Well, we knew our Bernie Brew, aptly described as “A Lovingly Irascible Democratic Socialist Milk Stout Infused with Vermont Maple Syrup,” burst onto the scene because we couldn’t keep in in store shelves for more than a few hours, we didn’t expect it to actually burst once it got into the homes of our #progressive beer fans.
Before we get into the details, we’re gonna say this: Keep this beer refrigerated at all times!
Yes, it’s true, we’ve had a few customers send us pictures of the bottoms popping out of the Bernie Brew Cans, cans opening up full of foam, and even one saying a can literally blew up in her kitchen cabinet.
What in the world is happening, you might ask?
Science! We answer.
Our Bernie Brew is what is called a “pastry stout,” named because it takes the sweet, rich, dessert-like side of a stout to the extreme by adding lactose, maple syrup, and some baking spices.
As you can imagine, pastry stouts and a lot of fruity beers, like frambroise, have extra sugar in them (maple syrup, lactose, fructose), and sugar is what ferments when yeast is added to create alcohol. The side effect of fermentation is the creation of carbon dioxide, and you need warmer temperatures to create the right conditions for fermentation.
So what is happening to our Bernie Brew to make it blow up? It’s too warm, and the sugars in the can are fermenting with the existing yeast and creating carbon dioxide, which eventually builds up enough pressure to overpower the can itself.
So we strongly suggest, if you have a can of Bernie Brew at your home right now, to make sure you put it in the fridge—like….PRONTO...as the label on the can suggests.
That’s the short-term solution, but we think there might be a better long-term solution.
While we love the taste of this dessert beer, we don’t think we can expect every single consumer to read the label and keep this beer refrigerated, and we CERTAINLY don’t want anyone getting hurt by exploding beer, so we’re considering changing the flavor of our Bernie Brew.
Also, the fresh maple syrup we put in the beer is EXPENSIVE, thus drives the price of this beer up, and some of our good customers have reminded us that our favorite progressive, Bernie Sanders, might not be too happy if the only folks that could afford his namesake beer were the wealthy 1 percenters.
So we’re thinking for the sake of safety AND affordability, it might be time to change the beer style of Bernie Brew.
Any suggestions?
And once again, for the love of safely consumable refreshment, please put that beer in the fridge!