"We just tapped it" doesn't always mean it's fresh

Good thing your here. I always assumed if they just tapped it the keg just magically jumped from the keg filler to the tap. Didn't know there was a process where it went to the restaurant and then they put it on when the previous keg would blow.

 

Do

you want them to cut your steak and feed it to you as well?

 

Things like filtration and pasteurization play a huge role in shelf life. If it's bad, send it back, but don't freak out about the date before you taste it.

 

I understand the desire for some government entity to force bars and restaurants to print tapped or born on dates so the consumer can be informed but this is a large burden on the business. I have now on a Sunday night ten empty kegs since Friday which means I have tapped ten kegs since then also. Am I to print a new menu for each time I put on a new keg? The time tested system in which the patron tastes his beer and if he thinks its old, stale, funky or just plain dogshit he can tell the bartender or server and get a new or different one works pretty well without government oversight.

 

Time matters when talking freshness (especially with IPAs), but temperature matters much, much more.

A 2 month (or longer) old cold stored keg should taste exceptionally fresh.

I'd take a 2 month old, cold stored keg over a 1 week old, warm stored bottle 100% of the time.

 

I had had some kegs of 3+ year old Barleywines that were superb.

 

I used to work at a restaurant for years and we'd routinely get 2-3 month old beer from our distributor.

It was May and we JUST got a keg of Firestone Walker Easy Jack kegged Feb 19th...

 

You probably won't notice much of a difference on a 2 month old keg of GI IPA. It wasn't that good to begin with.

 

Makes sense to me

 

I work as a delivery driver and if you want fresh keg beer you need to find a restaurant/bar that is busy. Usually our keg beer is "fresher" than our bottled/canned beer but that is at the distribution point and they can sit inside restaurants for a couple months.

If the driver sucks, as in won't rotate the product, you could get a 2-3 month old keg that got buried get pulled to the front and tapped, but it's not fresh. I've seen and know drivers who refuse to rotate product.

 

"We just tapped it" means just that - that they just tapped it and the bastards might be lying about that too.

 

Shane, do Sixpoint kegs have packaged on dates?

Cheers!

 

It is important to know born-on date. A new Total Wine opened in Atlanta recently, and most of their IPA's were at least 2 months old. The Distributor getting rid of their oldest stock.

 

All good bars have a draft list on a chalkboard over the bar, with columns for ABV and price. I'd love to see two more columns, one for "Filled On" (stamped on most kegs), and one for "Tapped On."

 

Anytime I visit a restaurant or bar that doesn't strike me as one to take great care for the product they serve, I usually just play it safe and order a beer that doesn't need to be consumed as fresh as possible, ie. Ambers, Reds, Browns, Porters, Stouts or a Saison. It's not foolproof because even those beers can be tremendously affected in a bad way from sitting around too long, but it usually helps.

 

yes, indeed they do!

 

Yep, encountered "just tapped" kegs many times that aren't necessarily fresh.

 

Well of course they are. Wouldn't you if you were the distributor or any store that sells food for that matter? You need to sell your older product first and then your newer product.

Additionally, if the supplier is telling the distributor that the product is good for 120 days, then why should the distributor worry if the product still has 60 days left when it leaves the warehouse? Yes, ideally, the distributor wants fresher product and fewer days of inventory (rotating through product faster), but minimum orders from from suppliers combined with (retail) demand can make the "freshness" challenging.

As others have said many times, if the dates/freshness is not to your satisfaction, then 1) try a sample from the tap and buy/don't buy or 2) buy some other packaged product.

 

Now, if only Sixpoint cans had canned on dates. Life would be so grand!!

Cheers!

 

Yes, but then they would not be compliant in certain countries, and certain retailers would also not know when to remove product from the shelves.

Wish it were that easy!