commercial product is going to leave the brewery fresh and in good shape. Once the wholesalers and retailers get hold of the beer it does become something of a crap shoot. Poor storage and handling by the middlemen can be a problem. About all you can do is buy from stores that appear to take care of their beer and move a lot so it is more likely to be fresh.

 

[yodalegomaster]

It takes less than 10 min in direct sunlight to skunk a beer, so, an hour in the sun in a brown bottle will do it.

 

[Goblet]

Yeah, we bought a case of Sam Adams summer sampler not long ago, and every single bottle was awful. I've never had a bad bottle of beer or wine from this store before, so I'm inclined to believe they take good care of their merchandise. But clearly these beers were mistreated somewhere up the supply line.

 

[Idlehanz]

It takes less than 10 min in direct sunlight to skunk a beer.

Where did you get this info at? I know light can ruin a beer. Not that I don't believe you, but I never thought that little amount of time in the sun could destroy a beer.

 

[carnevoodoo]

Where did you get this info at? I know light can ruin a beer. Not that I don't believe you, but I never thought that little amount of time in the sun could destroy a beer.

It doesn't take 10 minutes. You can detect skunk on the nose in about a minute of direct sunlight, depending on the beer. For it to be ruined, I'd say 7-10 minutes will totally make your beer disgusting.

If you want to run the experiment for yourself buy a bottle of Bud (you want a beer in a brown bottle so it isn't already ruined). Open it, pour it into a glass, and put it in the sun. Smell it every minute or two. It'll get there.

 

[Germelli1]

Where did you get this info at? I know light can ruin a beer. Not that I don't believe you, but I never thought that little amount of time in the sun could destroy a beer.

x2.

Hell I have left beer in the bed of my truck on work days when it was over 100*. I did this for about two weeks and the beer was 100% fine.

Or does it have to be open to skunk that quick?

 

[carnevoodoo]

x2.

Hell I have left beer in the bed of my truck on work days when it was over 100*. I did this for about two weeks and the beer was 100% fine.

Or does it have to be open to skunk that quick?

No no. People are confusing things here. Skunking has NOTHING to do with heat. Skunking is a light reaction caused by light rays hitting volatiles in beer. Brown glass, cardboard, anything that blocks light will protect it.

Now, that many heat fluctuations can definitely contribute to the beer aging too fast and becoming stale, but it won't skunk it.