Bill Clinton–while trying to circumvent an incriminating answer to the Grand Jury regarding his Oval Office Philandering–stated, “It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is?”  Rather than fess up to the truth of his affair (that was later confirmed from sequestered emails)  Clinton beat around the bush in a semantic game.   Perhaps he didn’t out right lie, but he wasn’t altogether forthright.  He lost plenty of supporters that day.

I do not bring up the Clinton/Lewinski debacle to muckrake against a party or person…as Clinton’s actions most likely are representative of how most of us flawed creatures would have responded, and do so on a daily basis.  The point I want to make is, the higher you are on the totem pole, the more scrutinized you are in your actions and your responses to mistakes.  In the hotseat we tend to do whatever it takes to maintain our pride, but hindsight always reveals the high road ends up being the best road.

Which brings me to Bell’s Brewery, one of my favorite craft breweries in the United States.  To me, they are bastions of quality, and manage to dabble in experimentation yet fail to forget historical style guidelines.  Their Two Hearted Ale is a very well regarded American IPA by the beer community, as well as the authors of this site.  According to the brewery, two recent batches of Two Hearted escaped the brewery with a flaw:  souring due to lactobacillus.

For thoses who don’t know, lactobacillus consumes sugars (like yeast) and produce lactic acid, which produces sour flavors in different beer and food.  Sometimes the effect is intentional, but not in the case of an India Pale Ale.  Bell’s, having discovered the flaw post distribution, have decided to recall the product, and have even issued public statements about the mistake both on their website and on Beer Advocate.

The recall is striking.  Major corporations recall flawed products out of fear.  We have all seen the bulletin boards at WalMart petitioning customers to return that rattle because it presents a choking hazard to the teething infant.  The recall tends to be based more out of fear of lawsuit than concern for the infant.  The proof of such a bold statement can be found in Toyota’s recent Clinton=esque handling of faulty accelerators.  Only after the a major cover up,  federal pressure,  and several lawsuits were vehicles finally recalled.

But Bell’s is not Toyota.  Nobody who drinks a batch of beer infected with lactobacillus is going find themselves writhing in pain in the Emergency Room as the flaw only affects the palate.  Bell’s recalled the product out of love of their product love of their customers who have come to love their product.  The lack of a recall would not have landed an indictment or lawsuit on the brewer.

In recalling the Two Hearted Ale, Bell’s also stepped up to the plate and issued statements explaining precisely what had gone wrong–that their own procedural change was to blame–and that they wanted to make amends with their customers.  You can read the release on their website as well as on Beer Advocate.  They admit their reaction may appear to have been belabored, but, after apologizing, explained that they had to be sure the problem had been pinpointed to save future batches of Two Hearted.

Bell’s could have taken the low road.  They could have played the blame game and made an assertion that they were at the mercy of tampered bottles or some other highly unbelievable external contaminant.  They could have alleged that the flaw was not really a flaw; rather, stylistic flare.  You know, they wanted to see if their consumers enjoyed an IPA with a hint of sour.  There are craft breweries who have attempted to dodge obvious error to maintain their pride.  But Bell’s didn’t.

They fessed up.  They admitted they were human.  They offered reparation.  They did the right thing.

It will pay off.  At least in the case of this beer blogger, they’ve secured an even more loyal customer. Had they said, “it depends on what your definition of ‘sour’ is,” the opposite would have occurred.