So much for the “happy accident.”
Great Lakes Brewing Co. has pulled 22-ounce bottles of Barrel-Aged Christmas Ale from its gift shop and won’t release the beer in the retail market because it took on an unexpected sour flavor.
The Cleveland brewery, which has a reputation for taking quality seriously, at first called the sourness a “happy accident” and said it expected sour-loving fans to enjoy the brew, a barrel-aged version of its popular Christmas Ale. But craft beer drinkers on social media were sour to that idea, accusing Great Lakes of trying to pass off infected beer on its customers.
The brewery posted a message Monday morning on its website and Facebook page saying the beers would be yanked from its gift shop. Retailers also were notified over the weekend that they wouldn’t receive the beer.
“This was a difficult choice for us to make, especially since it concerns a beer that so many of our customers were excited to try [and one that we were excited to release],” brewery spokeswoman Marissa DeSantis said in an email.
“Many of us found the sour flavors to add a pleasant [yet unintended] complexity to the beer, which we thought some of our fans might also appreciate,” she added. “For that reason we initially planned to make the beer available to the public in our gift shop. Ultimately though, after several internal conversations, we decided we did not feel right releasing a packaged product with a flavor that was unintended by our brewers. We will reserve several bottles for additional lab testing and [quality control], but they will not be available for purchase.”
Barrel-Aged Christmas Ale still will be available to sample on draft at the brewpub. But the brewery won’t sell pints or growlers.
Acme Fresh Market beer buyer Jon Albrecht and other retailers said they were notified over the weekend that the beer wouldn’t be released as expected this week because of an off flavor.
“I think they are doing the right thing,” Albrecht said.
Rick Armon can be reached at 330-996-3569 or rarmon@thebeaconjournal.com. Read his beer blog at www.ohio.com/beer. Follow him on Twitter at @armonrick.