One of the largest craft brewers in the United States, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., has issued a voluntary recall of some of its bottled beers because of a packaging flaw that may possibly cause injury to consumers.
Packaging Flaw
The brewery discovered a packaging flaw that can cause the beers' glass to chip and fall back into the bottle. The company issued the recall after completion of quality inspection at its North Carolina brewery.
Beers Affected By The Recall
In a statement released on Sunday, Jan. 22, the brewery said that the recall affects eight different types of craft beers that it sells, which include the popular Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Other affected products, which have been distributed in 36 states across the Midwest, South and East Coast of the United States, include 12-ounce bottles of Beer Camp Golden IPA, Torpedo Extra IPA, Sidecar Orange Pale Ale, Nooner, Tropical Torpedo, Hop Hunter, and Otra Vez.
The affected beers have a package date between Dec. 5, 2016, and Jan. 13, 2017. They are also marked with a brewery code of "M" for Mills River. The detailed list of affected products is available on Sierra Nevada's website.
Recall Issued As A Precautionary Measure
The company is still conducting assessments to determine the depth of the recall but it believes that the glass hazard only affects one in every 10,000 packaged bottles. No injuries and claims have been reported yet but the brewery decided to issue the recall out of an abundance of caution.
Reimbursement For Purchased Products
The brewery said that customers can get full reimbursement of the price of the purchased products by filling out an online form to provide details of their purchase. It also asked the customers who have purchased affected products to throw them away.
Other Sierra Nevada Beers Not Affected By Recall
Not all of the company's beers are affected by the recall. The voluntary recall does not impact Sierra Nevada's canned beer, draught beer, variety packs, 24-ounce bottles, and 750ml bottles as well as Sierra Nevada beer produced in the company's Chico facility.
Beers produced by the Mills River facility before Dec. 5 and January 13 and Pale Ale packaged after Jan. 8 are not affected by the safety issue.
Customers can watch out for signs that the product they have purchased is affected by the recall. These include loss of carbonation and small pieces of glass that have broken off into the bottle.
The distribution of the affected beers has been stopped as the brewery works with retailers and distributors to remove affected products from the shelves.
"We have stopped distributing all impacted beer. We are actively working with our distributor and retail partners to remove this beer from retail shelves and hold any further shipments at the distributor warehouse," the brewery said in its statement. Consumers can also contact the company by calling 800-596-7835 and leaving their name, contact number, and the nature of their concern.
Sierra Nevada said that it will release a statement once it has completely removed all of the affected products from its brewery, distributors and retail stores.
