Oh, Fantastic Then! & Our Commitment to Quality
We recently announced the delay of a limited release pale ale called Oh, Fantastic Then! A bit of an explanation is due to the folks who were anticipating the release. The beer was to feature a new and promising hop called Southern Passion that is beginning to trickle out of a South African breeding program. This variety is exceedingly hard to source. The whole brewery was really fired up to use Southern Passion in a crushable pale ale and feature them at a fairly heavy handed rate, front and center along with Azacca and Mosaic. During our sensory tasting of the beer (which we hold twice a week) there was a developing diacetyl compound that was caught.
Diacetyl is a yeast metabolite that can remain in beer if there is an incomplete fermentation. It gives off a butterscotch flavor and aroma that some people do not enjoy. Regardless of the taster’s preference, the flavor was unintended and so should be considered an off flavor. After a few tests, we felt that it could be possible for the beer to self-correct, and so we decided to just delay the release and “wait and see.”
Unfortunately, we are no longer optimistic that the beer will clear of this off flavor and we will not be releasing this batch of Oh, Fantastic Then! We are firm believers that in order to provide the absolute best beers to our consumers that sometimes it is necessary to dump a beer. We are fully committed to protecting your experience with our beers to the best of our abilities, and go to pretty great lengths to do so every day. It is a big point of pride for all of us at Creature Comforts that we are willing to do what it takes to ensure that each time you pick up one of our beers, you are experiencing the beer in the way that we intended.
Since we opened our doors, we have had a fanatical commitment to quality. We strive to invest 10% of capital expenditures on quality initiatives. We employ a full time lab manager with extensive industry experience who I work diligently with to maintain all of our beers as “true to brand,” and have a staff of nearly 20 trained tasters. While our distribution partners at Savannah Distributing already do a fantastic job of handling our beers, we are working on some pretty sophisticated in-market quality and freshness monitoring systems that will help us to be sure that our beer is in great shape after it leaves our doors.
If you ever have an issue with a Creature Comforts beer, please let us know. We need to know if there is a problem, and we will do what we can to make it right. Its best to email [email protected] with as much info that you can gather including a photo, date code and batch number if possible.
I am sorry if you are disappointed that Oh, Fantastic Then! has been tabled for now. I truly feel that we made the right call. Finally, I am excited to announce that we’ve been able to secure some more of the elusive Southern Passion hops from South Africa and have plans set to brew another batch of Oh, Fantastic Then! very soon. Stay tuned!
Still dedicated to your curiosity and complete drinking pleasure!
Adam Beauchamp
Brewmaster / Co-Founder