Old IPAs - What to do about this problem?

What "barman" knows when a draught beer was brewed? Perhaps one at a brewery/brewpub might (or could find out), but the two industry standard dating methods - either a packaging (racking) date or a "Best before/by" date - are based on when the beer is finished and ready to drink, then kegged or served at the brewery.

The actual brewing date is very seldom available to the on-premise retailer or the consumer, and without knowing the length of time the beer fermented and aged/lagered at the brewery, would be of very little use to the consumer interested in freshness.

 

Please. Pubs with too many taps sometimes keep the same keg connected months too long, and don't discard it when it's gone stale.

 

The problem is there. I work as an assistant manager of a large craft beer store and sadly we do carry a lot of out of date beer. My reps usually take care of it but there are times when they say "Someone will buy it" and they leave it and don't order until the old is sold.. I do my best to warn people who aren't familiar with freshness dates.

 

Again, knowing when a beer was brewed - even if, in a rare case, a bartender knew or could find out that date - would give a consumer no idea when that keg was filled at the brewery (a date which is commonly on the keg collar).

Neither would a brewing date help with knowing when the keg was delivered to the bar, nor when it was tapped by the pub and how long it had been on tap.

If you want to know how long a draught beer has been on tap, don't ask "when it was brewed" - ask when the keg was tapped. It's a perfectly valid question - though not every bar thinks so and not every bartender will know - so one must expect a vague or no answer in many cases.

 

To an extent it could work, The beer reps don't see who is buying the beer they just see sales. At that point they will order multiple cases and your stuck buying the same batch for a longer time period. Unless the manager/owner actually puts effort in not much will change. If you want fresh you need to convince the business owner it would be in his stores best interest to make reps take back expired beer and swap out with fresh.

 

It starts going stale as soon as it's brewed and kegged, it goes stale faster after it's tapped. Can't hurt to ask about both dates. The best bartenders will have answers, surely not all of them.

 

Sierra Nevada's beers usually hold up really well. And a two month old Union or double Jack is still very delicious! I'm all about fresh beer too, but people get a little crazy with this whole under 30 day or nothing mindset imo

 

I can't fathom the explanation you're going to have for the staling upon brewing part.
Go on though.

 

Fill a keg. Let it sit for a year. Most beers will be stale. It's slow, it gets faster after it's tapped.

 

How many people buy old IPA unknowing and think all craft is bad?

I had GF WCIPA years ago on tap and ran out to buy a case the next day. It was well over $50 a case and was horrible. Same happened with Sculpin and 2 hearted. This is before I knew about dates on bottles( GF and BP did not date bottles then but the cases might have). I did not quit drinking IPA but came here and learned I had really old beer.

I see old beer everywhere and people buying it. My beer guy thinks Im nuts because I wont buy an 8 month old case of Rumble I asked for. I did say I wanted it fresh. Why is it so old when he just ordered it?





Enjoy

 

I have, and I've also dumped them. You are correct that a year old kegged beer is probably not worth selling. Much less serving, especially when it is an IPA. But, also too. Learn more about the processes at the brewery please. It makes convo easier.

 

Here are 4 examples of the typical way kegs are date-coded (NOTE-I added fictional dates for the center 2). These are what the typical bartender might find on kegs. Can you find or determine the "brewdate" on these kegs?



As with bottles and cans, kegs are dated either with a "Best/Use by" or "Filled/Packaged on" date. Very few beers note on the label when the beer was brewed and, generally, that date would be of little or no help in determining freshness without also knowing the time spent in the fermentation, aging/lagering and other processes before filling.

 

Very informative. I guess then the "filled" date would be the most reliable brewery measure, then the "tapped" date the most reliable bar measure. If you know those two, you've got everything relevant to freshness for draft beer.

 

I was at my local Total Wine and More yesterday (Huge Superstore with multiple aisles of beer for those BAs that don't have them in their state) and realized that the amount and in some cases price of beer in this store is getting out of hand. It seems that in Florida every local brewer has shelf space and we are also getting many new out of state craft brewers who are flooding the shelves with product. Don't get me wrong, I love having access to Founders, Boulevard, Alpine (Green Flash), and all varieties of Ballast Point. I just don't see the demand able to keep up with the tremendous supply of beer. I'm starting to see cases and cases of great beer sitting on display for months. For example, I looked at a six pack of cans of Grapefruit Sculpun. The Julian date was 243 (August 31), the beer was canned 2 months ago which for an IPA like Sculpin is past it's prime for freshness (even in cans that's a little too long). I'm interested to see how many more weeks (months?) the display of 40-50 stacked 6 packs sits there.

This brings me to my next point, am I or any other BA going to pay $14.99 for an easily obtainable six pack that is two months old with so many other great options? Not likely. Even a novice beer drinker oblivious to the Julian Date isn't going to shell out that much money. Instead I picked up some SN Hop Hunter for half the price.

What does this all mean? In my opinion craft beer is headed towards a true market economy in the retail sector where only the best beer in terms of price, product (quality, taste, freshness, style, etc.), placement (marketing) and distribution will be successful. Those breweries who fail will have to rely on local distribution to bars and restaurants and their local faithful to drink their beer. This excludes those breweriets that are high-end, have a cult following or a particular niche (Hill Farmstead, 3F, Russian River, Alchemist, Cascade, De Garde, etc.).

Just my opinion. Please share your own rather than knocking mine down.

 

This is a major issue with American style IPAs, for the most part; other styles don't fall apart like that after two months. It would seem that we are in the midst of sorting out how brewers/distributors/retailers and even customers will shape how these are sold in the future.

Bottling dates are step one- the customers demanded it and the brewers are starting to listen.

The next step, and probably best solution, will be to store these beers cold every step along the chain. This will dramatically increase the shelf life so that 2 months won't be an 'old beer' any more. This won't happen until things hit a sort of critical mass, though, and it's more economically feasible to do it rather than see lots of beer go unsold.

 

FWIW I refuse to pay Ballast Point prices even when the beer is fresher than 2 months but that is just me. I prefer to buy other IPAs which are priced closer to ten bucks a 6-pack (e.g., FW Union Jack, etc.).

Based upon comments in a previous thread there are folks who have no issues with paying higher prices for beer.

Cheers!

 

@ELS, how old are the single bottles of beer at your Total Wine & More? I visited my local Total Wine & More a few days ago and I couldn't tell you how many times I picked up single bottles and after looking at the dates on the bottles I promptly put them back down on the shelf; I stopped counting how many times this happened after the 6th time I did this.

One of the beers was a German import; that beer was likely over a year old since it was past its best by date.

Cheers!

 

1) first off the obsession with IPA freshness has gone into absurdity. Plenty of IPAs I have had are perfectly fine after that time. Some even better.. true some not ideal. If you are obsessed with them taking into account distribution, holding times in warehouses, or the inability to pitch a tent outside the brewery, you need to just learn to brew it yourself.

2) There are 100+ other styles out there worth enjoying that don't have this excessive obsession with freshness. Find some enjoyment in them... if you can't... well then I fell sorry for you..

I love a great fresh Kolsch.. but you dont see me complaining about it when I can't get one dated less than 2 weeks old

 

Sure wish I had that problem...

There is no "super store" in my area, and the hot items don't stay on the shelf long. Luckily IPAs aren't really my thing, so freshness is not really a huge concern for me.

I would assume most distributors take stuff back if it gets out of date. It would be up to the store to report it.

 

Amen! Nothing beats a fresh homebrewed Equinox IPA!

http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/new-beer-sunday-week-558.349949/#post-4201670

Cheers!