Do you trust brewer "Best By" dates?

Trust? Nope. I usually never buy IPAs more than 30 days old.

 

By and large I trust the beer to not have gone 'bad' even if it may not be at it's peak. That said, if you give your IPA a one year shelf-life and I don't like it the brewer can't (hypothetically) complain about it not being at it's peak and I should try a newer one to give it a fair shake. If you say "Best by X" then you are saying you are happy with the quality and nature of the beer prior to that date and feel if fairly represents the product.

That said, I generally do my best to get hoppy beers as fresh as possible.

 

Boulevard puts "Best By" dates on everything they make, and I trust them regardless of the style of beer.

 

If for no other reason than any shop with good selection will probably have several fairly fresh, quality IPAs/DIPAs. Even if I go looking for a specific beer, I'll choose something more fresh if necessary. Good selection is the key though, and in the Chicago area we can be spoiled with national distribution.

 

You're still at the mercy of the distributor. I've never seen bottles of Double Jack, for example, in Chicago that weren't at least 2 months old.

 

I assume people are more likely to trust their own metric of how old is too old, and that people are likely to base that metric on magical thinking.

 

Of course not. Everybody knows that a 90 day old ipa stored on a warm shelf still isn't good. Well at least to the avid beer enthusiasts.

 

If they are cold in a cooler, I trust them when they are 90 days out but not more than 3 months.

 

It's not a question of trust, it is what the consumer wants and what they think that matters in the end.

Sometimes the brewers are on the same page with people other times not..

in the end best by dates aren't always going to be agreed upon, put on the product when it was packaged and give the consumer the power to make up their own mind.

 

I want bottled on dates, let me decide when it's too old.

 

Bottled on dates are nice if you are a beer geek, Best by dates are great for the market and distributor, giving them a unambiguous date with which to pull it off the shelf. The second reason seems to me to be the most logical and even with best by dates it's usually pretty easy to determine the bottled on date.

 

I do. It's the distributor and retailers' handling and storage of the beer that I don't trust.

 

I prefer fill date on a bottle or can. But I have learned a great deal from you folks on this site. If it has a best by date, then I know if it is over or not. A range if you will. Most on this site agree that ipas shoul be consumed before 90 days. Most packages I've seen do have some form of date, Julian or otherwise. I can make a decision from that. Maybe I have a bad palette. It all taste good.

 

I'm not disagreeing with you, but it's funny how the sentiment that you are expressing isn't uncommon here... but it's somewhat at odds with another sentiment expressed very frequently - a fervent adherence to brewer intent. God forbid if someone squirts some lemon in their beer because it's "not what the brewer intended." Power to the people - when it comes to "best by dates," but you better drink your Heady from the can.

(I realize that "best buy dates" are not determined by brewer intent alone.)

 

I want both bottled on and best by dates.

I don't like bottled on dates alone because then I then have to find out which kind of bottling line the brewer is using to know the residual oxygen content that leads to staling. The more residual oxygen the more rapid the staling. Some bottling/canning lines properly maintained come close to doubling the shelf life compared to some other bottling/canning lines.

I don't like best by dates alone because because they assume the beer has been handled properly by the distributor and the retailer and that the tasting panel (if there is one) has tastes similar to mine. So then I have to buy only from retailers I trust to keep their inventory fresh and refuse delivery of beer that's too old.

I want both dates.

 

Actually the whole brewer intent thing makes no sense to me either. If you think a beer is better with lemon put lemon in it, if you like a beer aged age it. Beer is meant to be enjoyed and we all know how we like it.

 

Do I trust that brewers want consumers to enjoy their beer in the time frame it tastes the best?
Yes.

Most breweries will tell you what their BBD window is... how hard is it to do math?

90 days. 180 days... this seems easy to me.

You guys are too cynical. Brewers aren't out to get you... Relax.

 

As far as package labeling goes [all products, not just beer] if the person or entity that does the labeling is making a profit on the product being labeled, I do not trust the label. I don't care if you're as pure as the driven snow, are you going to cut your own throat by labeling something against your interests if you're making a profit? If so, you probably won't be in business too long. I'm not implying that there are lies on all labels [you know there are some that are just complete B.S. - and I'm not just talking about beer] but the truth can be stretched and there is a lot of spin doctoring going on. Example: "Our research shows .....", which may be true in the test lab but not in the real world.

As far as brewer intent is concerned, I hope the first intent is to stay in business. And that intent encompasses making a good product and an intent to have the beer purchased and consumed as fresh as possible. Drink by/Best by dates are in the eyes of the beholder. I would like to ask a brewer who uses best by dates if he or she waits that long to consume [off the record, of course].