Taking personal responsibility for old beer purchases

Here Karen, I would love to buy this cucumber for you, please insert it into the orifice of your choosing.

 

If I ever see this, I'm buying it no questions asked.

 

I'm with OP, if I buy beer that's older than it's acceptable to me then that's on me.

If a particular store always has lots of old beer, that's on them and they'll get my ire.

But it's definitely the breweries that suffer the brand reputation damage of their old beer gets consumed by unwitting drinkers, so they should have the most incentive to figure this shit out. Although I suspect a great many of them have more incentive than they have power in the 3 tier relationship

 

Found a “warehouse” style liquor store recently with large beer selection. Many coolers full.
But then there was this wall of unrefrigerated bombers. A lot of them were IPAs and 10+ years old. It was like a Time Machine.
I would be curious what their rationale is for this.

 

At least this time, Jack (Horzempa) isn't wrong. He didn't say that the brewery should be blamed, he said that it would be blamed: ". . . brewery who likely has the most 'exposure' to being blamed for poor product."

 

I'm about to call up this slaughterhouse and bitch that my pork chops smelled funky and felt slimy when I opened them up! I didn't bother to look at them before I bought them because I really wanted pork chops.

I called up the President of Ecuador and gave him a piece of my mind because the brown bananas I bought were all mushy, as well.

After all the publicity that AB put into "born on" dates a couple of decades ago, I feel like it's on the consumer to make sure the product is fresh at this point.

 

Slightly off topic, but it's just so funny how relative everything is. It's so easy to get caught up in "I wish I could get xyz beer here" type situations, and yet Sip of Sunshine is a beer I can almost always find at my local Stop&Shop. But then, I do live like five miles from the brewery

 

Let’s just say I lack tolerance for stupidity.

 

About a year and a quarter ago, I had to go back East for my Dad's memorial. Stayed with my cousin in a small town for a week. One night, we go to the little bar/restaurant/tavern down the street. They ordered drinks whilst I perused the beer list. Fucking tiny bar in Shortsville NY had Sip on tap. I ordered a pitcher.

Server looks at me and says "but your companions have already ordered drinks". Oh, I love them, but they ain't getting a damn drop. Bring me my Sip.

Was it as good as the cans I had had before the production increase? Maybe not. Did I enjoy every single damn sip of Sip?

Fucking A bubba!

It's one of those beers that I'm always gonna grab until it falls into Bud territory.

 

Maybe it's good we've never met then.

 

I think you chose well.

Both in the decision in the moment, and in your partner.

But, FFS, who the hell goes to Waterbury on their honeymoon?

 

Beer vacation? My wife and I married in Chicago at the County Courthouse (site of the finale of the Blues Brothers movie) on a Saturday afternoon in the mid-70s. We headed out of town for the weekend. A stop in Monroe for a quick draft Augsburger at the Huber tap. On to Dubuque to spend some time rubbing elbows with the cast of FIST in town for filming, and later savoring a Dubuque Star at lunch. We also took a quick look at the abandoned Old Potosi brewery site (now rejuvenated).

 

Good question. Brewery owners think there aren't enough.

 

I’m fine with stupidity, not everyone is created equal in the IQ dept. I have no tolerance for BS.

 

In the New England/northeast area its all over the place so to say its probably fresh in the cooler because it moves could be false. Since its sold everywhere in the region and is well stocked lots of it around is probably older stock that doesnt move. Heady Topper to a lesser extent. Its not as prevalent in the area as Sip of Sunshine but you see it more and more and its not hard to find anymore.

 

There’s stupidity, BS, and basic not giving a shit. I’m impatient with all three. In the case in question, the woman in the grocery store would have had to think that all products on display have been sanitized and sterilized—but to actually make a comment to another customer about touching the cans of beer is both unthinkably rude and plainly stupid. Not everyone is a genius, but most of us need to have a basic level of critical thinking skills simply to function in the world.

Side note, but kind of related to the OP’s topic about what is worthy of complaining to management: More often than not these days, if I order takeout something gets screwed up with the order—missing food, wrong food, etc. Happened last night with a pizza I picked up (I complained after I got home and realized it, and I already have a promo code for a free large pizza for next time). If your entire business model is based on taking customer orders and fulfilling them, there’s no excuse for the level of incompetence I’ve experienced the last few years. Too many people just do not seem to care.

 

The other day, I saw 2 rows of Four Sixes enclosed 6packs on the cooler at a store that I had not seen before. No dating on the package that I could find. I did a mental coin flip and bought one. Yep. Best before November
2022.

It might be the same store that I bought some Jai Alai that was also way past its best by. If so, my VERY bad.

 

That infection comment was idiotic, but I definitely feel like an asshole checking dates on multiple beers — especially four-packs of sixteen ounce cans. Checking dates on cases is easy enough (when they have them) and I don’t mind pulling a bottle out of a six pack to examine. But the four packs you either have to hold up over your head to look at the bottom, or gingerly tip over and hope they don’t fall out of the flimsy holder (which has happened to me once or twice). I’m at the age when I then have to take my glasses off and squint at the smudged writing up close to be able to decipher it, which prolongs the process and forces me to go one-handed for a bit. I hate it.