New Belgium Best By Dates ( RANT by Greg )

Cheers!

 

I suppose the "best buy" date is meant for the retailer, not the consumer. It tells him/her when the beer is so ancient that it should finally be gotten off the shelf. It is not meant to refer to the quality of the beer, other than to its bare acceptability. A brewed on date would obviously be more informative and useful to the consumer but that is of little importance to the brewer/distributor.

 

You meant "packaged on date" vs. "brewed on date" above; there is no reason why a brewery can't put both dates on the bottom of the can (or bottle label).

Cheers!

 

That's not how the system is supposed to work (emphasis on "supposed to"). It is the responsibility of the distributor to monitor freshness, not the retailer.
National Beer Wholesalers Assoc:

The ever more common use of true dating - MM/DD/YEAR (rather than codes) - in the past 10-20 years, brewers' FAQs re:date codes, emphasis on "fresh beer", etc., suggests that brewers are doing it for the consumer.

Who uses a "Brewed on" date (besides Samichlaus)? For that to help the consumer, they'd have to know how long the fermentation period is, how long the beer is aged/lagered before packaging, etc.

 

If an IPA is not dated, I will not buy it. Simple as that

 

That's what was on the can. It was only a month old. The format was different, but I think most people flipping over a can of beer to look for a date could figure out that 220217 meant Feb 17, 2022. Especially when the first date said Aug 17, 2022.

He was mostly bitching that the best buy was six months out. The beer wasn't old, and it was obvious when it was canned.

 

So....... you're cool with taking a chance and possibly buying stale pilsners, light lagers, helles, pale ales, brown ales, cream ales, porters, stouts, et.al.?

 

I would be willing to bet that a casual beer consumer (e.g., a non-BA) could be confused here.

My suggestion is to just use easy to understand dating like:

Canned on Feb 17, 2022

Best by Aug 17, 2022

Why not just be completely open/transparent here. There should not be a need for a code here.

Cheers!

 

Because open and transparent will tell people this is old. My question is how many non BA folk even look. I don’t look at food dates that often because it gets pulled if it’s old. I check meat just so I know I have some time before I need to eat it. I check dates on food if I’m stocking my pantry, other than that not so much. I do check every beer. I’m drinking a two hearted dated 18 March 2022 and it’s quite fine at this age. It will be fine cone the end of June and should still be ok in July.


Enjoy

 

Those I take more on a case by case basis depending on how heavily hopped the beer is advertised to be.

 

That would be something I would like to know as well.

I am pretty sure those non BA folks would have difficulty figuring out a code vs. something like Canned Feb. 17, 2021.

Cheers!

 

Except that most don't. Sadly.
How different my life might be...

I think the more frustrating thing is when a beer says "Keep cold, drink fresh" and has no can date: not printed on the can, not on the label, not even stickered on the top of the pack carrier. How the fuck do you expect me to drink it fresh if you won't tell me when you packaged it?

As far as BB date complaining is concerned, best by date might be more likely to get noticed by the average beer drinker but also is seemingly more for distributors/retailers, in my experience. It basically sets a hard limit on how comfortable the brewer feels with the stability of their beer at a certain age and how it might negatively affect the consumer experience beyond that date. It makes sense to put your best foot forward.

Some breweries are pretty generous, some are much more stringent. Some have done their homework (e.g., this is how much DO we have at the bottling/canning line, this is how long it will take for that amount of oxygen to negatively affect the beer perceptibly, assuming ideal conditions) and some seem to do it for more arbitrary reasons.

Beer doesn't technically expire in the sense that you will get very sick and/or die if you consume it past its best by date.

"This thing will never taste fresh." I mean, he's not wrong there. But maybe his time and money would be better spent supporting his local brewery/breweries that are constantly cranking out fresher/fresh-ish (and arguably better) product than putting more money in Kirin's pocket.

 

Except the fading of hop bitterness is not the only aspect of old beer - plus, why would anyone want a moderately hopped (by today's standards) pilsner to lose its characteristic hoppy bitterness?

What's "ribes" some might ask (I say it every time I come across it brewing literature). See RIBES FLAVOUR IN BEER

 

I agree with his spirit, that beers should have a bottled-on or canned-on date. The idea of "let me decide when it is best before" should reign supreme.

Unfortunately, in the past I have read that it has caused confusion in the marketplace from people who are used to expiration dates on their regular foods. If somebody reads "May 24th 2022" they might believe that a beer is already expired, as opposed to one that was canned today.

 

I am pretty sure that is why NB uses an easy to read expiration date and a code for the bottling date (that any beer nerd can read). As mentioned earlier, the expiration date is for the store as much as for the customer, so they can check if it is time to pull the beer from the shelf or chuck it in a discount rack.

The dude's wife got the single can of a double IPA at a Kroger's. It was one month old. That's pretty remarkable, if you ask me. And I doubt big grocery stores like that are interested in stocking beers with short expiration dates. That is likely why the beer has a six month expiration. I don't see it as rant-worthy myself.

 

oh, now you did it...the uber beer geeks will be clamoring for a quantitative scale on the bottom axis so that they can tailor their beer-drinking schedule to maximize/minimize whatever beer attribute is the objective du jour.

 

Here is one graph with a quantitative scale (if you choose to believe it):



Cheers!

 

How fucking dare you. Put some RESPEK on his name!!