In June I made a purchase from Beergium (one of the largest online shops in Europe for those unfamiliar) which included Jackie O’s Black Mask and Champions Ground.
Turns out both beers were infected. From what I’ve seen on untappd that’s not the isolated case. 80+ cases for Black Mask only. We’ve contacted Jackie O’s and Beergium via twitter but got no response. Also couple of weeks ago seeing that Beergium is still selling both beers I’ve warned them about infection, no answer.
The other day I was entering the backload into RB, and wanted to check once more. Apparently one of those two is still selling and I’ve encountered this
So the problems were known since early January. I’ve had good experiences in the past with Beergium, but this wasn’t handled in a good way. So if anyone is considering buying these beers please take this into account, at 17 euros per beer they are not cheap by any means.
This is one reason why (a) you shouldn’t feel the absolute need to avoid reading anyone else’s reviews; and (b) viewing the lowest rated reviews can be the most informative.
Thanks to Lars mentioning “Gusher. As expected.” in his review, the lowest scoring at the time, of a Jackie O’s beer, I knew to expect the worst - and sure enough, it delivered profusely.
So it seems they have a reputation for shit getting in their bottles that goes way back, and that it’s a reputation that is justified.
As for Beergium’s (lack of) response, that sounds as if it’s rather unprofessional, but since when has Twitter been the most professional way of engaging in commercially-oriented discourse? https://mobile.twitter.com/beergium shows me no messages posted by them since 2016, so perhaps you’re just yelling at clouds? Have you tried good old-fashioned email?
I had to email them 3 times to get the money back. It ended with me getting a code with the amount + free shipping. You are right though, very poor handling of the case.
Oh I forgot to mention - second time I’ve contacted Beergium was by email, not twitter.
Also I’ve just checked the rates here and couldn’t find any mention of infection. Yeah there are couple of low rates (way more high scores) none of them mention infection though.
Quick update on this. Got an email from Beergium. Sebastien stated number of claims they had was very small and that’s the reason they’ve decided to keep them in stock. Refund voucher was offered.
Many people probably didn’t bother or didn’t realize it was infected. Historically beergium has fcked up my orders, but they have been always quick to respond and to offer refund voucher.
I would also lay a lot of blame to Jackie-Os as they didn’t recall the batch from resellers (especially after you connected them). The “only some bottles were infected” is shit excuse, which means they are knowingly selling batch that has infected bottles in it. Shows a lot about the brewer to me.
