Why Doesn't Every Brewery Date Their Bottles/Cans?

It may be true about the specifics of bottle etching but permit me to address the topic of “relevant”. There is a way for small craft breweries to address the aspect of bottle dating. Some small craft breweries obtain labels which have months indicated on the side of the label (think of Sam Adams bottles). Those small craft breweries would use an inexpensive band saw to create a notch on the best by month. This method does involve some manual labor but overall it is an inexpensive way to communicate with your customers a best by date.

For a brewery to claim expense for why they do not provide date information on their bottles is disingenuous.

Cheers!

 

On a positive note about Rogue, one of there only good beers the Hazelnut Brown is at my local costco for 26.99 for a case of 24 of the elusive 12 ounce bottle.

 

It's from last June, but the same topic was discussed for a couple pages here: http://beeradvocate.com/community/t...t-a-uniform-born-on-date-on-their-beer.94778/

Cheers,
Brian

 

I agree with some that I would only like to see a bottled on date and make my own decision. The prospects of trying a new beer is awesome to each and every one of us and, ultimately there are a number of factors that go into retaining the drinkability of a beer over time (abv, ingrediants, etc). Saying this I would much rather drink a beer when it is fresh as would most with exception to the ageable beers out there. However bottled on tells us one important thing very quickly... The age of the beer. This helps us both in seeking out freshness or as a marker from which to age a beer. Of course I can think of exceptions even in my own thought processes, but what it comes down to is preference. I prefer bottled on.

 

Brewers can choose not to bottle date, I choose not to buy their beer and buy it from their competitors who do bottle date.

 

As a retailer I would prefer an enjoy by date to a bottled on date. There are too many people out there that have been convinced that beer becomes horrible to drink after 90 days. All beer. Hoppy IPA? 90 days. American Lager? 90 days. Barrel Aged Imperial Stout? 90 days. Trying to convince someone that an Oktoberfest is still drinkable on Thanksgiving or that a year old Barley Wine shouldn't be rejected without can be a chore. I know determining a best by date is a very hard thing to do since the brewer loses control over how the beer is handled shortly after they make it. As an beer lover I can go either way since I can do the math in my head and figure out if I want to drink something based on the bottling date.

If we could get rid of anything that doesn't have a clear month, day and year it would be a step in the right direction. And if it isn't too much to ask, have the month as a name instead of a number so American dates and European dates are easy to discern at a glance.

 

“As a retailer I would prefer an enjoy by date to a bottled on date.”

And as a customer I would prefer a bottled on date.

So, how about a compromise; how about the breweries provided both information? When they bottled the beer and when they think the beer is best by? Would you agree with that?

Cheers!

 

To be honest, at this point Im happy with either.

Sure, I prefer a bottled on date, but I know I can find fairly easily what each particular brewery considers the window for their "enjoy by" date.

Most options appear to have one or the other by now and I wont buy one that doesnt unless I know for a fact its fresh.

 

As somebody told above, SN best by dates are a year after bottling. It is too much. There are also several even worse exemples.

 

Good idea Jack. It can be as simple as: Bottled/Canned on xx-xx-xxxx best by xx-xx-xxxx. That way both consumers and retailers are happy.

 

gotta have bottle dates. born on dates > drink by dates

I'm so in tune with new arrivals and the general inventory at my local bottle shop I don't worry too much about dates.

 

People who are so into craft beer that they spend time on a beer-specific message board talking about it are likely to know how to calculate a "best by" date from the "bottled on" date (and to calculate it in increments of drop-off in the case of hoppy brews).

But for considerably more people, I'd think, a "bottled on" date is no more useful on beer than it would be on a bottle of milk; they want to know when it won't be so good anymore, and can't judge that at a glance from a bottled on date.

 

Right I agree. Victory is the same way.

But what I'm saying is, it's easy for us, the educated beer consumer, to find out the particulars for each brewery on what their standard is for the best by date. Once we know that, then it's just as good as a bottle date.

 

Simply put: alot of breweries (and for that matter, distros and retailers) want their customers to take care of their stale beer problem.

Frankly, I thank other consumers for taking care of it - because it takes ALOT of coordination (and expense) to get rid of stale product in the marketplace, and that cost would be passed in to us in the form of higher prices.

As a finicky customer, I usually just bypass beer that isn't dated unless I know it's a local within its seasonal release. Also, I really pay attention to those bottle dates - been burned way too many times with past-its-prime product.

 

Fully agree with OP: the first thing I do after grabbing a bottle/can is look for a bottle date or at very least a best-by date, and if nothing is there I become frustrated and put the vessel back 90% of the time. I can't help but feel the brewer is trying to deceive me if I can't at least estimate the bottle date, even if that may not be the case. There seems to be no (honest, benevolent) reason to disclude bottling info. As a brewer, I would certainly not want my customers buying inferior products with my company name all over it.

 

I loathe best by dates. Let me be the judge of that. If you want to include both that is fine. I don't want to have to go searching for what every brewer thinks is a fit time period (2,3,4,6,12 months).

 

Realizing you're in Finland, but "JackHozempa" noted only that Sierra Nevada and/or their European importers give the beers a 1 year shelf-life when exported (which is also pretty typical for Euro beers here in the US).

Domestically SN's beers have a bottled-on date - and their FAQ notes a 150 days shelf life for SNPA "under optimal (storage) conditions".

Victory also uses a 5 month shelf life period for their regular line-up of average ABV.

 

Many breweries don't date because they don't have to - their beer sells out way before the freshness fades. And as far as I'm concerned, seasonals don't need a date. If I'm interested, I'll buy them within a week or two of release and stick them in a fridge. There are a few breweries who produce multiple batches of seasonals, but I still stick to the first release regardless of whether there's a date or not. Same goes for one-offs & big time whales. No date = no problem.

 

I think this might have a big part to play with some breweries, IMO.