Public Service Announcement: Sierra Nevada Recall

A friend of mine posted a news article on my Facebook feed this morning about a Sierra Nevada recall that has been issued, so in the interests of public safety I figured I'd also post about the recall, just in case folks haven't seen it yet.

Apparently there is an issue with some of the bottles coming out of the Mills River brewery in North Carolina. According to articles I have read, there are a limited number of bottles which have a defect that causes them to lose carbonation, and possibly also break on opening - with the attendant risk of that piece of glass falling into the bottle and potentially causing injury if unwittingly drunk.

The beers impacted by the recall are:

• Pale Ale, bottled between December 5th and January 8th
• Torpedo Extra IPA, bottled between December 5th and January 13th
• Tropical Torpedo, bottled between December 5th and January 13th
• Sidecar Orange Pale Ale, bottled between December 5th and January 13th
• Beer Camp Golden IPA, bottled between December 5th and January 13th
• Otra Vez, bottled between December 5th and January 13th
• Nooner Pilsner, bottled between December 5th and January 13th
• Hop Hunter IPA, bottled between December 5th and January 13th

For more details on the recall itself, see Sierra Nevada's website.

Thankfully the bottles of Narwahl I was given by Mrs V's cousin while we were in South Carolina over the holiday period are unaffected, and I don't think I actually have any other Sierra Nevada beer in the house at the moment, but do please go and check your stashes.

Angry Ill-Informed Snobs Ahoy!

Several of my friends work for Devils Backbone, on the business side of things as well as the brewing. They are all really nice people, and I love it when I have the opportunity, or more usually the happy accident, to hang out with them and talk beer. You would be hard pressed to find a more knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and generally positive bunch of folks, and it helps that Jason shares my love of decocted and bottom fermented beers.

Yesterday, one of my friends was visiting another brewery taproom in Virginia, whose beer and staff are apparently awesome, and she was wearing her Devils Backbone sweater as the weather has been a little cold of late. On seeing said Devils Backbone sweater, some customers in the establishment began to harass my friend, including this delightful comment:

"Fuck those corporate sellouts, and fuck you for working for a bunch of overrated corporate dicks."

Charming eh?

Of course the root of this animosity is last year's news that Devils Backbone are now partially owned by AB-InBev, I am not aware of the full details of the deal but I vaguely recall hearing that AB-InBev don't own the entirety of Devils Backbone. If I am wrong I am sure I'll be corrected soon enough.

It would appear then that in the mind of some craft beer purists it is acceptable behaviour to accost someone you do not know, verbally abuse them, and basically be a total twat of a human being because that person works for a successful brewery. Part of me wouldn't be too surprised if the wanker in question used to drink lots of Devils Backbone beer and is all butt hurt because of the sale, or has a palette so refined that they can taste the corporate structure in the beer.

Whichever way you look at it, and I can understand people choosing to spend their money on whichever brewing company is most acceptable to them, this is completely unacceptable behaviour, the kind of thing you would expect in the school yard from 7 year olds, not from people legally old enough to drink.

One of the things I love about Devils Backbone, and the folks that work there, is that they live by their motto 'beer positive', craft beer fans would do well to do likewise.

The Mysteries of the East

I have been pondering what to do with this year's International Homebrew Project, especially with 70% of respondents to my little poll over in the right rail saying they would take part depending on the recipe.

As I was looking back at previous years' projects I realised that we have done several styles without ever tackling the most popular craft beer style, India Pale Ale.

That then will be the theme for this year, but don't worry I don't expect you to do a Pete Brown and traipse your homebrew on a ship from Burton to India via Brazil. I am going to avail myself of some historic IPA recipes and then run another poll to decide which one gets the nod.

If you are one of the 7 folks that said your participation was dependent on the recipe, please leave a comment on this post about whether India Pale Ale works for you.

#IHP2017?

The eagle eyed among you will have noticed the little poll in the right rail over there.

The question is very simple, are you interested in taking part in the International Homebrew Project this year?

What is involved?

• Brew a batch of homebrew from an agreed recipe
• Blog/tweet/post about the results on an agreed date.

You in?