[jweiss206]

I've never come across this before and am curious what the infection may have been. I was just in one of my regular beer stores and they were opening fresh deliveries. One of the boxes had a six pack of a well known pilsner, but one of the bottles was missing a cap. It obviously was missed on the bottling line as it didn't explode off in transit either. I of course asked, "I wonder if it's still good?" She didn't want to, so she let me try it. It was the sourest beer I've ever tasted, like no good kinda sour, and I LOVE sour beers. It had obviously contracted an infection. I'm not sure which one however. I know the processes that cause a beer to sour, but I've never heard of it happening in a beer that had already finished (we tested another beer in that pack and it was fine). Just curious. Thoughts?

[narvin]

I've never come across this before and am curious what the infection may have been. I was just in one of my regular beer stores and they were opening fresh deliveries. One of the boxes had a six pack of a well known pilsner, but one of the bottles was missing a cap. It obviously was missed on the bottling line as it didn't explode off in transit either. I of course asked, "I wonder if it's still good?" She didn't want to, so she let me try it. It was the sourest beer I've ever tasted, like no good kinda sour, and I LOVE sour beers. It had obviously contracted an infection. I'm not sure which one however. I know the processes that cause a beer to sour, but I've never heard of it happening in a beer that had already finished (we tested another beer in that pack and it was fine). Just curious. Thoughts?

With lots of oxygen, it could have started to turn to malt vinegar. Acetobacter is everywhere.

[beersk]

No cap? How did the beer not spill out during transit?

[Joe Sr.]

Ew.  That cap came off somewhere along the line.  who knows what you drank.

[Wort-H.O.G.]

Ew.  That cap came off somewhere along the line.  who knows what you drank.

ha! yep some bad images come to mind.

[jweiss206]

Perhaps the cap blew off in a warehouse somewhere, but the case it was in had no cap nor signs of any spillage and the beer was filled near to the top. Odd. I'm in Seattle and it came from Victory in Philly, so it definitely made a trek to get here. I didn't die overnight, it was just a tiny sip afterall, so I'll go with the malt vinegar explanation.

[Joe Sr.]

You're bolder than I.  For sure.

I keep thinking "urine."

[69franx]

You're bolder than I.  For sure.

I keep thinking "urine."

Or some other "special sauce"

[SiameseMoose]

A long time ago (maybe even 20 years) I bought a pack of Whitbread. Upon getting home I found that all of the bottles were only half-filled. I took it back to the store (gourmet grocery, Jungle Jims in Cincinnati) and approached the beer counter. A woman was working on paperwork with her head down, and I said, "Excuse me, I've got a problem with a beer I bought here." Her head dropped a little, as if she was thinking "Oh No! Not another beer geek." I showed her the bottles, and she burst out laughing. "Don't you know that's Whitbread's new light beer?" What a great impromptu line! In discussing it with her she told me they'd had lots of problems with Whitbread packaging. "They must have the worst quality control of any beer we get." She told me they had received entire pallets where not a single bottle had a cap, and mostly unspilled. I never saw one of those bottles, and I'm not entirely certain I would have tasted one if I did.

[jeffy]

A long time ago (maybe even 20 years) I bought a pack of Whitbread. Upon getting home I found that all of the bottles were only half-filled. I took it back to the store (gourmet grocery, Jungle Jims in Cincinnati) and approached the beer counter. A woman was working on paperwork with her head down, and I said, "Excuse me, I've got a problem with a beer I bought here." Her head dropped a little, as if she was thinking "Oh No! Not another beer geek." I showed her the bottles, and she burst out laughing. "Don't you know that's Whitbread's new light beer?" What a great impromptu line! In discussing it with her she told me they'd had lots of problems with Whitbread packaging. "They must have the worst quality control of any beer we get." She told me they had received entire pallets where not a single bottle had a cap, and mostly unspilled. I never saw one of those bottles, and I'm not entirely certain I would have tasted one if I did.

I love me some Cincinnati humor and I'm a big fan of Jungle Jim's.  Thanks!