Recapping beer bottles

monkles

Hey fellers,
I was recently in a hotel in Galway and ask for a bottle of miller. Thought it tasted funny. I had just finished eating a mint and I thought that was the problem so kept drinking in the hope i would get my sense of taste back! About half way through the bottle my brother noticed something floating in the bottom of the bottle. It looked like the remains of an old slice of lemon/lime. There was no actual fruit left on it just a brown coloured peel. Feel a bit queezy!! I was just wondering if anyone knows if people actually re-cap bottles of beer from the night before and is it legal? Or if the bottle was refilled by miller themselves?

Hogzy

Of course its NOT legal.... When i buy a meal i expect it to be freshly cooked and not a load of left overs slapped onto the plate from other plates...

Happened to me before, ordered a Corona and they they opened it in front of me and it was half full... I was like "eh...sorry" mind you they replaced it and i got the next 2 beers free!

I dunno though if the bottles were recaped or if it was a problem at the bottlers.

In your case however i would be furious and i would demand to speak to the manager! Your paying enough as it is and to get that would disgust me...

oblivious

Hogzy wrote: »

s. In your case however i would be furious and i would demand to speak to the manager! Your paying enough as it is and to get that would disgust me...

Very true, in the long term it maybe also be good to contact the relevant food health authorities

lmtduffy

this happens alot, its generally not a problem and normally happens when the wrong bottle is opened.

although Id always give someone a fresh bottle if they had a problem with it.

Most people wont notice and wont care.

and sometime bottles arent filled by the manufacturer properly and will be half empty.

rubadub

lmtduffy wrote: »

although Id always give someone a fresh bottle if they had a problem with it.

So are you saying you ask people if they mind having a previously opened bottle. And when told if they complain you get them a fresh one.

lmtduffy wrote: »

Most people wont notice and wont care.

Or do you NOT tell them, slip it by and since they do not notice you presume they do not care, when really I expect 95%+ probably would.

If that is the case it is very underhanded, while not as bad, it is similar to a restaurant taking a wrong order, keeping it sitting there for an hour and then reheating and dishing it up to a customer, while not telling them they did this and hoping they do not notice the poorer quality.

BeerNut

rubadub wrote: »

it is similar to a restaurant taking a wrong order, keeping it sitting there for an hour and then reheating and dishing it up to a customer, while not telling them they did this and hoping they do not notice the poorer quality.

And probably only slightly more common.

kenmc

lmtduffy wrote: »

this happens alot, its generally not a problem and normally happens when the wrong bottle is opened.

How do you figure that? Damn sure it's a problem.

BeerNut

kenmc wrote: »

How do you figure that?

The bottle is almost always some crap lager

kenmc

BeerNut wrote: »

The bottle is almost always some crap lager

I'd say it's more likely the 'wrongly opened' bottle is some decent beer, and the punter only wanted mudweiser, cos they wouldn't drink 'some poncy foreign muck' :rolleyes:.

BeerNut

kenmc wrote: »

I'd say it's more likely the 'wrongly opened' bottle is some decent beer, and the punter only wanted mudweiser, cos they wouldn't drink 'some poncy foreign muck' :rolleyes:.

Not in my experience. But then there was no decent beer on sale anywhere I've worked (and done this). It's always either the punter actually wanted a pint of the same beer, or the confusion between the sounds of the words "Bulmers" and "Miller" in a noisy environment.

kenmc

BeerNut wrote: »

...I've worked (and done this)...

Beernut, beernut, beernut.... (shakes head sadly)
Shame on you.

BeerNut

kenmc wrote: »

Shame on you.

I was only
a) following orders, and
b) serving crap beer

I've only seen it happen in a high-turnover situation. No matter how unscrupulous the manager, a recapped bottle would never be left overnight, and rarely for more than a few minutes in practice.

lmtduffy

rubadub wrote: »

So are you saying you ask people if they mind having a previously opened bottle. And when told if they complain you get them a fresh one.


Or do you NOT tell them, slip it by and since they do not notice you presume they do not care, when really I expect 95%+ probably would.

If that is the case it is very underhanded, while not as bad, it is similar to a restaurant taking a wrong order, keeping it sitting there for an hour and then reheating and dishing it up to a customer, while not telling them they did this and hoping they do not notice the poorer quality.

Id give them a bottle, that has been recapped.
If they complain about the quality Id replace it for them, like I would do with any other drink capped or uncapped.

Since most dont notice I presume it doesn’t make a difference and it generally doesnt, and probably 95% wouldn’t want it if you told them its been recapped.

Same way alot people wouldn’t eat or drink alot of other things if they were told where they came from and what theyve been through.
Because most people with out having worked the industry would have irrelevant concerns and standards, albeit sincere ones.

lmtduffy

kenmc wrote: »

How do you figure that? Damn sure it's a problem.

Is it a problem because it diminished quality?
if it is it only diminishes it on a level that doesn’t affect the customers experience of it.

kenmc

Yes it diminishes quality, but more to the point it's incredibly unhygenic.
To start with the bottle cap is no longer sterile - it invariably goes in a bin, and has to be fished out. God only knows what else it has touched in there, food waste or whatever. Secondly it involves the barperson involving their hands which have been touching money, bar cloths and possibly even not even having washed them since being to the toilet, thus introducing other contaminants. Finally the bottles will be not be properly recapped, leading to a loss of CO2, thus making the beer flatter.

Absolutely dispicable behaviour, and not too far removed from having a restaurant pick food up from the floor and put it back on the plate in my opinion. Even McDonalds dump their wrongly ordered drinks.

BeerNut

kenmc wrote: »

God only knows what else it has touched in there, food waste or whatever.

Always a bottle-cap-only bin, hanging just under the opener.

kenmc wrote: »

it involves the barperson involving their hands which have been touching money, bar cloths

...glasses, ice tongs, lemons. It's all gone a bit Howard Hughes here.

kenmc wrote: »

Finally the bottles will be not be properly recapped, leading to a loss of CO2, thus making the beer flatter.

They're only on sale briefly. And no-one ever brought one back saying it's flatter than it should be. And if they did it would in all likelihood be replaced.

I'm not defending it. I'm just not bothered by it.

kenmc

BeerNut wrote: »

They're only on sale briefly.

You can't be sure of that. If it's towards the end of the night, or if it's a low-selling product, it might well get left there, and then new stock put in in front of it when restocking. I seriously doubt that any barman goes looking to see if there are any bottles which look like they've been opened.

If I saw a barman recapping, I'd be extremely tempted to wait around the until some punter ordered that drink and let them know it had been recapped.

lmtduffy

kenmc wrote: »

You can't be sure of that. If it's towards the end of the night, or if it's a low-selling product, it might well get left there, and then new stock put in in front of it when restocking. I seriously doubt that any barman goes looking to see if there are any bottles which look like they've been opened.

If I saw a barman recapping, I'd be extremely tempted to wait around the until some punter ordered that drink and let them know it had been recapped.

Thats why when stocking bars stock is rotated.
If its left for too long and the quality diminishes to a noticeable level it will be complained about and replaced like any other spoilt drink would be.

kenmc wrote: »

Yes it diminishes quality, but more to the point it's incredibly unhygenic.
To start with the bottle cap is no longer sterile - it invariably goes in a bin, and has to be fished out. God only knows what else it has touched in there, food waste or whatever. Secondly it involves the barperson involving their hands which have been touching money, bar cloths and possibly even not even having washed them since being to the toilet, thus introducing other contaminants. Finally the bottles will be not be properly recapped, leading to a loss of CO2, thus making the beer flatter.

Absolutely dispicable behaviour, and not too far removed from having a restaurant pick food up from the floor and put it back on the plate in my opinion. Even McDonalds dump their wrongly ordered drinks.

It diminishes quality to a level unobservable by the customer.
Bar persons hands like any persons working with food or drink should be clean, hence bars have to have sinks and soap behind them.

And as beernut pointed out, bottle cap only bins.

If the beer is noticeably flatter it will be replaced.

I recommend you never go behind the scenes of nay bar or restaurant, not because the practices are questionable but because you dont seem to understand that the person selling you the food or drink is more likely to have a better understanding of their products and what affects it.

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

BeerNut

kenmc wrote: »

I seriously doubt that any barman goes looking to see if there are any bottles which look like they've been opened.

the recapped bottle always goes in out of alignment with the others in the fridge so it's the first to go.

kenmc wrote: »

If I saw a barman recapping, I'd be extremely tempted to wait around the until some punter ordered that drink and let them know it had been recapped.

Sure. It just wouldn't happen, is all.

lmtduffy wrote: »

I recommend you never go behind the scenes of nay bar or restaurant

Actually, I think kenmc really should. You certainly get a different perspective on how the whole thing works.