Do you trust brewer "Best By" dates?

If you don't trust a brewer to know what's going on with their beer, why are you even considering buying a beer from that brewery?

 

I would prefer BOTTLED ON dates

 

Once the beer is out of the brewery, they have lost control of how the beer is stored/managed. They can postulate a best by date assuming certain conditions (e.g., that the beer is stored continuously cold) but that would just be an assumption.

A bottled on date would provide consumers with the pertinent information to determine how old the beer is that they are considering purchasing. They can then decide based upon how the beer is stored at the retailer whether it is too old or not for them to purchase the product.

Cheers!

 

Today we see breweries opening en masse and many put out inferior product. One of their biggest mistakes is not factoring in variables beyond their control. The beer is good on their taps, so the beer must be ready for market, right?

Any brewery worth their salt has a stringent QA/QC 'department' (even if it is only one very meticulous person). That department will do things that expose their products to variables that they will likely encounter once they leave the brewery's control. They will force-age a beer in elevated heat conditions for instance and test the beer periodically, making notes on it's condition across time. They will do this with every batch of that beer.
They will then come up with a reliable average length of time under these conditions, after which the beer may begin showing signs of stress and market fatigue. This average length of time is what they will call the best-before date.
And you can 'trust' that they know what this length of time is better than you do.

Don't make the mistake of assuming that the brewery provides this date as a measure of when hop character falls off or the citrus elements start to fade or the coffee flavor thins out. That's not what they are offering you. Those factors are personal preference. They are telling you when their beer is likely to no longer be what they intended for it to be. And a brewery that does not do this for their consumers either has much to learn about the business or may know that their beer does not survive well in the market.

 

I would prefer a bottle date. the brewer has little control over what happens to his or her beer after it leaves the brewer. The best by dates tend to reflect a beer stored under decent conditions.

 

not always the brewery's assumption. see above.

 

Well here is the question does anyone know of any unethical brewers that would purposely lie?

 

I just think it's rather pompous of us to think that we know more about their product than they do.

 

Lie? No. But certainly many brewers have discounted the benefits to the consumer of date coding:

from yet another "no longer available" post from previous version of BA forum. Can't recall which brewery the individual worked at...and it'd be unfair to state the one I think it's from...)

For the record, the Brewers Association is pro-date coding:

 

It isn't question of lying, its business, breweries while wanting their customers to have fresh product also have to realize the various variables that they have to go through to bring fresh beer to their consumers.

 

No, I don't. I can count, let me know when you filled it and shipped it and I will take it from there. As others have stated, there are other factors that involves the shipping and the storage/handling by the store.

 

Agree with most other folks that would prefer a "bottled/canned on" date. It isn't fool proof as others have pointed out that storage, temp, etc can impact the flavor but it's been a great guide for those brewers that are willing to do it.

 

I agree with this 100%. For beers that can be aged, I would add that I also appreciate a best by date of 4-6 years out; for example, the note on BCBS bottles that they can be aged up to 5 years. It's great to know what the brewer anticipates for how the beer will develop over time.

 

No! I demand that the government create a department of bottle dating immediately that would oversee the dating of bottles. I feel we all need more government involvement in out beer drinking

 

For everybody that's über concerned about freshness or has trust issues with distributors and retailers there's really only one surefire answer - learn how to brew.

 

Off the top of your head, are there any big name brewers who distribute pretty widely that do this?

 

I actually think this system is better for beer consumers. It clearly shows when a beer should not be consumed/bought. Also, some IPA's can do well with a bit of age, and the brewer may take this into consideration.

That's one of the (many) reasons I love Enjoy By. If any store tries to sell Enjoy By after the Enjoy By date, it is basically like craft beer suicide. No beer store wants to be caught selling old craft beer! With a bottled on date, the store could keep it on its shelf for a year without any complaints.

 

Don't usually trust them, especially because I think a lot of brewers put a blanket best by date on all their beers, regardless of style. For instance, I Goose Island's The Muddy, a 9% imperial stout says best within 180 days of bottling date, which is also what their IPA's say. Obviously the same logic can't apply to both. I have a year-old bottle of The Muddy right now and it tastes fine (well, it doesn't taste like it went sideways--it's not that great of a beer to begin with).

 

BBC does it. Example below (from a Noble Pils 12 pack box, now full of gloves in my garage):


"354" is the day of the year the beer was bottled (Dec. 20, 2010). BBC gives their standard beers a 5 month shelf life. IIRC, the current version is a 4 digit number before the letter - 3 digit "Julian" day of the year and the 4th digit the last number of the year.

More to the point - many brewers that use "Best by" dating put the "shelf life" period on which they base that date on their websites.

 

I don't exactly trust. I hold them accountable. If a beer is within its best by date, it should be good. If it's not good -- the brewery made a bad beer. Even if it's clearly due to age. I think they're essentially saying their beer is good enough for their standards up to that date.