Returning Bottled Beer?

As part of a purchase for a Halloween party, I picked up a six-pack Friday that was for my personal consumption (and not the rascals with whom I was enjoying Halloween). I opened two of the bottles on Sunday. The first tasted fine, while the second had a very strong and lingering metallic taste. I returned to the six-pack last night and encountered the same strong and lingering metallic taste.

It would seem (to me at least) kind of goofy to attempt to return the remaining 1/2 of a six-pack, but I was wondering if other people had different opinions? Is an alcohol purchase a buyer-beware type of purchase? On the other hand, would an owner want to know if a customer is unhappy with a product his/her store sold?

If anyone is wondering, the beer is Dogfish's Chicory Stout. Although the beer has a complex taste, I don't think "metal tasting" is part of the intended effect. What really befuddles me is that I really enjoyed the first bottle I opened, but then ran into that metallic taste with the next two. I have three more bottles, but I'm not sure what to do with them. Return them? Open them and see what I get? Other ideas?

I'd cook up some brats with the rest of it.

If you drank out of the bottle could be getting metal taste with the cap (I've noticed this before when drinking from a bottle)?

Pour in a nice 16oz beer pint with wide mouth and you will enjoy the aroma of the beer more while drinking.

If you don't live to far away I will pick up the remaining three.

Oh, and returning 3 beers might not work. If you drank part of the first beer or just the first beer and quickly returned them I guess you probably had a chance to get a refund.

try taking it back... If you bought it from me I'd take it back and then pass it onto the distributor.
what do you have to lose?

If you drank out of the bottle could be getting metal taste with the cap (I've noticed this before when drinking from a bottle)?

Pour in a nice 16oz beer pint with wide mouth and you will enjoy the aroma of the beer more while drinking.

If you don't live to far away I will pick up the remaining three.

Oh, and returning 3 beers might not work. If you drank part of the first beer or just the first beer and quickly returned them I guess you probably had a chance to get a refund.

I should have mentioned that I drank all three from a pint glass.*

Yeah, I agree, returning three seems pointless and cheap. Although I'd take them back if I were an owner. I'm more interested in why the first was "fine" but the other two were "bad." Might have to open another bottle to continue the experiment.

* Well I poured the third one out after 2 sips.

you're drinking last winter's batch. the chicory stout isn't very alcoholic so i doubt it ages very well. that's probably why it tastes weird.

i'll go with Caleb on this one
but call Dogfish and let them know
shawn

We picked up a six of Red Tail Ale from one of the large barn type liquor stores last year and had a problem. When we each opened a bottle we found it to be flat and somewhat vinegar like. I was going past the same store in the morning so I took the remainder back. The manager wanted to know why I drank two and before I realized it was bad. I explained the wife thing and he refunded my money no problem. He did say he often gets people that buy AB type stuff who then try a more complex brew and find the taste to be a bit much for them and try to return the "funny" tasting beer.

Most stores do allow returns when the product is bad. I've questioned people a few times when 4 bottles are empty in a 6 pack, but generally go ahead and take care of the customer.

I know this year's batch of Chickory Stout has not been released, so I'm sure you are drinking last years. If it was stored well, I don't think you would have any problems, but if has been sitting under the lights at a store for a year, than I'm sure that it has started to go downhill. If it was sitting on a shelf, I bet the first bottles you drank were sitting back on the shelf and had a bit of protection from the light, while the others could have been sitting closer to the edge and got hit by more light, thus the great flavor you tasted.

The metallic taste did confuse me, as I've never had that before, but with each beer, you can get a different flavor when they start to turn. It could be something in the chickory that is putting out that flavor. I've noticed that most "flavored" stouts do not age well (ie chickory, blueberry) at all. I had a bottle of Dark Horse's Blueberry Stout that I aged a year, and I was very dissapointed in it. First time I had tried a stout that was better fresh than with a little age on it.

Dark Horse's Blueberry Stout.

that one! my friend james had some that had been in his fridge for about 3 months (it was around this past february) and were already tasting suspicious. a few months ago, i drank some of last year's schlafly coffee stout and it was still pretty tasty. i think this year's batch is out now.

Dogfish believes that this particular beer has a 9 month shelf life from bottling but they have had some up to a year and half from bottling, if treated properly , that drank fine.

I'd suggest taking them back anyway. Most retailers will give you a store credit or another 6pk

Below is what Claus Hagelman, Dogfish Head National Sales Manager and extreme beer aficionado had to say about your situation:

"We only say 9 months on our booklet but I have had a 1 and ½ old Chicory and it was still drinking. If this is Chicory Stout from last year and it was not stored right it could be off. If it is this years, which is coming out not I would sample it for yourself. We have had people complain the beer was off, we tested the retains here and it is OK. We have them send us the bottles and over 85% of the time they tasted the same as the ones here. So maybe they did not like it or thought it tasted different from the last time they tried it."

Hope this helps in some way!

Brad

Alot of great feedback.

I ended up opening another bottle and it was "off" as well. At that point I just trashed the rest of them. The bottles were dusty and on the back of the shelf when I found, so they were probably from last year.

I probably could have received a refund. I'm still incorrectly in the "gas at 4 dollars a gallon" mentality, so I wasn't going to travel 10 miles to the place of purchase for a minor refund.

I'll continue to drink Dogfish (a consistent producer) and shop at the local establishment where I made the purchase. No hard feelings in any direction from me.

Beer will go bad. It will keep longer if cold. Hard to check the expiration date as it often coded. When I had a liquor store, it was the delivery drivers responsibility to rotate the beer. Also, some of the slow sellers, they would trade off new beer and take the older (not expired) beer to someplace like Krogers that had a faster turnover.

[Robin Garr]

ok here's a question for all you beer affectionado's... there are wines that get better with age. is there such a thing as a certain beer that tastes better with age?

A very few unusual beers do, Annemarie. Thomas Hardy's Ale from England, and a few other British Strong Ales, are actually vintage-dated and benefit from aging.

Some French beers are known as "bieres de garde" or "Beers to cellar," figuratively.

But these are exceptions. Most beer is best when it's fresh.

All these posts and no mention of the mouse-in-the-bottle scheme from Strange Brew? For shame...