Lagunitas Just Kicks Ass!

4 months, sometimes more. I'd pick it up at 2 or less.

 

Julian Code isn't hard to figure out plus it's in the same spot on the neck of the bottle (short neck, so not hard to find). The first 3 digits are day of the year and the last 2 are year. So, my Maximus had 350 16, which would be December 16th of 2016.

 

Wow, I don't blame you dude.

 

I haven't seen a single bottle of High Westified around here. I was hugely looking forward to trying it after hearing all the hype around the beer and price. I'd believe Lagunitas is actually kick ass if they made the beer more available.

 

They do bottle date. It is on the neck right around the fill line in dark ink. It's a little cumbersome, but not that difficult to figure out.

 

Yes for a brewery to put on an easy to read bottled on date for their consumers when consumers have complained plenty about it over last few years shouldn't be that difficult to figure out! Beer Advocate forums can't be the only place people voice their opinions on this subject.

I love/like nearly all their beers. Only their Pils and standard IPA thought were just so/so, but then again I probably never had them fresh.

 

It's honestly not that hard to find it and to Google the Julian calendar. I mean, I don't have a problem doing this for great beer at a great price.

 

It's obviously not hard if you know what you're looking for. But the average casual (and even not so casual) beer drinker doesn't have a clue about the term "Julian dating" to even start their google search. I've been drinking craft beer since the early 90s and I'd never heard the term until I joined here a couple years back.

And the black on brown glass type, which is often faded, doesn't help either.

So yes, if you know what you're looking for it's not that difficult to figure out. The problem is that most people don't know what they're looking for. And it's exacerbated by the fact that Lagunitas clearly has the resources to change their system at will. Combine that with the fact that their product is often old in a lot of markets and you can't help but think they prefer things to remain ambiguous to the majority of purchasers.

And jeez man, if you're wondering about why you got "pushback" for your posts, your gym humblebrag at the end there is a good clue.

ETA: none of this changes the fact that they make some fantastic beer. I'm lucky enough to have 2 sixers of High Westified in my fridge right now.

 

Whatever...it's there, on the bottle. Simple math. Many otherwise quality breweries have nothing at all on the bottle/can.

 

I'm with ya on that, wider distribution would be nice.

Cheers!

 

I'm just straight forward with people, which can be a good or bad thing. It wasn't bragging, it was giving an example why I believe taking 15 seconds to find a code on a bottle and look the Julian calendar up is so easy to me. I guess 15 seconds of work would not stop me from buying an amazing beer at a very low price (much lower than most others at comparable quality).

 

Again, you're being awfully condescending to everyone out there who doesn't happen to know what a julian code is and would have no reason to think the numbers on neck were anything but serial numbers or something.

It's not that everyone else is too stupid or lazy to do it, it's that they don't even know that anything needs to be done.

 

What, he's bragging because he knows lagunitas goes by the Julian date? He even explained how to convert it in one post. I think you're being a little hard on him on this. And yes, I got mad at him too in the sierra Nevada thread,but in this case he's ok. Which is not to say that yes, they should join the rest of the world and put easily read dates on their beers. But it is what it is, and since they do Julian dating its best that you know how to convert it.

 

Dear any possible Lagunitas employees who lurk here on BA,

Can you possibly put the Lagunitas Imperial Stout in 6 packs? Or at least more readily available in the relatively cheap bomber format? Thats a hell of a beer for the price!

 

I'll be shit on for this, but I can't dig this brewery because they seem to make the same (or extremely similar) beers in 10 different labels. Not to mention I just feel the hype beers from them are objectively alright minus the price point. $10-$11 for a 6er of a BA stout is great, but I thought it was totally unbalanced and had no body... Just me though. Anybody else out there or am I alone?

 

I'm no Lagunitas lover (probably only like 5% of their portfolio) but this is the most bizarre statement. What's an example of this? The only one I know of is the the most recent Lagunitas Sucks Christmas packaging, but Lagunitas isn't the only one who does seasonal things like that.

 

I guess for me the issue is that Lagunitas is so often old (in Vermont anyway) that the extra 15 seconds it takes me to locate and convert the Julian Date does discourage me. When I'm done dividing 200 by 30 in December only to discover that the Sucks is 5 months old, it's like salt in the wounds!

 

I mean more so, their beers tend to taste very similar. They tend to utilize the same hops in a lot of the beers they make. So I gave up buying "new" beers for them. I was being pretty loose with that statement. Not literally in different packaging, I just think their beers don't vary very much. Especially with their use of hops. I will say I enjoy a few such as Imperial Stout and Hairy Eyeball.

 

a chunk of those examples you're describing are folks that don't really give enough of a (you know what) to know or worry about the dates, period.

that's it & that's all! they should; if they genuinely care about the issue enough to take issue with it. if not. don't pretend it's a big deal just for the sake of the argument.

maybe i don't understand the point made here. even if that is 100% accurate, that's sort of like, so what. they clearly have the resources to send a truck filled with their beer to my driveway too. shame on them for exacerbating my thirst.

 

You're awesome.