Do best before dates matter with higher alcohol beers?

temperature change, especially rapid temperature change. usually from retail stores leaving product in or near sunlight.

 

Yes, it does matter for the reason others mentioned (best when fresh). However, I really only focus on dating for IPAs. Otherwise, I try to drink as soon as possible, but the realities of life (keeping buying more beer!), I unintentionally age beer. As a whole, the BA and higher ABV tend to hold up better, but I have had 9-1 year old IPAs which were perfectly fine (someone had to finish them).

I will push back slightly that all beer must be drunk fresh or is better. While not much recently, over the years I have found some BA beers to be "hot" shortly after release (high alcohol taste). They were much better waiting 1-3 months to let them calm down.

Too each is your own....

 

Nope. Don't mind at all. I've bought Double Dave's IPA off the discount rack & it was just fine for me, along with a few others.
I don't mind it in the least if an aggressively hoppy beer looses some oomph, especially at a great savings.
I don't bother looking for dates or packing codes. I just drink it.

 

Don't think just drink!

 

That works if flavor is unimportant.

 

Yes

 

It's important to note that some beers will hold up better for longer than others. That's an important distinction. If I buy a fresh IPA, I'll want to consume it within a fairly reasonable window. A few weeks, maybe a month or two. If I buy an imperial stout, I don't care if it hangs out in my fridge for a few months because it will still taste pretty good and not turn into a gross malt bomb like an aged IPA. But, if you aged any stout, even the barrel aged stuff--for say, two years, even if intentionally--not only don't I believe that it improves, but I think the flavor will have decayed. Oxidation is a bad thing for even the bigger beers, imo.

 

Don't let things sit too long; you will regret it. I have some Bell's Expedition Stout bottled about 6 years ago now that is straight up metallic. I didn't check, but I think maybe the caps have started to rust? A total bummer, regardless.

My beer "cellar" has gotten completely shameful and out of control. I intend to drink it way down once the weather turns cooler again.

 

I never intentionally age low-ABV beers, so have never gotten into the habit of checking dates. That said, I also understand that high-ABV isn't a guarantee that the beer can't go bad. Specifically, I avoid aging coffee beers and pastry beers. I've had FBS attain a green-pepper taste after a year, and have had pastry stouts start to go bad in six weeks. I've also had an eight-year-old Abyss, and it was starting to taste like cardboard. Pasteurization does improve your chances of a beer lasting, but few brewers do it, or mark the beer indicating they do.