The Bar Towel

Hoping someone can help me with this. Opened up a bottle of Snoqualmie Falls Steam Train Porter on Sunday. Bottle is approx 6 months old. There was decent carbonation pop when I took the cap off, but when I went to pour it just glugged out of the bottle in a very thick, syrupy/motor oil fashion. As it poured I noticed huge white globulous chunks rising to the top and settling in the head. The head then went all oily and had a really shiny film on top. I left the beer as it didn't look appealing at all, and as I did the head continued to spill over the glass. I left the beer for 4 hours and the head never diminished, it just kept slowly oozing over the lip. I had a saucer under the glass, and when the glass was lifted, I can only describe it looking like Alien Goo sticking to the base of the glass. I then transferred the beer to another glass, and the same thick pour happened again. I left the beer overnight, and there is still a 1 inch thick foamy, oily head.

I have never seen this happen with a beer before.

I did open another bottle of this a few weeks back, and it exhibited the same traits, but wasn't as thick or oily. But it did go down like a thin syrup. It smelled like a wonderfully rich, roasty porter.

Just wondering if this beer hadn't finished fermenting before being bottled?

Anyone any ideas/reasons?

Pedio infection?

That may be the decayed remains of a mouse, in which case you should be entitled to a free case of beer.

I'm surprised the brewery let these go out, but looking at reviews since I bought mine (October 2012), no one else has reported this issue, or maybe chose not to review a bad bottle.

I'd guess that it didn't have enough conditioning time, or that they picked up sediment when they bottled. Maybe yours were the last of the bottles to get filled from that batch?

The additional nucleation sites will create more foam, and the protein can help support the head.

Cheers Chaps...either way this isn't getting drunk.