Black Damnation II - Mocha Bomb

Advice needed!

I have brought out a Mocha Bomb for tonight’s celebrations and have noticed that the surface of the beer at the neck has white "flakes" floating in it. Almost like solidified fat!

I am aware this is not normal but has anybody experienced anything similar? From reading various reviews they are quite a few reports of "infected" bottles and up to yet I have been very lucky in that regard.

Is this worth opening or should I return to the seller?

Different kinds of yeast and bacteria tend to produce those kinds of flakes (brettanomyces, lactobacillus etc). Sounds like it could be an infection. I’ve heard that De Struise has had problems with the 750 ml bottles of some Black Damnation beers.

Thanks for the reply. I have checked my others III and XII and they both have it albeit to a smaller degree.

As you say they are both 750ml bottles too...

The white flakes are a mold we call in dutch "Kaam"; it is a sort of candida but shouldn’t effect flavor. That is what I’ve learned..

FYI: I’ve openend around 5 bottles of 75 Black Damnation (Coffee Club, Black Mes, Mocha Bomb) and all the bottles were infected.

Band-aid & gushing. In my opinion, this means that Brett is in the bottle.

Struise should come clean about this one...

Originally posted by rood
...and all the bottles were infected.

Band-aid & gushing.

Struise should come clean about this one...

That may explain the gushing with both bottles of Coffee Club I have opened (however, I have never noticed the white flakes before).

Interestingly, I have never experienced the gushing with Black Berry Albert or S.H.I.T.

Both Mocha Bomb and Black Mes were sour when I got them within the past year (750 mls). Pretty sad at $43 a piece. Luckily got store credit. My local store is this shizzz.

My understanding is that the majority, if not all, of the recent 750 releases were pretty infected. I feel bad for the retailers, because once word got out people quickly stopped shelling out $40 for the bottles. Still shelf turds in several stores around here.

I didn’t notice any of the flakes in my bottles when I opened them, also not on the ones I have in the cellar. They gushed a bit to be honest, but not an exploding gush, more like the foam keeps filling the bottle and coming out of it slowly even after I have filled a full glass.

I had noticed those white flakes in a bottle of http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/de-molen-koetjes-kalfjes-milk-stout/186548/ which was almost undrinkable.

Thanks for the replies all.

I opted for the Black Mes tonight which had some white flakes in the neck but not as much as the Mocha Bomb. No gushing and tasted pretty good but not on par with Coffee Club or Black Berry Albert. Hopefully, the others will be ok as they are saved for special occasions but I do have back-up Imperial Stouts if they are (as it appears they may be) infected.

Cheers.

I can’t say for sure whether this had to do with infection as people here have said, but the initial batch of these beers in 11.2 oz. bottles years ago was miles better than any iteration of this most recent batch, keg or bottle.