Old beer in bottle shops...

Well I sort of mistook some of your wording, but the per-case price a PA wholesaler charges any retailer has to be the same for all whether ordering one case of one beer, or 100 cases of several beers. (They can refuse to accept an order for fewer than, say 100 cases at a time, but the price is the same for all, no volume discount.)

As for dealing with other retailers, in my view it is the right of the customer to buy what they choose but if one buys old beer there's no motivation for the retailer or the wholesaler to change their behavior.

We are in agreement that some wholesalers and retailers simply don't care enough to do what they should. This is another reason why the customer should be proactive and simply refuse to buy old beer. My personal rule is no undated beer and no beer I consider to be too old. The exception is when I see a seasonal and have other reasons to know it is this year's offering. Furthermore, sometimes when I'm looking for a case or six pack of beer and find an undated one or out of date one, I send the brewery an email indicating I wanted their beer but chose not to buy it and also tell them whose beer I bought instead.

Given that there are 50 states and the District of Columbia who set the laws for their own operation, I'm not going to hold my breath until there is a widespread mandate.

 

Not sure where in VA you are but there are a lot of breweries in VA, buy direct from a local brewery if you are not able to find fresh beer on store shelves. Unless you are in a very rural area, I find it hard to believe you can't find fresh beer (< 2 months old).

 

Absolutely you should care. You really only have two choices here. Don't buy beer that isn't fresh enough to suit you or don't buy beer at all. Buying whatever is on the shelf, regardless of how old it is means the retailer and wholesaler have one less reason to care about freshness of the stock.

 

I understand asking a retailer to remove all the out of date beer will reduce the choices available but choice is an illusion here because I wasn't going to buy the old stuff anyway.

 

BA's only represent a tiny percent of the craft beer drinking public. Most retailers will shrug off any requests relating to beer freshness. To them, we are just one pesky customer vs. 100's that visit their shop, and don't say a word.

Some might give lip service to freshness, but at the end of the day, the vast majority won't change their practices unless they have to.

 

I assiduously check for canning or bottling or best-by dates because I'm no sucker, I'm no rube, no sir, so last night I was satisfied to see that the sixer of 16 oz cans I was picking up was packaged on June 27. Then I got it home and chanced to notice the date again: June 27, 2016. Whoops.

Straight cardboard. Blecch.

 

Have you considered returning the beer to the store?

Cheers!

 

The old was past it's best by date, nobody would touch it.

 

I'm considering it. At the very least I'll be making disappointed clucking noises at the manager who's always buttonholing me to talk about beer, so he knows how much he's transgressed the unspoken code of beer fellowship.

 

Yes, yes they will.

 

I work in the industry, and while the rules vary from State to State, this is definitely a thing that regularly happens.

 

Thanks for that confirmation here.

So, for those states that permit volume discounts for breweries selling beer to wholesalers I view this aspect of part of the problem. Below is a hypothetical conversation:

Wholesaler: Could you please send me w pallets of brand x, y pallets of brand z,...

Brewery: If you increase your order to a total of A pallets I will provide you with a discount.

Wholesaler: OK increase my order across the board to meet that total of A pallets.

So, while in the above hypothetical conversation it is ultimately the Wholesaler that is at 'fault' for ordering too much, the Brewery is not totally blameless since by offering a volume discount they encouraged this situation to occur.

The entire supply chain is Brewery -> Wholesale Distributor -> Retailer and unless all parties participate to keep the distribution in balance there will be the present situation of old beer on retailer shelves.

And as much as the Brewery might like to pretend that once their beer has been delivered the situation is 'out of their control' they need to remember that if the beer drinker has a poor drinking experience due to the beer being stale more often than not the consumer will blame the brewery for producing bad beer.

The Brewery should also employ conscientious local sales representatives to ensure that old (stale) beer is not being sold to beer consumers.

Cheers!

 

I didn't read the whole thread as there is a new one weekly. Even if you point out expired beer to retailers, some may be concerned and have it returned, most probably don't give a shit. My beer distributor is required to take back expired beer, however, beer with born on dates don't technically "expire." I'm sure policies are different from distributor to distributor but here's the solution. Take said beer with a born on date or 17 month old IPA and break the handle, rip the package. There's less chance of them having a backup six pack holder in their car or taping it up so it looks like shit, so it'll get returned. It's breakage aka "shrink" and it has to be returned. I have sales reps do it all the time for beers with born on dates. Shit, even I do it.

Same goes with wine distributors. Oh, said distributor doesn't return empty bottles that I used for a demo? Easy, fill that shit with another open bottle of wine from a distributor that will return empty bottles. There's always a way...

 

My local beer retailers would likely just place those beers on their mix-a-six shelves.

Cheers!

 

Mine do.

 

That's pretty surprising - although, few brewers use the term "expire", most use "best by/before" or call it a "pull date", etc. Anheuser-Busch owns the registered trademark for the term "Born On" (later dropping it for a best by date) and put the suggested "110 day" shelf life right on the label. You're saying AB distributor didn't pull/replace the beer 110 days after the "Born On" date?

 

Oh yeah, I very much care! Luckily 99% of all the beer I drink is dark and high ABV. But I still check for dates.

 

I've been wondering, what can the store owner who knows he has old beer do? Sell it at a discounted price? No one seems to do this..

 

I'm not talking about AB specifically, the distributors often have audits so they watch those brands like a hawk. It's the craft brands with bottled on dates, like 3 Floyds. Just because Zombie Dust is 224 days old doesn't mean it's "expired." Toppling Goliath says their hoppy beer has a 8 month shelf life. I mean, really!

 

And Bell's lists a 6 month best by duration for Two Hearted Ale. Really, 6 months for an IPA!?!

Cheers!