Co-owner of Bend’s 10 Barrel explains ‘Swill’ recall

Bend’s 10 Barrel Brewing Co. announced Wednesday it’s voluntarily recalling bottles of its Swill beer because some “may be experiencing secondary fermentation in the bottle, causing potentially explosive over-carbonation.

After NewsChannel 21 posted on its Facebook page about the issue, one customer reported a scary experience. Kelly Shinn said she bought the beer in Moses Lake, Wash., “opened one last week and it exploded and the cap flew 25 feet! I was glad my head wasn’t in the way!” Others recounted similar issues with the very fizzy sour fruit brew.

The co-owner of 10 Barrel, Garret Wales, told NewsChannel 21 Wednesday: “It’s a very, very small percentage of the Swill that is in the market. But we can’t identify it necessarily to a single batch, or a single bottling cycle. And that’s why we are bringing it all back in.”

Still, financially, it’s a big hit to 10 Barrel’s bottom line.

“I hope that people can identify that we are trying to be as proactive as we can,” Wales said.

Many are wondering: Will Swill be back on shelves this summer? Wales says no.

“It’s definitely gone for this summer, for sure,” he said. “But we are already working on a replacement for it so you should see a new product from us in six-packs and on shelves in bottles here in a couple weeks.”

Below is the full message 10 Barrel posted on its Facebook page.

“A Note from 10 Barrel Brewing Company
We Are Voluntarily Recalling Swill

“To our retailers and consumer friends,

“10 Barrel Brewing Company is conducting a voluntary recall of Swill in all 12 and 22 ounce bottles. It has come to our attention that some of this product may be experiencing secondary fermentation in the bottle, causing over carbonation. This consistency issue does not meet 10 Barrel Brewing’s quality standards and, as a precaution, we are removing all inventory of Swill from our wholesalers and retail shelves and we are asking that consumers immediately dispose of any Swill already purchased. Swill is brewed with a completely different process than any of our other beers, isolating this issue to only Swill. This recall does not affect any of 10 Barrel Brewing’s other products.

“Consumers: if you have any Swill in your home, please do not open it, attempt to transport it, or return it to your retail store. Dispose of the product by following these steps: (i) Before disposing of any bottles of Swill, please put on protective gloves and eye wear; (ii) Place all remaining Swill bottles in a closed box and place immediately in a secured dumpster or trash container outside.

“We take the utmost pride in producing an extremely high quality product and continuously striving for new and innovative beers to send to the consumer. Unfortunately in this instance, despite a rigorous testing and brewing quality-check process, we didn’t hit the mark. We have an amazing new beer coming out in a few weeks to replace it so keep an eye out for something new in stores.

“If you have any questions regarding this voluntary recall, please call 10 Barrel Brewing at (541) 678-5427 or send an email to info@10barrel.com . If you have any of the potentially affected product and would like a refund, you can use the same phone number or email address.”