Beer freshness depending on style

The number one beer style purchased in the US are AAL's and AB suggests a best by duration of 110 days (less than 4 months) for a beer like Budweiser.

If beer is continuously stored cold the shelf-life of the beer is extended. Below is a handy graph which illustrates this.

Cheers!

 

Drink your beer fresh (or as fresh as possible) and you'll never have to worry about freshness dates but of course, that isn't always possible (due to distribution, etc).

Personally, if a beer (other than AAL's) don't have freshness dates, I don't buy. It's really hard to know how long it's been on the shelf.

 

People look for rules rather than generalities, but it's never going to be so cut and dry. Going by your own experiences always helps.

 

I agree with this. I try enjoy fresh....(within 3 months of age). Yet I've found other beers age more gracefully than others. This should be an experiment you try all your own @LennyOvies. Yesterday I had a Wheatwine that was past its "Best Used By Date" and it was like drinking Candy...aka I enjoyed that shit.

 

IMO the more important aspects vs. beer style are:

• How carefully were the beers packaged. Does the brewery have a high quality packaging line that minimizes TPO (Total Packaged Oxygen) of the bottled/canned beer?
• How was the beer handled throughout the entire supply chain? Was it kept cold or did it experience hot temperatures in a truck, a distribution warehouse, etc.

I am a homebrewer and as such I have ultimate control of my homebrewed beers both from a packaging and handling (storage) perspective.

Other than homebrewing the next best 'option' is to buy the beer directly from the commercial source (e.g., brewpub, brewery tasting room) and consume on premise (or buy a growler, crowler, etc.) for quick consumption at home.

The least attractive option is buying bottles/cans from a beer retailer and just hope that the beer is still relatively fresh from a time perspective and that the product was not mishandled along the way to the retailer.

Cheers!

 

Fair enough.

Maybe someday you will be motivated to take up the hobby of homebrewing. You would then be assured of drinking fresh and properly handled beer.

Cheers!

 

Boulevard's?

 

You know it!

 

Generally I suppose I could distill my experience this way:

1) If there is no date at all I don't buy it unless I know it's a seasonal that has just become available.

2) If there is a "best by date" on it I'll cut that number by 1-2 months and be sure I'll be able to be drinking it before that "new date" I've set.

3) If there's a bottled on date I'll assume the beer is ok within the first 2-3 months after that date, unless I know or can find out that it is a style that I think will age gracefully. But then I never manage to age a beer (e.g., Imperial Stout) more than about 3 years before giving into temptation.

Now, if I know that the brewery has a modern high speed bottling line or a quality canning line, both of which extend shelf life by at least a couple of months through tigher control of TPO, I will extend my shelf life estimate a month or maybe even two.

In other words I assume all beers are relatively short lived until proven otherwise and that undated beer is already dead and not worth purchase. I don't give the beers any extra credit for finding them in a cold case or cold box because I don't know where they were before that.

If see beer sitting exposed to direct sunlight I leave the store without purchasing anything. If I buy a beer that has been light struck in the store cold case or on the shelf, I chat with the manager and explain that they've had their "once" and that if it happens to me a second time I'll be shopping somewhere else in the future.

 

For something like a Brown ale, or Porter, I think something like 180 days seems pretty reasonable. Maybe more. I've purchased really fresh founders Porter, only to find it in my beer fridge 8 or so months later and it tasted just fine.

I do think people need to understand how important cold storage is and that Not every beer needs to be treated like an IPA. A 5 month old Sierra Nevada pale ale is still excellent. So is a left hand milk stout or a boulevard tank 7

 

I'm supposing that the home Brewer here is an unknown, there are some great commercial Brewers and some not so great. Its a skill IMO as well as a learned experience. I would be a lousy home brewer because I know me, I'm impatient and I'd rush or make a mistake and cap a crappy beer. I've had some lousy home brews, some would make Steel Reserve taste like nirvana, and I've had top end like the ones you sent to me. Fully as good or better than their commercial counterparts you were trying to duplicate or who inspired your efforts. Can't beat fresh and well done.

 

Yes, homebrewing does require some patience and attention to detail. It is indeed not a hobby for everybody. Luckily there are plenty of quality commercial beers to drink from. Earlier this evening I drank a Hummin'bird Helles; a very tasty beer!!

Cheers to you sir!

 

All of them (styles)... easily.. it's ideal, but not the end of the world.

Has more to do about storage conditions and some certain styles, but all beer should be fresh and not old in my world.

 

i have big stouts in my fridge from last summer and barleywines that are even older

not a problem to me, i try to enjoy my IPAs within at least 3 months of bottling/canning. amber ales and the such i'll let go even further

 

Ethan, I take it that you do not cellar any of your beers?

Cheers!

 

For all mid to low gravity beers, usually the fresher the better.

To answer the OP's question, besides IPAs/PAs there is one other beer style that, imo, drops off faster than others - hefeweizen. The banana and clove notes do not fade with time, but the "wheat" character falls off around a month after packaging.

I have to add to what was mentioned above by @JackHorzempa that there are certain breweries I trust to package beer better than others, Sierra Nevada being the prime example. Last week I bought a 12 pack of canned Nooner that was 5 months old and tasted as great as ever. For most other breweries I would only go out 3 or 4 months on a pilsner.

 

Nope never... waste of time and money. Not my style. You can, but you can't drink when you're dead either.