I sent Scott an email this morning about the latest Gratitude. He replied back really quick and updated the site with this; 2011 Gratitude Update You may be wondering what the story is with our latest round of Gratitude Barleywine... and by "latest", I mean this is absolutely the latest we've ever released this beer. And it's still not ready for release yet. Why? Quality issues. One of the most enjoyable quality checks we make here is the step where we crack open a couple of bottles, check to see how the well bottle conditioning has worked, and verify that the beer's carbonation level is within spec for what we are shooting for. Well, this time it wasn't quite so enjoyable, since the beer is almost completely flat. It's a challenging environment for the yeast to work in, given that it's an 11+% beer, so we're looking at our options to see what we can do to get it to carbonate properly. One of the more painful options we're considering is to re-brew this batch completely, which will of course take more time, and probably mean the loss of this entire batch... but we're not quite ready to go down that path just yet, until a few less drastic options are explored more thoroughly. So, I don't have much of a time estimate for you, except to say... Not any time soon. Sorry it's not better news. Cheers - Scott Not good news, but still worth waiting for. Not sure if anyone else had seen this yet so I thought I'd share.
That's a tough situation to be in. Alan Sprints from HotD released the last bottling of Bourbon Fred with known carbonation issues. He priced it accordingly and I doubt there were major problems selling what was produced. Since this is the last of the 'rainbow' series, I don't blame Scott for not wanting to follow in Alan's footsteps. I wouldn't want to end such a highly regarded series with a product below my expectations either. I think Scott should still sell the product (still tastes good, right?), maybe under a name other than Gratitude. Just my $0.02.
The problem is it sounds like they're already in the Gratitude bottles though. I don't claim to know much about anything, but I would have to think that would be a pain to remove them from the Gratitude bottles and then re-bottle them...
I doubt they wrapped them up in the paper before inspecting them. That's like wax dipping I'd think, where it's the last thing you do. You are right that they are probably in the clear 750ml bottles.
Good call, I for some reason (see, I really am an idiot) assumed that the paper label were already fixed to the bottle...
I didn't think they labeled/bagged the bottles until it is ready for sale? Edit - Beerontwowheels beat me to my post.
A total re-brew would be pretty costly but I appreciate his commitment to quality standards. If it were me, I wouldn't sell the bottles that are not carbonating. It just seems like bad business to sell an inferior product. Even if it was renamed. I would, however, hold on to sond of it and serve it at the release party for free just so his followers can see the difference.
I really hate to hear this, but considering Gratitude it the best non barrel aged barleywine ive had, I will wait for sure!
I'd absolutely still buy it. It would be a fun project to make a starter of yeast w/ high alcohol tolerance, then split up and repitch in the bottles, recap and bottle condition at a constant 72 or so.
Scott tweeted that he rebrewed Gratitude. Had to start from scratch. But there will be more Bitter End!
I was going to do my best to make it to the Gratitude release when I heard it was coming up months ago. With Scott having had these problems carbonating the brew, and knowing that he did the right thing and rebrewed, I'll definitely be at the release. Good on you East End! Oh, and thanks for the update, Matt.
2008 was not a re-brew, I'm pretty sure they ended up dumping half the batch due to infection. That is why the bottle numbers are so much lower than 07/09. Its a bummer, the '08 batch is probably my favorite.
couldn't find the link before - but just found it: http://www.eastendbrewing.com/node/767 2008 Green Wax: A difficult year for Gratitude. The original 1400 labeled bottles could not be sold due to a quality issue with the beer... a protein burn in the kettle, that did not come through in our initial tastings. We brewed a single replacement batch of just 800 bottles, and released it with dark purple ink on the label instead of black, just so we could tell the difference.
I would buy this beer, still, whatever, in a heartbeat. Shame about it though. Used to feel sorry for myself as a homebrewer. Big breweries have it so easy, used to think. Years later I feel sorry for the big guys, bigger and bigger problems.
How much did they sell the verts for? I would assume they would do the same thing when this batch is released?
6 year stacked vertical was $600 http://www.eastendbrewing.com/node/898 but from a more recent post on the website: >>> We let people in at about 12 noon last year, but by 9am, there was already a line forming at the door. Mostly, this was for the older year "vertical packs" that we don't have stock to do this year. For this year's "vintage stock" of Gratitude and "other previous releases", quantities that we have on hand are all comparatively VERY LOW, so realistically, don't count on landing some. >>> looks like no 6 year verticals this year.
6 bottles for $600?! Dang! Does anyone recall what one bottle of the newest version went for last year?
Stacked vertical. IE... 6 bottles of Gratitude 2010 5 bottles of Gratitude 2009 4 bottles of Gratitude 2008 3 bottles of Gratitude 2007 2 bottles of Gratitude 2006 1 bottle of Gratitude 2005
Ahhh, that makes a lot more sense. 21 bottles of a ridiculous beer for $600 doesn't sound sooooo bad.
Considering my only chance to land this (outside of going to the release, which I do not consider worth the trouble for me) is to pay ~$30 for one of the most recent vintage, I would say it's a great deal. They could price the '05 for $100 and it would sell out immediately.
I don't know much about brewing techniques but what would cause a brewery that has been brewing the same beer every year start to suddenly have carbonation issues?
I'm sure it was a problem with the yeast. He ended up brewing a new batch that I hope is ready soon. Planning on attending the release when it happens.
It looks like the new batch (12a) is also having carbonation problems like the original (12) and they may end up brewing a 3rd batch.
