Julian Calendar dating. Why?

Wait - are you really suggesting that brewers realize that people of legal age to buy their product should be able to do 4th grade math? Interesting concept.

Not sure it's true or not - but I can say from what I've read, they sure don't LIKE to do the math...

 

Yeah, it ain't rocket surgery. 30 days/month, 365 days/year. A quick glance and less than a second of thought gets ya in the neighborhood. Folks stress about dating waaay too much.

 

It amazes me that so many breweries have gotten aboard with the independent craft brewer seal, changing their labels. Granted that's probably not that difficult or expensive since they are changing the design and printing a bazillion labels or cans. While they were at it, too bad the Brewers Association didn't leave a white empty box next to the logo so brewers have a standard place to print a standard format and standard font born-on date in standard black ink. Then, over time, as brewers replace dating equipment, they could conform.

Brewers, particularly smaller ones, would be facing the expense of new dating machines to replace their current one(s) which either print on the label, the container, or notch the label. So there is the expense. Next we must recognize that some feel they either shouldn't have to, or they don't want a date because it would expose their poor distribution and/or slow sales. But as brewers start doing this it will shame the laggards. And lastly, nobody is telling breweries they need to standardize, or what the standard is. Hello Brewers Association! Step up here, since you already blew an opportunity!

 

It seems to me that the Brewers Association operates primarily to represent the interests of their members (i.e., small(er) 'independent' breweries). Do you think the members want to be 'told' what to do here as regards product dating?

Cheers!

 

The Brewer's Association has recommended to their members that the product should be dated. They have recommended a particular transparent dating system. The BA are not, however, in a position to require either dating or the choice of dating method chosen by the brewer.

 

It's not that bad, I just divide the number by 30. That math is easy enough to do in your head in seconds and it gets you close enough to the date to know how fresh it is.

 

Nope, I suppose they can't require it, but glad they are recommending. Since brewers are the association and since some might not have used such a label with a date box, I guess it wouldn't have worked out after all.

 

I wish they all printed a legible "borned" date but alas.
My quick 4 step process:
1. Find beer you might consider purchasing
2. If stout, sour or Barleywine buy it (date doesn't matter). If not seek date listed.
3. If date within 45 days ok to buy. If not look for another beer.
4. If no date look for another beer.

See how easy that is?

 

Or just #2, drink stouts, particularly BBA/RBA and never worry about age (except coffee stouts which could go all green pepper on you)

I never think to check dates.

 

Get back under your bridge, troll!

 

In the military we use the Julian date for all of our supply shit so I've been reading Julian dates for so many years, I actually prefer them at this point.

 

So glad I'm not the only one. I'm glad my beer store has good lighting!

 

Perhaps I am mistaken, but I thought a significant reason for using a Julian date was to accommodate overseas distribution? The date format in the US is different than in Europe, no? US: MONTH/DAY/YEAR; Europe: DAY/MONTH/YEAR. Using the Julian dating system '0108' equates to Jan. 10, 2018 no matter where you live.

 

I read through most of the comments. Several people have commented that "it's not hard to divide by 30," and I think those comments are missing the point: the dating system on the product that is for the consumer should be catered to the consumer - just like a user interface is in any software or game. It is easiest to read " 12 October 2018", not whatever fucking date that comes out to be in Julian.

Someone can prefer Julian, but it is ny easier, and it does not cater to the consumer.

It's like a map that has "up" as "south." WTF.

 

I don't mind Julian dating, it's kinda like that extra surprise too when u decipher a lagunitas and realize it's way fresh

I'm not sure I understand how your example would be confusing, it would either be the 78 day or the 118th day.

 

I like it better than best by dates on beers. I'm seeing some breweries date their beer some six months out. So doing that sort of backwards then forwards math is sometimes ten times harder than a simple julian date.

Throw in some breweries dating their beer four months out and a may '18 best by date may make that beer anywhere from 2 to four months old. At least with a Julian date, the precious is right there.

Obviously a clear canned on m/d/y is too simple of an option. But for the lesser of two evils, Julian dating is not so bad. I'm having a hard time finding the date stamp on sumpin easy 12 pks vs. 12th of never. It got me so upset I bought neither.

A lot of places make it hard because their beer isn't selling. With or without visible codes, this would only make things worse for breweries and stores. I'd say a vast majority of Inventory in some places has outdated beer.

I remember overhearing some TW workers exclaim at hearing this new brewery had 120 day shelf life. They were hating pretty hard on those that wanted to push 90 day. I hear of stores wiping off the date ink or taking away stickers.


Just glancing at when others pick up beer, maybe 3 out of 20 check the date. They trust that the store is pushing out the best product possible. That's not always the case. If you get burned too many times, you might have lost a customer for life.

 

US Gregorian dates are MMDDYY while Europe uses Gregorian DDMMYY. This has nothing to do with Julian dating. Your example '0108' would be January 8th in the US, or August 1st in Europe. I suppose that confusion is one reason to use Julian.

 

The US brewing industry used "Julian/day of the year" date coding long before the craft era, and the amount of craft beer exported is still relatively small. Exported beer typically use different labels to meet other countries' laws and a sometimes a different date coding method (often mandated) - from reports on BA, different shelf life/best by periods are given than the same brewers' beers sold here. Pretty sure their have been posts here in the forums about Sierra Nevada beer shipped to Europe, Anchor beers in Canada and several different US craft brands exported to Australia having different dating that they use in the US.

 

Yes. To see something dated 1102means 11th February to most people,a bit different from 2nd November which it means in the US.
Just the day of the year and the year itself should be enough.