I was looking to buy a bomber of racer 5 Ipa at my local packy that has a large warm craft beer section but I did not see any date on the bottle as well as a lot of other beers there. So I asked the manager how old it was and said they got it a few months ago and guessed it was about 6 to 8 months old.Is it still good at that age? I didn't buy it. Instead I bought a six of Thomas Hooker octoberfest off the clearance rack for 5 bucks which tasted like malt vinegar. that beer couldn't have been over 5 months old and turned. should I avoid beer without dates on them?
I try only to buy beer with dates on them when possible. It serves two purposes: one, to be sure you get fresh beer, and two, to send a message to brewers to date their f'ing beer already.
Theres alot of factors involved. Light exposure, handling procedure, storage conditions, etc. If you have questions, you dont have to buy it. You can always pass on things that are year round, or ask for them to let you know when something more fresh shows up.
That store seems pretty sketchy IMO. Turnover definitely shouldn't be that slow and I definitely wouldn't buy any IPAs there if I were you. An Octoberfest tasting like malt vinegar is not normal at all. I can see it being oxidized at this point, but souring should not happen.
I don't buy IPAs that aren't dated, and I don't buy them if they're more than a month old. Are they still good after that? Probably, but there are plenty of good ones around that are dated and are newer, so why bother with undated or old ones?
i personally dont mind ipas that are "old" as long as the storaage conditions are good. I bought a six pack of lagunitas sucks last month and it still was damn tasty...lost some edge but a good beer is a good beer
Do two things. First: Don't buy undated beer unless you know it has a long shelf life (e.g., many stouts are good for up to 5 years) or unless you can date it yourself (e.g., a seasonal release that is clearly from the present year and not from last year's stock). Even if the beer is dated I seldom buy an IPA that is more than 1-2 mos old. Second: Send Bear Republic mail explaining that you wanted to buy their beer but that there was no date on it so you bought someone else's beer instead. BTW your Oktoberfest beer was probably released well before October (the Oktoberfest celebration in Germany starts in September and only includes a few days in Oktober). So I'd bet your Ofest beer was closer to 8 mos old than 5 mos old. Finally if it tasted like vinegar there was something wrong with the beer besides its age.
Style counts too. I'm not so concerned about Stouts with dust on the bottle because they age well, but Hoppy IPA's need to be fresh, kept cold, and not abused by light. I buy from a quality vendor who takes care of all the above and even if the bottles aren't dated sometimes the cases are and he only buys fresh stuff and rotates it. His business is to know his business and only sell good stuff and he does, which is why places like Total Wine take a hit.
I would avoid shopping at stores with such low turnover. If there is beer 4-6 months old, then every beer you buy there is a risk(except high alcohol styles, and most sours). For me I would say an IPA over 2 months is one I will not buy.
I bought a chilled bomber of racer 5 today,tasted great,But I dont understand numbers stamped on bottom of bottle , 34/D-1 1013, is that some code for a bottling date?
I love Racer 5, however I have been to every store in my area but they all have the same aged Racer 5. It is all dated 9/29/11. I was buying a ton of it back then but I guess I was the only one because now it never moves and for good reason I guess being 6 months old. I sure do wish I could get a freshess six!
Now I don't have a bottle in front of me right now. BUT there are 2 lines of numbers. The actual date will be the first numbers on the first line. For example: 012512...so that means it was bottled 1/25/12. Note: Numbers are usually or always? Upside down.
