fresh racer 5 in MA?

I would agree that like many IPAs it just doesn't hold up well over time, but I hope we're all in agreement that when fresh it's a very nice beer. I had some at the source back in September and thought it was superb - brought back the faith after lousy draft pours 'round New England. Same can be said for Stone IPA and Lagunitas IPA - great beers but we rarely, if ever, see bottles or kegs less than a month (or two) old. Funny how this is not an issue for Sucks distro...

 

I actually had a surprisingly good tasting pour of Racer 5 about a month ago at the Halfway Cafe in Canton. It was the first somewhat-fresh-tasting glass of Racer 5 I've had since a draft pour from over 2 years ago at the Parish Cafe in Boston. Really nice beer when it's in good condition...which is unfortunately a rare occurrence.

 

Actually, a few months back I was able to score an 11 day old 6 pack of Stone IPA. I've seen Lagunitas stuff (IPA, Maximus, Sumpin etc.) less than 2 weeks old before as well, just not that often. Really depends on the distro's and how long they hold onto beer before moving it to retail. Sonetimes you get lucky and find really fresh stuff. Usually the stuff from the west coast is already close to a month old though.

 

All the shops here in MI have a bottle date of 9/4/13. According to the bottle shop I frequent, they have pulled out of 11 states to meet demand in their core markets. Obviously it is just hearsay, but doesn't make sense for them to ship east of the Mississippi River if they can't keep the west well stocked.

 

I'm speculating they send excess R5 12 packs afar (east of Mississippi) to dump them instead of eating the cost themselves.

I know, a strong statement without confirmation...but just my gut feeling. Perhaps someone with firm knowledge can debunk me. It's a shame, R5 is one of my fave beers when fresh& I hate to see so much stale product around here.

 

They just got it back in stock this past week. We were practically out of 22's, 6ers and 12 packs . I agree that they need better coding on their packaging. I will say the bombers have a new packaging as of the drop I received Friday.