Skunked Pilsner Urquell

[barley ben]

let me tell ya, i'm really not having a good day. woke up to work calling me in early. i work on a dock for a frieght company.all i got was the heaviest and oddest frieght to unload by hand. i finally get off at midnight and on my hour ride home i stop to pick up a six pack at my local south jersey bar(aka. A-B central). ahh, at least they have Pilsner Urquell!!!! finish the ride home and pour my first brew and HORRIBLY SKUNKED. someday everyone will realize you shouldn't use green bottles when exporting your beer to people who don't know how to care for it. it all tastes like skunked Heinikin by the time i get to it. oh well, guess i'll drink it anyway. that will teach me to not make enough homebrew!!!!

[hopjack13]

i feel your pain! i had a bottle of westvleteren i was saving for a special occasion and when i opened it, uh......gag. twas something very wrong with this brew, great now i have to go out and try to aquire another bottle!
and get this one , i was having a bad day myself a while back , bad when i woke up , bad when i got to work and all day at work.
stop off and picked me up a bottle of speedway stout , got stuck in traffic for three hours trying to get home and when i get home and am walking up to the door , BAM! BANG!CRASH! my speed way stout i just paid $12 for fell victim to a cheap plastic bag!
i really felt like crying......oh the frustration!

[barley ben]

one good thing, i only paid 8 bucks for my sixer. may not taste good, but at least i can get a buzz from them. brews not good for anything when it's on the sidewalk.

[Brownbeard]

Skunky beer in green bottles, one word Grolsch.

[steveh]

Originally posted by barley ben
ahh, at least they have Pilsner Urquell!!!! finish the ride home and pour my first brew and HORRIBLY SKUNKED.

Here we go again, this isn't the first time skunky Urquell has been discussed around here. I don't know where you guys are getting your Urquell, but my local has been carrying it at (cover your ears Ben) $11.99 a 12-pack for some time now - and I haven't had a skunked bottle yet.

Is it possible that the Pils is over-chilled? I remember the first time I saw the serving temperature instructions on a bottle of Heineken, tried it less cold than I'd had it before, and no more skunk! Of course, the 12-packs are more protected from light than a sixer is, but I'd mention to the store that you got a six-pack with serious problems.

S.

[beer editor]

We can get that same $11.99 12-pack price in New Mexico, and I think the covered packaging really cuts the skunk factor (doubt that? Try PU next to Heineken).

But to be safe, I still do the same thing as when I bought 6-packs, which is to ask for one directly from a case. It's better yet if it is an opened case.

Lots of other bad things can happen to beer before it gets to you, but few of them turn beer as quickly as sunlight interacting with hops. Heck, I use a cooler to transport growlers home from the brewpub.

Prosit,
Stan

[barley ben]

unfortunately for me, i didn't have much of a say in it. you got to remember that it was like 12:45 at night and the only place open was a bar that was really hopping. this wasn't my usual place to pick some up. they don't give you much of an opportunity to hand select what you want. basically "what do ya need, thats $8, thanks alot"., and i'm on my way. and it was that much because i did buy it at a bar, not a regular store.

oh yeah, i'm in no way talking bad about the brand, just the people who didn't take care of it. i've drank it many of times and can't really complain about a thing till that. it's a really good all around beer.

[fuji6100]

There is a local beer store by me that is VERY convienently located, but they have a big problem that makes me not go there. For a good 4-5 hours a day, sunlight comes directly in the pane-glass store-front and shines on the beer racks. I got some grolsch that was so skunky you could smell it across the kitchen. I commented to the owner that he may want to swap the beer rack with the vodka or something to get the beer out of the light, but he said he wanted the beer brands to be visible from outside the store through the window.

Oh well, I'm never buying beer there again.

[beer editor]

Originally posted by fuji6100
There is a local beer store by me that is VERY convienently located, but they have a big problem that makes me not go there. For a good 4-5 hours a day, sunlight comes directly in the pane-glass store-front and shines on the beer racks. I got some grolsch that was so skunky you could smell it across the kitchen. I commented to the owner that he may want to swap the beer rack with the vodka or something to get the beer out of the light, but he said he wanted the beer brands to be visible from outside the store through the window.


If you aren't going there again it probably doesn't matter, but you could suggest to him that he put a few bottles out for display (even in the window) that aren't for sale. If he thinks the beer is important enough to display, perhaps he can be convinced that customers also will be impressed how he cares for it.

Great Lakes Brewing in Cleveland feels so strongly about keeping its beer refrigerated and out of light that it doesn't want stores giving it an end cap (generally considered the primo position).

Prosit,
Stan

[barley ben]

Why should they care. Whenever they bring some home, you can be sure its coming from the back room where it is still in good condition. And most of what they probable sell is Bud that comes in brown bottles and already tastes like garbage. The only ones that seem to suffer are the few of us that come in and try to buy quality beer. Yeah, what we buy is more expensive, but it just doesn't compete with what they make on the macros. I guess as long as they are making money, everything is fine.

[hopjack13]

i was impressed by the fullers brewery about how they put their vintage ales in individual box's to protect them from just this sort of thing.

[barley ben]

Not all store owners are like that. There are very many that do take pride in the quality of their selection. Others are just in it to make money and as long as they are selling, then they are happy.

[barley ben]

Yeah, you would think that more quality breweries would try to find better ways to protect their beer from the elements. I'd even be happy to spend a bit more money on it just kowing it is going to taste like it should. There is nothing more disapointing than finding a beer you have been waiting to taste and when ya finally get the chance, it's skunked.

[sallad]

i recently toured a micro near me, flying fish, and they told me they actually heat up some of their beer after they bottle it. forget how long or how hot, but its supposed to accelerate the aging, so they can get a feel for what it will be like a few months down the road. they have a pretty small distro area, and it sounds like they keep pretty close tabs on how long things sit and how they're stored at bars, beer stores, etc.

[steveh]

Originally posted by beer editor
Heck, I use a cooler to transport growlers home from the brewpub.

I thought that was S.O.P. for everyone! ;)

S.

[beer editor]

Originally posted by steveh
I thought that was S.O.P. for everyone! ;)

S.

At least I understand how out of the mainstream I am ;>)

Prosit,
Stan

[steveh]

Originally posted by beer editor
At least I understand how out of the mainstream I am ;>)

Or just how freaking anal about our beer we ALL are!! ;D

S.