The following notice has been issued by the brewer:
Make Apple Pie Great Again Recall And Safety Notice
Distressing photos have emerged online of our Make Apple Pie Great Again beer cans popping open. Furthermore a photo of a can end bursting open upon one of our customers attempting to open a can of MAPGA was posted online today, Saturday the 15th of July, 2017.
We've had sample cans stored at ambient temperature in our warehouse since packaging that beer early February 2017, and have recently experienced an instance of severe over carbonation from re-fermentation in can resulting in sample cans opening with an aggressive burst. Consequently we are issuing this urgent voluntary recall and safety notice.
MAPGA was brewed with concentrated apple juice, and apple puree too. As a result of working with a variety of carbohydrate sources (other than just malted grains) we waited for over four months after brew day to package the beer, paid close attention to observing a stable gravity (indicating that the beer was as fermented out as it could be with that particular yeast strain), and canned the beer with a very low packaged viable yeast cell count (0.1x10^6).
What we believed has happened to a very small number of cans is that the viable yeast remaining in the beer upon packaging, always present in unfiltered beer, has been reanimated by the warmer weather (whether in a distribution warehouse, on a shop shelf, or in a cupboard at home), and further fermented out the residual sugars in the beer. This re-fermentation is something we did not anticipate, and are now increasingly worried about.
If you are a trade customer and still have stock of MAPGA in cans or kegs please email us here, and if you are a retail customer and have a can or cans at home please email us here so that we can directly apologise, help you safely dispose of you cans, and get you some replacements. If you know of someone who has cans of MAPGA please notify them of this urgent recall ASAP.
Disposal advice
If you have any cans of MAPGA we advise you to handle them extremely carefully, dispose of them immediately by following the steps below:
1. Please wear protective gloves (conforming to EN388, offering cut protection), and protective eyewear (conforming to EN 166 1B, offering protection against high speed particles) during all the times you handle any cans of MAPGA. We are happy to reimburse you should you need to purchase these PPE items specifically for the disposal of your can/s of MAPGA in exchange for a copy of your receipt dated today, the 15th of July, or later.
2. Wearing both your gloves and protective eyewear place your can/s in a freezer (in a plastic box or sealed bag in case of any leaks), or at the back and bottom of a very cold fridge overnight.
3. Wearing both your gloves and protective eyewear remove the can/s from the freezer or fridge and open slowly and carefully. If the beer is frozen it may be difficult or even impossible to fully open the can, but a crack will suffice to allow the beer to escape once thawed to room temperature.
4. Pour the beer away, and post the empty can/s to Cloudwater Brew Co, 7-8 Piccadilly Trading Estate, Manchester, M1 2NP for inspection. We will reimburse you for your postal costs and packaging materials.
5. Please email us at info@cloudwaterbrew.co so we can offer our direct apology, further explain the issue (should you wish), and offer you replacements and compensation.
Retailers - Please print and display this notice in a prominent place in your store asap and leave in place until the end of July 2017.
We hope to never have to issue this type of recall again, and apologise wholeheartedly to all of our customers.
© 2025 itsa Ltd.