It's not Grapefruit, It's Spoiled

[John Sand]

I was at a pub in town today for lunch, yesterday too. I asked the lovely bartender for the same beer: Sam Adams Winter (they only have four beers on tap)
When it arrived, it was quite different from what it should be. I found it acidic. My partner tasted it, he thought it bad too. Two other guys with us tasted it and started discussing what it was. Nobody thought Sam Winter. One guy said grapefruit IPA. I brought it to the attention of the bartender. She immediately offered me something else. I accepted a Lagunitas IPA bottle, and advised her to have the manager taste it. He didn't, but instead looked at the keg, confirming that it was Sam Adams. She returned and told us it was Boston Lager. I said I was pretty sure it was spoiled, but it definitely was not right for Boston Lager or Winter. The manager still didn't taste it, the guys at the bar still debated what it might be. Then they brought in an obvious expert: A hipster looking guy with a full beard and a bottle opener on his hip. He tasted it. The verdict: Spoiled Beer. They changed the keg.
I know infected beer when I taste it, I've brewed enough of it. The other guys paid for my lunch.

[D_Rabbit]

Can only trust those with full beards and tight pants. Luckily I can't grow a beard so I don't have to worry about accessorizing with tight pants.

[mashani]

The only things hipsters around here know what tastes like is PBR.

[bpgreen]

When I was in college, I was at a bar once with a group of friends and we ordered a pitcher. It was awful.

One of the guys in our group was the "Bud man on campus."

He actually got paid to drink Budweiser products and if he saw others drinking them, he had an allowance to buy them beers. He also had gone through training to identify off flavors, so if a bar was pouring bad bud, he could correct it (bud actually does care about quality).

He identified the problem as stale beer and called the waitress over to complain. I stopped him and asked, "is this Picketts?"

She smiled and proudly announced that it was and that Picketts was the only beer they had on tap (it was an Iowa beer that had a limited distribution). I thanked her and shushed my friend.

When she was out of earshot, I explained that it was supposed to taste like that.

Picketts was one of the worst beers I've ever had, but for some reason, it had a following (maybe because it was the only brewery in Iowa that survived prohibition).

[FedoraDave]

I've also had beer from dirty lines. Pretty nasty.

[John Sand]

Dave, I have too. Blue Point particularly shows dirty lines, or maybe gets infected quicker, or something. I believe that this was the keg, because I had had beer from the same tap the day before. And this wasn't a bit sour like dirty lines, it was fully infected. Not the first time I've found a spoiled keg on tap. Maybe I need to buy some hipster shirts, grow my beard back, and put out my shingle as Professional Beer Taster. I can go to every bar in the township and sample every beer. I would only charge a modest fee, plus cab fare.