Microbrew Gusher

[Silo Ted]

Picked up a 6-pack of Australian made ESB the weekend before last, and loved it so much that the Mrs only managed to get one bottle out of it before I destroyed the rest. (yea, shit happens, baby). So when a mate of mine came over last Saturday and asked what sort of beers he should pick up, I suggested the same again. Sadly, every one of the five bottles we cracked was a wild gusher, and expelled about 1/4 of the contents. Inexplicable, in that he walked home with them from the shops, didn't drop them, and the carry pack wasn't damaged, so no signs of bad handling prior to sale.

This evening, a full six days later, I cracked the remaining bottle from the 6-pack that had been in the fridge for that time, and again, it was a gusher. And as my second beer for tonight (after a Fullers IPA) i detected something not quite right about the taste and the smell. The smell was reminiscent of the old calamine lotion that grandma used to dab onto itchy mozzie bites. And the taste was not the best. Tolerable, but not the awesomeness that this beer presented as two weeks ago. I should mention that when we had the gusher 6 pack I had been drinking wine and smoking all day, so my perception was not at it's best.

Bloke at the bottle shop suggested that in the space of a week, it's quite likely both 6 packs were from the same carton, or at the very least, definitely from the same batch run. So how the hell could the same beer taste, smell and gush so badly ? A bottle-borne infection would explain a single gusher, but the whole 6-pack ?

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

Sounds like you were lucky to get a good sixer to start with. I had the same when Matilda Bay first made a Bohemian pils, sent one bottle back and they said it was some thing to do with oxalate crystals or some thing. Didnt taste bad just would not stop gushing. They gave me a new sixer which was fine.
Gb

 

[michael_aussie]

weird??
infected beer from "real" breweries are v rare in my experiences.

just as "corked" bottles of wine as also v rare... despite what some wannabe wine snobs say...

 

[Silo Ted]

Sounds like you were lucky to get a good sixer to start with. I had the same when Matilda Bay first made a Bohemian pils, sent one bottle back and they said it was some thing to do with oxalate crystals or some thing. Didnt taste bad just would not stop gushing. They gave me a new sixer which was fine.
Gb

Isohop would fix that. :lol:

Lucky indeed the first time, it was tasty. But the couple of other singles, not a 6'er, I have tried from the brewery were delivered in a fairly good way, taste wise. I wouldn't say that I'm off the idea of trying more of their stuff. Or even the ESB again, given a couple of months, and maybe a different retailer, to assure the batch is broken up enough for me to get a different run of the same ESB

 

[malt_shovel]

weird??
infected beer from "real" breweries are v rare in my experiences.

just as "corked" bottles of wine as also v rare... despite what some wannabe wine snobs say...

I had a chat with a colleague of mine who is over from Houston at the moment and is a high ranking BJCP judge that commented on how wheinstephan beer he regularly gets in the bottle has sulphur notes (1 in 3 i think he said), and we lamented the fact that one of the (if not THE) top brewing schools in Germany can crank out poorly sanitized examples of their beer.

One man's opinion I know, but one I would bet is up to the task of picking an infected brew...

All brewering have their obstacles, what counts is how quickly they get back to bottling / kegging their best beer.

Cheers
:icon_chickcheers:

 

[Silo Ted]

All brewering have their obstacles, what counts is how quickly they get back to bottling / kegging their best beer.

Which is why I should at least email them, and let them know of this.

I did that with another Aussie micro recently, when his sweet stout poured like an oil sludge. Thought they should know, and act accordingly if need be. Apparently the way I was seeing the beer was the desired carbonation - which was none - literally. Will see if I can grab a photo.

 

[haysie]

It was only today in an earlier thread someone posted up their Stone and Wood was no good, albeit it was out of date. Yet so many times I have heard of complaints to micro`s, craft`s and they are gracious to replace them postage included. Customer service does exist!
I get a 3/4 can full of Melbourne Bitter and complain I get a cheque for $3.85. Yes before some Fosters person tells me how many dodgy complaints they get, it would nice to receive product not paper.

 

[Silo Ted]

They gave me a new sixer which was fine.

Yet so many times I have heard of complaints to micro`s, craft`s and they are gracious to replace them postage included. Customer service does exist!

Yep, and the brewery Im talking about in the stout situation, he offered me another bottle of something else (hmmm) in the post. The bottleshop guy who I rang on the phone when I was drinking it also offered to replace it, or give my money back**. So I could have gotten two bottles. I chose neither, because I like to take a punt on new aussie names.

I should email them. Or just mention it here, in case they are reading. After all, I'm not bagging out the brewery by any means. Even the very same style was great a week beforehand, in another purchase



** I called the bottleshop because I knew it had only been delivered two days ago, the bottled date on the label was a week ago, and I suspected under-conditioning, so wondered if it required a while out of the fridge, in the retail store. Lo and behold, I was wrong, it's force carbed.

 

[milpod]

It was only today in an earlier thread someone posted up their Stone and Wood was no good, albeit it was out of date. Yet so many times I have heard of complaints to micro`s, craft`s and they are gracious to replace them postage included. Customer service does exist!
I get a 3/4 can full of Melbourne Bitter and complain I get a cheque for $3.85. Yes before some Fosters person tells me how many dodgy complaints they get, it would nice to receive product not paper.

Funnily enough I had complete ignorance from Murray's.Emailed them about a faulty product 3 years ago.Still waiting for a reply.

Needless to say will never buy that brand,and actively tell friends and colleagues to avoid it.Piss poor form

 

[bum]

Needless to say will never buy that brand,and actively tell friends and colleagues to avoid it.Piss poor form

You (and possibly your friends) are missing out on what is probably the best beer in this country.

But, hey, keep feeling proud about it. Go you.

 

[milpod]

You (and possibly your friends) are missing out on what is probably the best beer in this country.

But, hey, keep feeling proud about it. Go you.

In your humble opinion.

 

[jakub76]

You (and possibly your friends) are missing out on what is probably the best beer in this country.

But, hey, keep feeling proud about it. Go you.

+1

Murray's makes a lot of excellent beer

 

[O'Henry]

+2

I emailed Murray's about some beer and heard back 45 minutes later. I emailed Shaun though, not the sales and marketing people...

 

[Silo Ted]

It's a shame that the Ignore function is only good until someone quotes another's post.

Worse still that I agree with the statement.

Some of Murray's beers are outstanding. I'm lining up what must be one of the last bottles of AA4, because I won't be content to only have tried it once before (and being blown out). There has to be a revisitation

 

[bconnery]

In your humble opinion.

And mine.
I think Murray's are right up there. And for every one story I've seen about their poor customer service, which is yours, I've seen half a dozen at least about it being excellent.
THey did have some issues with some batches a while back, particularly I think in the treatment of a batch by a large bottle store chain from memory, but I haven't had a dodgy beer from them in years...

 

[neonmeate]

weird??
infected beer from "real" breweries are v rare in my experiences.

ever tried Bintara? Outback? Buckleys Pilz? Hopping Mad?

 

[outbreak]

Funnily enough I had complete ignorance from Murray's.Emailed them about a faulty product 3 years ago.Still waiting for a reply.

Needless to say will never buy that brand,and actively tell friends and colleagues to avoid it.Piss poor form

Did it ever occur to you that the email didnt get through? How about a follow up phone call to check if someone read it?

 

[beersom]

Funnily enough I had complete ignorance from Murray's.Emailed them about a faulty product 3 years ago.Still waiting for a reply.

Needless to say will never buy that brand,and actively tell friends and colleagues to avoid it.Piss poor form

I am terribly sorry to hear this. We take great pride in our product and in the event of a problem we like to deal with it ASAP. I can only assume that the email was somehow lost in the system. Please contact me via PM and I will see that it is dealt with promptly.
Once again i am terribly sorry about this.

Ian Watson
Murrays Craft Brewing Company.

 

[BrenosBrews]

I had a chat with a colleague of mine who is over from Houston at the moment and is a high ranking BJCP judge that commented on how wheinstephan beer he regularly gets in the bottle has sulphur notes (1 in 3 i think he said), and we lamented the fact that one of the (if not THE) top brewing schools in Germany can crank out poorly sanitized examples of their beer.

One man's opinion I know, but one I would bet is up to the task of picking an infected brew...

All brewering have their obstacles, what counts is how quickly they get back to bottling / kegging their best beer.

Cheers
:icon_chickcheers:

Sulphur is primarilly a fermentation/yeast issue not a sanitation issue, especially with lager and hefeweizen yeasts. Depending on which Weihenstephaner beer you were talking about sulper notes could actually be allowed.

So I'd hope he wasn't judging a German Pilsner I'd entered in a comp...

 

[fcmcg]

I am terribly sorry to hear this. We take great pride in our product and in the event of a problem we like to deal with it ASAP. I can only assume that the email was somehow lost in the system. Please contact me via PM and I will see that it is dealt with promptly.
Once again i am terribly sorry about this.

Ian Watson
Murrays Craft Brewing Company.

Well you can't argue about that...
This is excellent customer service....
I emailed a brewery here in Melb once after buying one of their beers and it being vinegar and their response was " next time your down here , remind us and we'll give you a free beer" Well i wasn't about to drive 2 hours down to the Mornington Peninsula region for a free beer....
This would also be the same brewery that didn't want 20 Westgate brewers stopping by , on our bus trip , as they said they couldn't deal with 20 people at once...and they didn't want a coach in their car park....hmmm go figure ...