Augustiner Lagerbier Hell in US?

Here is the response I received from Augustiner:

 

Yeah, but "unfortunately" for whom?

...as long as you're buying it directly out of a shipping container somewhere in container yards of the Port of NY and NJ.

 

Generally, you're right on both points--but at least they will answer if you ask what the code means. I did get ~8 week old Augustiner in MN when they first entered the market in early 2020. Sadly, getting it that fresh is unlikely to happen again.

 

"we print on every bottle the bottling code. It’s very important for the retraceability of our products – both in Germany and in U.S. But this code we use only for our internal process."

This is the response I got from Schlenkerla too in the past. They had some cryptic code on their bottles, and when I told them how old the product was, they actually did have them removed from my store and shipped new product (or maybe I told my store and they did that?).

Regardless, it irks the shit out of me that they go to the effort of putting a code on it, but can't just put one on it that EVERYONE can understand.

"But we send a new delivery not before the beer in U.S. is sold out. So I suppose that the beer is around 4-8 weeks old when you buy the bottles."

So if I'm reading this right, they don't send product over until ALL their export beer is sold out in the US? That means we probably have A LOT of old Augustiner product here in the US...

 

Finally found a picture with the packaging codes on the bottle:

 

Forget truck chasing... if you're not "container chasing" for fresh Edelstoff you're doing it wrong.

 

From Global Village Imports:

The date code for Augustinerbrau is a production date and is read as follows.

• Code example L021 18 21 15.
  • The first 3 numbers is day of the year 021 = January 21.
  • The next 2 numbers is the hour of filling time 18 = 6 PM.
  • The next 2 numbers is the year of filling 21 = 2021.
  • The next 2 numbers is the minutes of filling time 15.
  • The beer was produced January 21, 2021 at 6:15PM.
  • The shelf life is 12 months.

 

Edelstoff is what is served from the wooden barrels at Augustinerkeller.

From Global Village Imports re deciphering the Augustiner bottling codes:
The date code for Augustinerbrau is a production date and is read as follows.

• Code example L021 18 21 15.
  • The first 3 numbers is day of the year 021 = January 21.
  • The next 2 numbers is the hour of filling time 18 = 6 PM.
  • The next 2 numbers is the year of filling 21 = 2021.
  • The next 2 numbers is the minutes of filling time 15.
  • The beer was produced January 21, 2021 at 6:15PM.
  • The shelf life is 12 months.

 

What am I missing - to me your post #48 reads the exact same as the info in post #47. How is that a "re deciphering"?

 

I actually picked up a 6pack this week that was bottled on October 6, 2020. I'm sure it would taste better with a few months less in the bottle but it's still tasting good.

 

What did you pay for the 6?

 

I had Augustiner on tap back in the mid-1990s at a restaurant in Munich. While I was hardly a beer expert at that time, I recall the beer as superior to many others I tried in Munich and in Germany generally. Freshness dates are good enough for the locals but not the poor yahoos in the USA.

 

$16.99 plus tax and CRV. I don't buy it very often because of the price but I do splurge on occasion. When I visit Total Wine I stock up on German beers so I brought home Weihenstephaner Helles, Weiss and Vitus too which in my mind at least are better values.