There has been some discussion lately about how it would be nice to have all of the German bottle/can date codes in one place for easy reference, since they can be difficult to decipher. The list below is what I have compiled from my own purchases and info provided from other BAs. Thanks to all for your input. I tried to denote "best before" dates where appropriate. I also left off anything with both a packaged on AND best before date (like Paulaner cans and Jever) as those are self-explanatory. This should be a collaborative effort, so feel free to join in and post your own findings. Also, please try to keep the discussion solely about date codes so that the pertinent info doesn't get buried by other posts. There are plenty of other threads for good-natured banter between us German bier fans . Prost! Andechs – DDDY Augustiner – LDDD##YY## (L153072033 = L means nothing, 153rd day of 2020) Ayinger – LYDDD (L8108 = L means nothing, 108th day of 2018) Früh – DDDYY Hacker-Pschorr – MM/YY (best before) Hofbräu – LDDDY (L068P = L means nothing, 68th day, P is the 16th letter so 2016) Paulaner (bottles) – MM/YY (best before) Prof. Fritz Briem – DD-MM-YY Rothaus – DD.MM.YY (best before) Schlenkerla – None Schneider – YY.DDD Spaten – MM.YYYY (best before) Spaten-Franziskaner – DD.MM.YYYY (best before) Uerige – DD.MM (no year) Weihenstephaner (bottles) – DWWY (7176 = 7th, 17th, or 27th day of the 17th week of 2016) Weihenstephaner (cans) – MM.DD.YYY (best before) Warsteiner – DD.MMM.YY (best before)
FWIW -- HB's new 3.0 Session cans have clearly dated canned-on and best-by dates on their bottoms -- in a 00/00/0000 format.
Month/day/year. But I'll double-check to be certain. I'm pretty sure HB is only selling this beer in the U.S.
Augustiner – LDDD##YY## (L153072033 = L means nothing, 153rd day of 2020) Looks like Augustiner is using different date codes? My Augustiner Edelstoff bottle shows "L2514331 R" best before is 07.21
Correct. I should have mentioned in the original post those are date codes for bottles and cans exported to the US. Codes for other countries will vary.
If new ones are added would a mod be able to edit the original post to include them so they all stay in one spot? That would be nice, then anyone who wants the resource can go to original post.
Why move it to the Europe forum, who would see it and benefit from it there? Might as well delete it then. But thanks for the time and effort to help people like me understand theses confusing codings.
Thanks for that! Not that I see a whole lot of German beers locally. I'll have to check my Veltins cans. Edit: iirc, they show the month, like Feb, day and year. Can't get simpler than that.
MM/DD/YYYY is correct for HB for both canning and best by dates. Happily coincidental, Paulaner's new Pils cans are dated similarly -- BB being first, packaged second. Guess they had to be different.
