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

Weyerbacher is a head of the game. They have both Bottled on date and a Best by date. I really dislike it when I see a bottle of beer and do not know when it was born. Just like picking up a girl at the bar. She says she's of age, but with no proof is only asking for a 10-15 year sentence.

 

Cryptic codes are most likely the julian calndar day and a single digit that designates the year. So in the case of my bottle of sucks that reads 010 4. The 10 th day of the year and 4 is for 2014. For the julian calendar all you do is count the number of days consecutively starting at 1 on Jan 1. So Feb 1 is day #32. Get it? It's pretty easy once you get hte hang of it and I think this is preferable to no date.

 

I just want I bottling date Julian or otherwise.

 

The beer sells out from week to week within its area of distribution, so if you think you're drinking less-than-fresh Heady in Illinois, take it up with your trading partner.

 

I think my favorite cryptic code is Anchor Brewing's. Every time I check the freshness of one of their brews, I try to remember the key to the code and fail. I'm that guy standing in front of the cooler, holding a bottle of Liberty Ale and staring off into the middle distance with squinty eyes and befuddled expression.

 

AB gives their flagship beers a 110 day shelf life

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...not much longer than the 90 days some of the bigger "high IBU beer" brewers like Stone and Ithaca use, and a good deal shorter than some others like Victory, Boston Beer Co., and Sierra Nevada which all use a 5 month shelf life for their "best before" coding/shelf life suggestions. AB's been doing such "consumer friendlly" dating for a long time and, of course, like most breweries were coding their beers long before that, and has a reputation for strictly enforcing the pull dates among its distributors.

Also, the ridiculous "Born On" wording (as noted above) is a registered trademark of Anhueser-Busch - so, thankfully, no other brewers use it --- out of fear of AB's army of lawyers.

 

I like any kind of date, whether it's Julian or a bottled on date. I've seen beers with simply a date on them. As a regular buyer of said product, I know it's the bottling date. To someone not in the know, they might think it's a "best by" date, hurting the sales.
The beers with no date makes me not purchase them, don't want to waste my money of a flop.

How do you like checking out a six pack and you can BARELY see a date/code on the bottle? So small that if you're over fifty and don't have reading glasses on hand, it's guesswork. Or if it's imperfect, or smeared! Arghhhhh!

I personally think it's all intentional so average Joe doesn't know, but as a consumer, I NEED to know. Not sure? I won't buy.

 

Maine Beer Co. uses that wording. Printed on bottle "Please drink within 90 days of stamped born on date."

 

I'm pretty sure there is a six week class that is offered to learn the Anchor coding.

 

Anchor truly is a cryptic code. Nothing cryptic about Julian though, which I have a feeling the OP was referring to.

 

If a brewery can't afford "this step in the process" they have no business being in business.

 

this is an absurd argument. All breweries print labels. It doesn't cost anything to add a date to the label. If the actually stamp the bottle, there is a very minimal cost.

 

Best by. Last thing I need is a multi million dollar company telling me to hurry up drink their beer just so I have to buy more.

lol craft beer hype. I'll stick to fff with no date, founders and half acre. Don't need to see another random beer ever again.

 

Most labels are purchased in bulk by breweries from printing companies. The date code, when stamped on the label (or, in many cases, "notched" in the correct spot on the pre-printed month/year) would be an added step done on-site at the brewery during the bottling process, and obviously would add some additional expense - however minor.

The printers that stamp or ink spray the dates on the glass are, apparently, relatively expensive, especially compared to "notching" by hand with a table saw as per the method described by BBC's Koch noted above. And, beyond their cost, they don't seem to be particularly efficient, reliable nor do they produce a high quality job given the number of illegible codes and those that can be simply "rubbed off".

 

Hey, don't tell me, tell AB's lawyers. (And, if there's a finders fee, I'll split it with you).

It might explain Maine's outrageous pricing for their 500ml. bottles - saving up for that rainy day when they get that c&d postmarked "St. Louis"...

 

Should Lagunitas be catering more to American consumers or consumers abroad? I understand for non-American breweries, but American breweries should put a regular date on there rather than a code

 

Honestly I tend to agree. I feel the same way about breweries that can't afford to put their labels on straight and without creases.

 

I guess this guy missed the part about FFF now dating Zombie Dust. Good for them. I will now begin buying this beer when I can.

As for Founders, they put a very clear bottled on date on every bottle/can.

Not sure about Half Acre

Does this mean Hop_King will have to find new beers to drink that don't date?

LOL @ this guy.

 

I don't care what the best by date is, I want the damn born on date. I will make the determination what the best by date is, not the brewery.

 

Are you seriously getting defensive over a can? I'm just saying I agree that all cans/bottles should have dates on them, it's really not that difficult