Outdated beer

I bought an IPA last June that I thought was two months old. When I poured the beer, I noticed the smell of cardboard from two feet away. I then re-checked the bottle and thought, "SHIT! It's the year 2013, not 2012!"

It sucks when that happens. My advice to you OP is that you get yourself a nice beer bong.

 

Thanks for the welcome. I am from Buffalo. So I am kind of wedged between Mid-Atlantic and Great Lakes.

 

Picked up a sixer of Dark Horse Crooked Tree ...later noticed it was over 6 months old. It did not withstand the test of time, it was terrible. It was just bitter and kind of perfumey? Is that normal? Still plan on drinking the rest eventually though. waste not, want not!

 

I'll buy expired beers on the discount rack of a store I frequent out of morbid curiosity and for science. My experiences have ranged from awful to surprisingly not bad.

 

I do it all the time, can't say I've had any experiences that were negative. In fact, I recently (intentionally) bought a rye IPA dated 10/21/12 and am excited to try it, possibly will drink it tonight.

 

STLeasy hit the nail on the head on this one. With the exception of some saisons/farmhouse ales that are brewed with Brett, those will develop over time in the bottle and some end up even better than they were fresh.

Old stale hoppy styles are unpleasant to drink period, but after you've had a few of them you can learn with your regular purchases of the same brews which ones hold up better than others. Some breweries systems are better than others when it comes to oxygenation during packaging, and will stay drinkable longer.

Best thing to remember is for styles that you drink fresh, always check for bottle dates. Fwiw I've found that lagunitas, bells and bear republic ipa's hold up well.

 

As someone who works beer retail, if you ask me for a brand that doesn't distribute here I assume you don't "know your stuff". Cheers!

 

Off topic, but the label looks very similar to All Day IPA. I'm curious which came out first.

Also in MI you cannot return alcohol purchases unless the product is or has went bad. I don't know if that covers outdated.

 

All Day was packaged 1st AFAIK. But I know BLVD has been working on this beer for sometime.

Double Wide (trailer), Single Wide (trailer), Pop-up (camper). Cheers

 

Ive never liked the BEST BY dating system. I think that all brewers should have to clearly put on their packaging a BOTTLED ON or KEGGED ON date. Then let the buyer decide. We all go on about freshness...freshness...freshness. And with IPAs it is a reasonable thing. Heady Topper groupies will say they notice a difference in the beer as early as a week after the beer is "dispensed". I think that is something only the most discerning palate can register, if at all...and by the time Heady is canned, packed and shipped to your local distributor, it can be weeks to a month before it sees the shelves in your area, just under normal circumstances. And I have as a matter of experimentation, held a can of Heady for six months and found the beer to still be very enjoyable, even if not at its peak. Similarly, with Maine beer. They put a bottled on date on their bottles, and encourage that their beer be consumed with in three months of bottling. Again, a reasonable thing, but same time, I recently had a bottle of WEEZ that was a couple months past that time frame. I didnt buy it that way. It was in a friends stores and I pulled it out in a recent visit to his home, but I found it to be quite good. In many instances, even beers that are not meant to be aged/cellared can be just fine for six months to a year past bottling/canning dates. The astute beer drinker knows their styles and which are best when and how far out they are willing to take things. So I say tell us when you made it...tell us clearly, with out codes or hidden dates...and we will decide what works for us as consumers.

 

You need to find a new beer store then. In my store everything is available as a single.

 

Whereas I agree that I personally benefit more from a bottled on date. Most consumers don't want to think/decide; they benefit most from a best buy date. So, ideally (in my perfect world) bottles would have both and in plain dates instead of codes (although I don't really mind Julian that much).

 

I wish there was a universal dating system that had to be followed by all breweries. A couple of times I've bought canned beer thinking the date was the date it was canned when it was actually a best by date. Why do they have to make it so flipping confusing?

 

Go ahead and try those beers. It won't kill you and you will remember what you observed so that when you egt a fresh one you will amrvel and say why didn't i look harder for a date. Before you know it you will only bring home the freshest beer. =)

 

I'm still drinking thru a case of SN Summerfest cans from last year. Granted it's not going to fade like an IPA, but it still tastes as good as it did fresh.

 

Folks tend to forget that there are legal requirements regarding code dates - essentially, brewers do it because they have to do it. There are exceptions on both ends of the spectrum but generally speaking, beer is plenty good for a good long time after it's 'expiration' date.

 

And blanket statements are good for blankets.

 

You gave a Pilsner as an example? And your last comment is pretty general. For example, everyone one of those beers listed that are not pasteurized can be susceptible to aging negatively in short time....CAN be.

Most beers change over time and some for the better. i.e. a rough stout mellowing out and making it more drinkable. Hell, the Abyss even says right on the bottle, do not drink before XX/XXXX. Or it can mean a DIPA losing a shit ton of the hop profile. Will a DIPA go bad? That's a harash/subjective word. But I might not be be in the same light that the brewery intended. For example, would you drink a year old Heady or PtE a year old? 6 months old? (for the record I probably would because I'm sick in the head).

 

The trouble here is that you will find good beer not being purchased or even carried because it might hold a date that is not realistic for a distributor to maintain. The WEEZ for instance that I mentioned. Maine Beer is used for its use of hops, among other things. The WEEZ I had was purchased within the 3 months, but had made its way for one reason or another to the back of the fridge...and it was just fine, as I said. BUT... A lot of stores will not carry them because their labeling calls for the beer to be consumed with in three months. Again, take into account that simple packing and shipping can result in it taking up to a month sometimes just to get to the shelves. Now, we all agree that beers featuring big hop profiles are best when freshest. BUT...while perhaps not at their peak...they are still solid beers six months out of the gate..but the average consumer that you mention will not give them a chance seeing that 3 month limit...which leaves stores and bars to either pull them, or be perceived as keeping old beer, when that might not really be appropriate. There's been a big flap in NY over Stone's Enjoy By. The beer is taking so long to get out here from Cali, a lot of bars wont run it because they only have 7-10 days to turn the keg once its received. Is the beer just fine on Enjoy By date plus 10?....sure it is...but no bar wants that date staring their customers in the face ten days past...and a lot of buyers wont even consider the purchase after the date. I do appreciate your consideration for the less intelligent of us out there...but if theres trouble doing the math of adding 1, 2, 3 or 6months to a bottled on date without a calculator, Id suggest that we all have bigger problems to address there.

 

Local guy that carries mostly BMC product had a sign on his door "FIRESTONE WALKER BLOW OUT!!!", so I had to go in. The "blow out" was 2 sixers of Pivo Hoppy Pils for $3.99 each. They were 5 months old, I thought the price was worth the risk. I bought one and it wasn't bad.