how does Stone Enjoy By affect marketing "fresh beer"?

As far as I know Stone hasn't stopped making Levitation, Pale Ale, Smoked Porter, IPA, etc and marking them with the most aggressive "enjoy by" date in the industry.

I think it may prompt other brewers to take a closer at how they date their product, which would be great. But as far as I'm concerned Stone is the best brewer in the world when it comes to freshness of beer, and actually doing something about it.

 

Probably another reason why I almost never drink bottles of Ruination or almost any regular-lineup IPA. I'm all about super freshness in IPAs, and think it makes a huge difference. Most bottles of Ruination taste like malt-bombs to me, although I've really enjoyed those I picked up from the brewery. I'd rather just go to a bar that I know rotates its kegs and drink it on tap.

 

If that is the case, then I, too, am all for it and I'd say the move makes sense (as does this release being a one-off). I'll admit as well to not having paid much attention to their bottle dating, and I plan as a result of this to do so in the future -- especially as I tend to see quite a bit of Stone's products collecting dust in local shops around here.

 

Hop flavors fade, sure, but that doesn't mean the beer has actually "gone bad" after 3 months. It just means the flavor won't match what it was when it was fresh. The beer is still "good" in terms of it is safe to drink, which is what they were intending when they originally brewed IPAs - that it would be safe to drink, not that the hop characteristics would be distinct.

On topic, I don't think this will have an effect. Does Stone even bottle date their regular releases like Ruination yet? I don't think they do, so this "Enjoy by" releases is purely marketing.

 

Yes, they do. It's a laser etching near the neck/shoulder of the bottle.

 

They do date their bottles as well as have a list of their "shelf life" period for their regular releases and a page to report old beer. Easily among the best breweries at date info at this point. Stone - Fresh Beer

Altho' I agree that this release was gimmicky- when the amount of hype is compared to the quantity of beer shipped to individual stores, the very limited number of stores that recieved it, etc., the bottles easily sold out in one day at many retailers. THAT is not typical of the vast majority of regularly released craft beers.

 

Ah, I'm drinking a bottle right now that I thought didn't have it, but I see it now.

 

One of the best parts of their "freshness initiatives" is that you can report any out of date product directly to Stone, they have a simple form you can fill out on their site.
I did it about 6 months ago and I haven't seen any out of date beer from them in my neighborhood since!

http://www.stonebrew.com/freshbeer/

 

Until I'm persuaded to believe otherwise, this appears to be a marketing tactic. There is so much hype with buying and drinking Pliny quickly while its "fresh" that Stone wanted a piece of the chase and excitement. The tactic will work as long as the beer is comparable in being desirable.

I've been full of crap before, but it feels as though this is the case for now.

 

What does Greg say?

 

Who said anything about the beer going bad? Not sure why you quoted my post. And I'm pretty sure brewers don't aggressively hop beers these days so they're "safe to drink", it's all about the flavor and aroma.

 

Of course it's marketing, but that doesn't necessarily make it bad. Vegetable producers want people to know that broccoli and spinach contain vitamins, fishermen want people to know that salmon is a good source of protein and omega-3 fatty acids. Stone wants people (and not just beer geeks) to know that their hoppy IPAs are best fresh. More breweries should be spreading the word on freshness, it would be a lot more useful than "coldest beer" or vortex bottles or other utterly useless marketing bullshit.

 

Stone can do a special release that sells out right away in NJ any time they want, but I agree that they can't do this with their regular releases.

I probably should have quoted Azzy, sorry!

 

Something doesn't have to make you physically ill to be "bad". I've yet to have an old IPA (>1 month) that I'd want to drink again.

That's not what "hype" means. This new Stone beer was hyped, Pliny is not.

 

I didnt necesssarily say it was bad. Just trying figure out the potential truth behind the label. And unless it's Pliny with admitted degradation issues, I'm not one to be big on the freshness bottle date kick. If brewers truly felt they had a liability issue or detected a business impact, they would put more effort into things like bottle dating and freshness advertising.

I fully understand that flavors evolve with time but very few beers are actually "bad" with age. It's interesting to try something new shortly after bottling and then again with age to experience the changes. I will do the same with Stone's latest venture just for the hell of it. Cheers

 

The debate about freshness can be put to rest with one statement: If you want to ensure that you are drinking really & truly fresh beer, brew your own.

 

Hype: excessive publicity and the ensuing commotion.

Uh, this definition seems pretty fitting to me.

 

This is true only if you can brew in 1-gallon batches. I haven't brewed for years, but by the time you're down to those last few bottles of a 5-gallon batch (assuming you're bottling, not kegging) that beer is probably no longer all that fresh.

 

A bunch of dudes on a website talking about something isn't hype. Read the link.

 

I homebrew my own IPAs, typically 4 batches (total of 8 cases) per year. I certainly would encourage others to homebrew IPAs; there is indeed nothing like a fresh, tasty American style IPA!

But now that breweries are dating their beers (preferably with a brewed on date but a best by date with knowledge of the timeframe like Stone’s 3 months for their IPA) there is no reason that we can get our fresh IPA ‘fix’ by purchasing commercial IPAs. I just finished the last beer from my latest IPA batch this past weekend. I am thinking about buying a case of Firestone Walker Union Jack soon if I can find a batch that has been brewed in the past month or so. Pretty simple: if I find a fresh case I will buy it. If I can’t find a fresh case: no purchase of Union Jack. I will buy another fresh (less than a month old) IPA instead: Bells Two Hearted, Ithaca Flower Power, Lagunitas, Stone IPA, etc.

Cheers!