The Bruery Addesses Concerns With Regards to Hottenroth With Peaches
(PLACENTIA, CA) – The Bruery has release a statement about the recent Society sale of Hottenroth with Peaches. Continue reading below if you have experienced any buttery flavor in any bottles you have opened. Cheers!
Dear Society Member,
Earlier this month, we released a newly bottled version of one of our favorites beers, Hottenroth with Peaches. The beer was tasted, rejoiced over, approved for release and offered to our Society members for their own enjoyment and celebration.
We have subsequently received reports that customers were tasting an unpleasant buttery flavor in the beer. We have investigated those reports. Pediococcus, a souring agent in Hottenroth, is continuing to metabolize the residual sugars in the bottled beer, producing detectable levels of diacetyl in varying degrees. Diacetyl is a normal byproduct of the brewing process, naturally occurring during fermentation in all beers, and typically is metabolized by brewer’s yeast before the beer is packaged. Hottenroth also contains Brettanomyces yeast, which typically does a great, although slower, job of metabolizing and “cleaning up” diacetyl. We have found that the Hottenroth with Peaches stored in a room temperature environment does not have diacetyl present, as it has already been metabolized by the Brettanomyces. However, when stored in a cool environment, the Brettanomyces is relatively dormant and may not have had the opportunity to eliminate the diacetyl.
We are confident that any potential diacetyl character will be consumed by the Brettanomyces in a matter of weeks. At this time, we’ve moved our remaining bottles of Hottenroth with Peaches to ambient room-temperature storage to allow the bottles to continue conditioning and stabilize. At the same time, we are placing a temporary hold on pickups and shipments of this beer.
We don’t want for anyone to have a sour taste in their mouth from this bottle of beer. At least not the wrong kind of sour, that is! So, if you did experience an unenjoyable buttery slickness while drinking this beer, we will offer a store credit equal to the total amount paid for your bottles. If you haven’t yet opened your bottles, we recommend letting them sit on a room temp shelf for a few weeks before enjoying, but keep them out of sunlight as that can bring on a whole different set of foul flavors! And, if you haven’t even picked up your order yet, just sit back, relax and dream of being a happy strain of Brett, chomping away at tasty diacetyl compounds.
Okay… So, what now?
If you’ve opened a bottle of Hottenroth with Peaches and experienced detectable levels of diacetyl, please contact [email protected]. The following information will be most helpful in getting you a swift resolution:
A photo of the bottle(s) if you still have them. Try to capture the laser etching on the side, just above the label, if you can (see example). This level of detail on the bottle helps us hone in on what is happening with specific batches / bottling.
Order number(s) of respective TheBrueryStore.com purchase(s).
All credit requests must be submitted prior to August 31st – no late requests will be acknowledged.
Store credit will be issued beginning July 15. If you do not receive your credit via email by July 25, please contact the Society desk.
Credit requests must be submitted by the original customer.
Store credit will only be issued to the original customer.
Store credit is only available to use on TheBrueryStore.com – not The Bruery Tasting Room.
If you have already opened a bad bottle, and the bottle is no longer available, please contact our Society desk at [email protected]. Please include an estimate of when you opened the bottle and your order number so we can look into the matter further.
If you have not yet picked up your Hottenroth with Peaches purchase, all remaining fulfillment will be on hold until we can confirm that the diacetyl has dissipated. You can still pick up the other items in your order if you so choose.
If you have any other specific questions or concerns that we were unable to cover, please feel free to let us know what’s on your mind. Thank you, as always, for your continued support of The Bruery.
Cheers,
The folks at The Bruery
