So as someone relatively new to the craft beer scene, variety packs seem like the perfect purchasing decision. Getting to try an assortment of a brewery's flagship beers for a somewhat economical price. It would seem that way at first, but what about freshness, and the hop forward beers included in these packs? I was super excited to get a variety pack for Oskar Blues a few days ago, as I loved their Ten Fidy and always wanted to try their Dale's Pale Ale. However, once I cracked open the box and tried my first two beers, (a session IPA and the APA) I checked the date provided on the bottom of the cans to see that each one is over a year old! The funny thing is I think the Dale's Pale Ale still tasted fantastic, but much sweeter and maltier than I would have imagined. The Session IPA, on the other hand, was disappointing even for the style. It was also the first beer I tried, which was what prompted me to check the date in the first place. So, fellow BAs, what is your experience with variety packs and freshness? Pretty much all of them come in cardboard boxes, so it's basically impossible to check the date before purchasing. For me, this experience has turned me off the idea in the future.
I don't buy variety packs without a date on them. But here in PA there is often a date on the 12 pack or case box, if not I take a pass. But my experience with the different beers inside has actually been fairly positive. For example Sierra Nevada gives a "packed on date" to their variety packs, and usually the bottling took place no more than a week or two before that date. So it's a pretty good guideline. Never had a problem with Victory or Troegs in finding a date on the box/case or encountering the problem of old beers in that case. My first Variety case of St. Bernardus beers IIRC had a packing date on the case and had six different beers with six different best by dates in it. So I drank the short lived ones first and finished the last (the Abt 12) about two years before it's best by date.
Variety packs are a great way for breweries to move close-dated stock and the previous seasonals. Highland in Asheville makes a variety pack (Mountain Medley) that not only has the 'assembled on' date, but the bottle date of every beer in the pack. No secrets.
The only variety packs I have been buying lately (the past couple of years) have been seasonal variety packs. For example in another month or so I will be buying a Straub Sunshine Sampler pack which is their summer seasonal pack. By buying seasonal variety packs I am 99% assured of getting fresh product (the 1% is if the distributor has some one year old packs they are looking to unload). I will still check the date on the Sunshine Variety pack: caveat emptor. Cheers!
I agree the seasonal packs are 90% of the variety packs I buy. I have yet to come across anything old.
Yes, I always check dates unless I already know when it dropped. A lot of the time though a variety pack has anew beer for that year only so it isn't necessary if you buy it at the beginning of the season.
Where is the "packed on date" on the SN variety packs? I just bought the 4-Way IPA 12 pack. I looked but could not find a date.
Not 100% sure exactly where I found it without the box in front of me, but it was either on a fold over flap of the sealed 12 pack or it was on the upper edge of one side. The last one I bought was the 4-way IPA Variety 12 pack and all 4 beers were within reasonable closeness to their bottling dates as shown on the bottles. (IIRC the furthest away was about 2 weeks before the pack date on the outside of the box but I may be off a bit on that.)
We see a lot of variety cases here in PA since many retailers can only sell by the case or the 12 pack as packaged at the brewery. In my experience with Variety cases/packs more often than not if you find dated beer it's the distributor or the retailer whose been holding on to the beer. Most breweries don't have the warehouse space to store beer for extended periods of time nor are they likely to break down an existing case to move the bottles into a variety case to create such a case. They sell the beer as early as possible, so if you find old beer on the shelf thats because the beer was sold long ago to a distributor and the brewery doesn't own it any more.
Yeah, I definitely think this has more to do with the retailers and distributors. I realize now that my particular retailer is absolutely awful for having old beer, so I might have to take up a policy of not buying hop dependent beer if there's no date.
