German / Imported Märzens

This assumes the issue is that the beer manager simply has no idea how to read it.

I imagine many of them don’t care enough to read the dates.

 

Depends on the manager. Respectable places send beer back to the distributiers all the time.

 

I had a similar discovery with HB Maibock a couple years ago. Pointed it out to workers at one store in a large chain and got the basic shrug. Went to another store in the same chain (served by the same distro), pointed out the old stock, and the beer department manager jumped right on it. New stock Maibock was in before the week was out.

Guess which store I shop at now?

 

I've had several conversations with her, she knows how to read the codes.
There's also Celebrator, bottled 01/15/20, which they've never carried before.
My guess is that the distributor delivered boxes and she just told a clerk to put the beer on the shelf without thinking to check the date. The tell will be what happens when she's informed that it's last year's beer.

 

Based on what I see personally, and from the sheer number of posts here about old product, it sounds like those "respectable" places are few and far between.

Isn't that sort of ridiculous though?

You don't own a liquor store. You're just a customer, and YOU have to show THEM how to read dates?

There's something wrong there.

 

Retailers usually rely on the distro to rotate stock. Most retailers I've talked with don't even know beer can stale. Some have even argued that it's not true.

But if you think about it, who's supposed to be educating the retailer on the product?

@officerbill you'll have to let us know what Wegmans response is.

 

Yup - the distributors rightly tell the retailers that freshness is their responsibility ----- and then goes take stock and ignore all their OoC beers. Probably why a lot of distributors are no fan of "Best by" dating - much rather have packaging dates, w/"Julian" day of the year codes even more favored by them.

I remember once shopping for a party in late winter and coming across some Saranac Christmas Variety Packs and asked the clerk for a slight discount because they were getting old - so, probably over 6 months by then. "Oh, no," he said repeating what his distributor told him, "those beers are good for two years..." (I had to stop him from calling 911 'cause he thought I might have broken my neck when I reacted to his comment).

 

2 years. Thanks Anchor OSA.

 

Why not? It's what those distros are doing with the year-old HB and Ayinger. Who's gonna notice?

 

FWIW -- I usually only see Ayinger at the smaller, independent retailers around my area. Binny's & Woodman's always carry it, but I don't consider them in "my area."

The larger grocery chains never seem to have it -- then again, they rarely carry any import Oktos.

 

My Wegmans has 4 4 packs of 2019 St. Bernardus Christmas ($24 each) still sitting on the shelf; waiting for the holiday to come back around

 

But -- it's good for 2 years.

 

Things like that remind me how much we (the members of this site) are in the minority when it comes to caring about the beer we purchase, even compared to some retailers. The vast majority of customers won't even look for a date to begin with, nevermind figure out how to decipher a German import date code.

 

So they really claim that (as do others), but do you think it would really be $24 drinkable?

 

Here's a question someone may know the answer to:

Why is Schlenkerla's main beer called Maerzen, even though it is produced and sold all year round, and isn't particularly high ABV?

Thanks