Bad Beer - Tried To Do The Right Thing

I notice that you're in Texas...and that you mentioned "bruery old ales." THE Bruery out of Ca.?!

What am I missing? Are they in Texas? Surely this isn't the case, and I had no idea...

 

I'm in MA for the next two weeks or so, haha. Guess I should have mentioned that! I'd be more excited about the Maine stuff in Texas than The Bruery stuff in Texas, honestly. Bruery tends to be relatively disappointing honestly.

 

If it's not dated, buy at your own risk. Don't go back to that store again - the guy's answers are totally unacceptable!

 

If stores wanted to there is plenty of dead time in a week to go through inventory and pull old stock. Any store that says different is lying. They leave it on shelf because waiting for folks who aren't sophisticated to buy old stock is more profitable.

And breweries that say they don't date because the cost of the equipment to do it is too expensive are lying also. Jim Koch was quoted about it on this very forum to prove that.

 

I haven't read the whole thread so some of this may have already been said, but my compliments on your efforts to bring out of code beer to the attention of the people involved. It doesn't always work that way and can result in success, so don't give up on trying. Remember that all beer clerks are not the same and some are hired only because they can be taught how to open a case and put containers on a shelf without breaking them and since the beer had already been sold twice before you got it the brewery may truly have not been able to do anything at all.

As for protecting yourself in the future, develop two habits. First, *always* check the date on the beer before buying (if you don't understand the date code, don't buy it until you've found out what it means). Second, *don't buy* an undated beer unless you know in some other way it is fresh.

Here's wishing you better luck in the future.

 

And it's probably a lot less frustrating than trying to get some distributors to take it back for credit or exchange it for new stock. (Also, most distributors - understandably - don't take back less-than-case quantities, though some will combine it with other old beers they also distribute).

 

Hate to pick on Total Wine but their IPA's can be depressingly old. the only things I buy there are special release IPA's like Stone that I know are fresh or dated IPA's. I saw some Dales PA which is 4 months old now, G Knight which was 8, some local foothills April/May/June still in the cooler, obviously the April was designed to be consumed in April, and it's 4 months old, and more expensive than fresh June. Figure that one out, and forget the build your own Sixers stuff those cans are even older.

I buy from a local place that's independent, orders in smaller volumes, pays attention to stock and rotating stuff. I but the best local stuff available, or Two Hearted Ale or any hoppy product that's dated.

 

there's nothing you can do other than protect yourself buy not buying undated or out of date beer. I won't name the stores but some of them have huge selections that sit around and that's the way it is. I have one store that I buy from in my local area. I know what's fresh and what's old. also by keeping it to just a few stores and bringing in some stuff to share that maybe tough to get, you open up an opportunity to ensure you get back room specials. ie. I always get my allotment of back room gandhi bots and maine's lunch for example because of these policies I've adapted.

 

I'm getting to where I skip over most of that guy's posts. They're 90% DB, and the percentage is getting higher.

 

Either you knew what he meant and are being a snob or you're dense. Elitist and snobby posts don't make good advocates.

 

Listen no teveryone in the chain is receptive,. I recently bm'd a good paricpant form a regional brewer in my area to say that there have only been two boxes of their beer on the shelf of my local store. For more than 2 months. He suggested an email address and I have been back to the store every day. No change. So today I bought a different beer instead of the one I was looking for. If you are not gonna put fresh beer on the shelf then no one is gonna buy it.

 

Mookie, always do the right thing

 

I recently purchased an outdated six pack of Bell's Oberon and I thought shame on me for not checking the date. I decided to write a very nice email to the brewery basically giving them a heads up that something was off with distribution if old beer was available in stores. They thanked me for my email and said unfortunately they couldn't do anything about the beer but they did send a gift box with some pint glasses and stickers. I also decided to bring the beer that was left (4 because 2 were opened at the same time) back to the Wegmans where I purchased it and they gave me a fresh six pack no questions asked. I guess it all depends on who you deal with. Still, lesson learned, I am definitely that much more careful about checking those dates!

 

It doesn't hurt profits at all, whether you sell a guy old stock or new stock. The problem is that it's more work to go over the stock, something a lot of liquor store employees don't want to do (work in general, that is).

 

Wrong. Very old IPAs can fade until their is little to no discerible hop presence. It may take awhile, but it certainly happens.

 

nope. You are wrong

 

While everyone here seems to be blaming this on old beer, if the beer was truly flat then it is more likely a quality control issue from the brewery and not just old beer. Old beer in a properly sealed can or bottle doesn't go flat all that quickly... anyone whose aged Ten Fidy can tell you that for sure. It's a relatively low carbonation beer when fresh, yet even with a year+ age on it, it's still comes out of the can fully carbed. So, while Finches should be dating their cans as well, it sounds like they need to make sure their brewing process and canning line are up to par as well.

 

Stories like these really make me appreciate living by Beer Temple in Chicago. They date all their beer on the package even if there is a Bottled on date. For those that don't, they date the day they got it in. More stores should follow this practice. At least for their craft beer selection.