Sierra Nevada seasonal 12-packs bottle dates already kind of old

Ummm, not sure about your math here, but bottled on 12/08, and packaged on 12/23 is not a "month old" as you put it....barely 2 weeks, the time it take to carbonate in the bottle.

Most likely the local distributors sat on these beer packs over Christmas / New Years and are just getting them out in January.....seems like you are "overthinking" this, just relax and enjoy the beers, they will be fine for weeks to come. People need to stop obsessing about "super fresh ipa's"....mostly nonsense.

 

Please do stop buying their beers, OP. That way, people that actually like beer will get to drink them.

 

Why are they bottled at the beginning of the month and not over the holidays? I don't know. Perhaps because SN gives a shit about their employees and wants them to have time off to spend with their families and friends.
Your barely two month old IPA is in pristine drinking condition.

 

Nothing against you OP, but I think you may be reaching for something to complain about here. I've had the IPA box and all tasted fantastic. On top of that Sierra Nevada's hoppy beers tend to hold their flavors/aromas longer than any other brewery I've tried (and I've tried a lot). 45 day old SN hoppy beers will taste damn-near identical to a 14 day old version of the same beer if it has been stored properly.

If I had to guess you were already convinced the beers were faded when you saw the bottled-on dates, taste be damned.

 

Which isn't surprising since they have such low DO levels

 

The bottle dates on mixed packs and the packaged dated on 12-packs often don't align, because with variety mixed packs, each box has to be packed by hand.
This means--from a practical perspective--we have to package Blindfod and pack it into boxes, then Torpedo and pack it into boxes, then Golden IPA and pack it into boxes, then Ruthless and pack it into boxes. (each packaging takes at least a day.)
Once all four beers are packed and put into boxes, then all of those boxes need to be staged in a warehouse where workers open them all and swap out three beers of each variety (again, BY HAND) and then send the boxes to the sealer.

The gist here is, it typically takes several weeks for all of the individual brands in a mixed pack to be packaged, and then another few weeks for it to be totally re-packed prior to shipment. Then let's say a week in transit from the brewery to the distributor to the shop and there you have it. We can put a man on the moon, but nobody as of yet has designed a great packaging method for variety packs.

The holidays definitely impacted the shipping dates, but we've packaged several more times since then so if you shop around, chances are you'll find a fresher pack, but nothing will be under the two week window.

Some other on the thread have mentioned bottle conditioning. None of the beers in this particular pack are bottle conditioned, but when there are, that will add 14 days to the bottle date right off the bat.

Hope this helps explain things.

Cheers!

-Bill

 

In my mind, Sierra Nevada can do no wrong. Love them, love their beer, love their business models.

Yes I'm a fan boy who marks out for all things Sierra Nevada

 

For any properly bottled beer, two months is nothing, especially SN's beers which are still (I believe) bottle-conditioned.

 

SN's bottling/canning standards are excellent, stuff will last a long time with very little degradation. I'm sure it's in your head, OP.

 

Beat me to it!

 

Hey Bill how do I get one of those original packs of all Blindfold iPas haha

 

When Beer Camp box set came out, a lot of the hoppy beers were bottled 2.5 months before we got it in distribution in Northern Virginia. That sucked.

 

Oh great. Another commenter sarcastically commenting on another commenter's comments. Splendid.

 

Pot, meet kettle!

As to the OP: it sounds to me, a non-drinker of IPAs (not a fan of bitter hops, but that just me) that the op won't be happy unless he's chewing on hop cones just picked off of the vine. Sir, if you're sooooo concerned about your hops being the absolute freshest it can be, then I suggest that you should only drink local IPAs from their sources. That's really the only way you'll ever not get a beer that's got some "age" on it like a week or a month.

 

He look another one of these guys...smh. Go ask em to suck from the bottling line then maybe you will be satisfied.

 

on feb 1st 2015 I bought a sierra Nevada 2014 beer camp double IPA pint in a painted glass bottle they charged me 12.95 is that right

 

Trust me, you don't want barely carbonated, green beer. Even for ipas, you need some conditioning time for the flavas to meld. 4-6 weeks is about perfect. SN beers probably stay fresher even longer because of their high tech bottling line. Cheers!

 

Can you please rephrase the question or explain? Who is they? Also the 2014 Sierra Beer Camp mixed pack did not even include a double IPA, nor pints, everything was 12oz bottle or cans.

Or did you buy this? http://www.sierranevada.com/blog/press-releases/a-liquid-invitation-to-beer-camp-across-america

Painted?

 

See above though from SierraBill, none of these beers is bottle conditioned. But you are absolutely right about SN Beers ability to stay fresh, they take their process very seriously. Never had a bad beer from them.

 

And if the mix 12-packs are hand-packed, it's not all being bottled and packed in the same run. All the beers I've had from my 12-pack taste great, especially that Golden IPA