Is it legal to sell beer past it's "sell by" date?

Yes.

 

All I can say is that if it isn't, there's alot of beer criminals out there. I suggest staying away from that store.
Edit: I just check where you are from. From what I have gleaned from these posts, in your location you may be shit out of luck as far as stores go.

 

i would assume the sam smiths would last a while. organic and a stout.

But otherwise, yes it is legal. Unfortunately. They are guidelines, not rules.

 

Legal, but bad juju.

 

A recurring theme in many beers stores. I don't think it's illegal but it is wrong.

That's only been out a few months so i would grab that for sure.

 

There is a chance it will ferment if you do.

 

Yes. It's also legal to sell beers prior to their "best after" dates.

 

Oh yes, just like it is illegal to drive over the speed limit.

 

Then selling aged bottles would be illegal.

 

Best by dates are arbitrarily set by the brewer based on their own opinion. The beer may taste worse but it wont make you sick.

 

6 month old Boston Lager > Fresh Bud Light

 

the inverse response:

is it legal to be dense enough to buy beer past it's sell by date? to me, both questions kinda assume there's something wrong on purpose. also FWIW some people actually like finding certain beers past the suggested date. i believe some lunatics even refer to it as something folks describe as "aged"?

 

Think of it as you owned a bottle shop or beer store...
Your selection is huge and you have a ton of beer to choose from. You buy case after case of awesome IPA's and other beer that does not work well with age. With so much selection some of your items get overlooked and you run past the date. Do you just keep taking loss on out of date bottles and throw them in the dumpster out back? Would this loss not eventually catch up with your numbers at the end of the day? Or, should you let it stay on the shelf and let someone purchase it hoping that they don't taste any off flavors and continue to shop at the store?
This is such a tough topic, especially as a beer manager and we suffer with it everyday. Our distributor who deals with most of our craft selection doesn't check their dates and swap things out. It's pretty much, you buy, you sell it. If it goes out of date, you can sell it and you take a hit.
Also, just a little side note. These best by dates are subjective. The brewery says this beer taste best before this date. I have tasted old IPA's that are weeks to months past date and while not as good and fresh tasting as before they still taste fine. I have also tasted some that were god awful. To shorten this up a little...Yes, it is legal.

 

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fact_Sheets/Food_Product_Dating/
http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/Transparency/Basics/ucm210073.htm

Freshness dating is not federally mandated in any way (except on infant formula) by the FDA. It is a purely voluntary process by the food industry. This would probably fall into ATF jurisdiction, anyhow.

And the dates on beers are suggestions, too. One day doesn't make a difference on a stout, and we all know that hours matter on Pliny/Heady

I place the blame for this squarely on the distribution rep for these brands. They should be working with the shop to ensure fresh product.

 

Even great beer shops have this problem. Chucks in Seattle stocks so many bottles/varieties that I frequently find some of my favorites like Boulevard way past their best by date because they are so rarely bought it appears.

 

Ever heard of a clearance sale...?

 

Assuming you mean Clearance Sale on close dated beer, yes. And then what do you do when it goes out of date. The point is, as a BA, you should know better than to buy out dated beer.