Do you trust brewer "Best By" dates?

Prefer both, get really frustrated when someone releases a cellar friendly beer and doesn't even put a damn year on it, let alone a decipherable date. Same with IPA/IIPA's where it is very important to have a brewed on and best buy date on it, they chance so much that you need both, especially for the big players in this area. If you are printing a date or code on a bottle, it's just a matter of including this information too, not a hard thing to do.

 

Thank you for the trust! It's worth noting that we also print bottled on dates on every bottle and box.

 

Answering the OP - yes I am buying their beer so I trust the brewer, until they give me a reason not to trust them

 

I cannot honestly think of the last time I bought a beer without a bottle date except for Heady. The one beer I occasionally buy that has a "best by" date is Dirt Wolf, and in that instance I just look for the longest date on the shelf and buy that one. I've seen as much as 5 months on Dirtwolf dating which is way too long imo.

 

This would all be solved if the industry would just required bottled on dates.

 

I trust them as I have yet not had bad experiences with beer that is within the bottle's Best-by-Date or within a reasonable time frame from a Bottled-On date. Any beer that has:

• Either type of date
• Is still good according to any of those dates
• And ends up tasting like crap

Will receive a very low score from me. Either the beer was bad from origin or due to poor transportation/storage, but that is not my fault, I didn't receive a good product for which I paid.

 

Most always I try to go by the 3 month rule. Unless they are over 9% then ipas seem to hold longer to me. I'm still holding 2 6/17 bottles of ruin ten and I'm sure they will be fine.
When they only have a best buy though and no bottled date it kinda bugs me. OR WHEN ALL 4 OR 5 CHARACTERS OF A JULIAN DATE IS ALL SMUDGED INTO A BLOB. THAT BUGS ME WORSE.

 

I don't trust anyone, anywhere about anything

 

The ancient Romans had an expression for this: caveat emptor!!

Cheers!

 

How would that work? How does can an industry "require" something? And who would monitored and regulate it? If a brewer didn't date code, what could an "industry" do? The small brewers' group, the Brewers Association, already "recommends" date codes:

But how could they "require" it? Even if they were to boot out any member brewer which didn't code, that brewer's non-coded beer would still be on the shelves.

 

OK - I'm gonna say it. You all worry WAY to much about this. I have never looked at a date on a beer and never will.

 

You may feel that way, but just remember that "you all " includes the vast majority of brewers, who do not want their product to be purchased and consumed in a condition they do not feel is ideal. In fact, I'd say they are the ones who worry about it - most "date conscious" beer drinkers who check codes simply read them and pass on the beers they no longer consider fresh or lack easily-understood dates. No worries.

And brewers have worried about freshness long before the "craft era".

Sure, maybe a few complaints about certain beers from certain brewers that never seem to be available fresh...

 

My point is just enjoy beer. Spending too much time worrying about bottle dates - making sure certain beers are in certain glassware - don't drink from a frosted glass - make sure your beer is at the perfect temp - its all over done - over thought BS to me. Pop a beer and enjoy it. Its simple. OK - Rant over.