Boston Beer Co. settles litigation leftover from ’08 recall
In a short press release today, the Boston Beer Company stated that it had settled all disputes and claims with its former glass bottle supplier regarding the recall implemented by the Boston Beer Company in 2008.
The Boston Beer Company will receive payment of $20.5 million and all parties will release each other on any claims as they relate to this matter.
Boston had to recall some of its inventory already in the market and at distributors warehouses after small pieces of glass were found in bottles.
Sounds like a win, not knowing the amount of product or the costs involved in the recall. But, three years after the fact!! 😮
Gotta wonder, but as a maintenance engineer I have to ask, “What about the rinser?”
Rinsers clean out the dust and dirt. There are many glass defects that occur and may only be noticed when the bottle is pressurized or capped, which would take place after the Rinser. One issue is when the bottle is produced with a bubble inside the bottle. When the bottle is pressurized, the bubble bursts and you have a bottle of beer with loose glass inside. Another issue is when the glass is produced with a slight bit of extra glass above the lip of the bottle. This is a “Press Up”. When you put the crown on the bottle, you break off this sliver of glass and it goes into the beer. There are other examples I can also give.
Brewerys should be auditing the incoming glass to look for defect. Larger Breweries use Electronic Bottle Inspectors and Tap Tones to prevent glass issues from getting to the customers, and even this may be hard to detect these issues right away. If you think glass companies are sending you in perfect bottles, think again. Boston Beer did the right thing by recalling the product to protect the consumer.
Thanks for the insight. Makes sense.