On September 10th (2021), we re-released SMÜV Lassi, which is our mango lassi inspired barrel aged smoothie sour.

About 2 weeks later, towards the end of September, I received reports of off flavours in the beer, and we recovered a couple of cases from the field to evaluate the extent of the problem. Unfortuantely, a butyric acid off-flavour started showing up in the majority of the cans, and we traced this back to a batch of coconut cream that was used as part of the Lassi recipe. Coconut is fatty and as it degrades, lipid oxidation and lipolysis can lead to the production of butyric acid, which has an offensive flavour (yuck!). This spoilage may have been further accelerated by the heat pasteurizing.  It turned out that some of this coconut cream was also used in the early September batch of SMÜV Pink, but the problem seemed less widespread. We are not going to be using coconut cream in future recipes, since the discovery of this problem.

We immediately emailed all customers who ordered the cans online and offered to replace, refund, or otherwise exchange their beers to make things right!  The last thing I want is for someone to assume that we stand behind a flawed product. I want to ensure everyone comes away happy :)  (This is always the case, by the way.. just reach out any time!)

We were unable to reach all of our customers, as some cans were purchased over the counter, and some cans went to bottle shops and restaurants. All of those restaurant/shop customers were fully reimbursed and asked to dispose of any cans they still had, so as not to let them go out the door. Unfortunately, it looks like I failed to reach at least one restaurant, so some cans were inadvertently still available up until late October. (eek!)

If you have received one of these cans and were not informed of the recall, please send me an email (info@smallponybarrelworks.com) letting me know where you purchased the can and I will make sure we make things right with you!

-Sean (owner and such)