Summerfest Lookout Thread (2023)

Well done. Keep us posted on any updates.

 

@steveh , that's terrible to hear. Definitely getting the January 2022 date from that code. Scandalous by someone in the distribution chain if that was really recently delivered to a store

 

I discussed this topic a week+ ago in another thread:

"The short answer is "yes". The longer answer is that all three legs of the three-tier distribution (i.e., Brewery -> Wholesale Distributor -> Retailer) are systemically at fault but none of them seems to really want to fix things. As a customer the only leg you really 'see' is the retailer and if you are so motivated you could express your thoughts with them. I recognize you voted "no" in the poll but if your retailer decided to sell only the brands they can be assured of turning over quickly this would be beneficial from a product freshness perspective."

https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...n-hopefully-fresher-beer.672319/#post-7746973

Cheers!

 

Woo-Hoo! We are in agreement!!

Cheers!

 

I wonder if an industry standard “expiration date” would be useful instead of the hodgepodge of best by, enjoy by, packaged on dates or secret Illuminati bottling codes that brewers use now. I don’t see my grocery store letting expired hamburger helper or bread expire, maybe if beer had a unified expiration date on it they’d be more attentive? I dunno but I do agree it’s silly to let beer just rot on the shelf

 

So I timed it right with my return to the store -- the beer buyer AND the North Coast distro were in-house. On top of it, the distro rep is an old acquaintance -- he immediately pulled the Scrimshaw left on the shelf.

Nobody knew about the NC coding -- distro guy says he's never even spoken with anyone from NC -- not to mention his portfolio is so huge that there's no way they could learn all the odd codes.

Good news is, I got a refund.

Second good news is -- Summerfest is in stock! Unfortunately, it's not in the store's system yet, so I couldn't buy any.

Trumer in house. (12-pack at nearly the same price as the six-pack of Scrimshaw)

 

Trumer beats Scrimshaw IMO but I have fond memories of eating tasty seafood in Fort Bragg (CA) and washing it down with draft Scrimmy. That combination is hard to beat.

Todays lesson (that we already knew), confusing bottling/canning/best by dates are bad.

 

Probably won't come until next week.

 

Good work. Nice to hear you received a deserved refund. I appreciate the distributor has a huge portfolio but do not accept this means they can then forgo checking for out of code beer or excuse them for not doing so. Someone at the distributor should be handling this imo.

Now that is cruel! I checked the SN beer finder and it appear to have a hit a local grocery store. It seems this is our week then.

ICYMI, Beer Temple's 10th Anniversary Party on May 7th will be having Unfiltered Trumer Pils. First time it's been to this area per BT's post.

 

Someone direct at the warehouse, I agree -- but probably not a field rep.

BG Jewel? I saw that one. I imagine the links are going to spring up soon.

 

Still looking locally. I thought it would be on the shelves by now since they brew in state but no dice. I even tried Total Wine. The guy I asked had no idea what I was talking about and said he didn't know if they were getting it. So the wait continues.

 

Try this finder:
https://finder.vtinfo.com/finder/web/v2/iframe?custID=SNB

 

Finally found Summerfest in my area. Illinois Quad Cities. HyVee in Moline. $10.99. As a bonus, they also had Revolution Infinity Hero, $11.99. Win win.

 

Showing up in grocery stores and bodegas across Brooklyn. Tasty & budget-friendly. Gonna be a regular in my rotation as long as they keep sending fresh shipments.

 

Meant to address this directly -- because it sounds like a great opportunity. I just doubt I can get into the city on a Sunday.

Any insight as to why they chose Trumer and how they got them to send a Zwickel version?

BTW -- are they filling growlers?

 

Just back from beer shopping, where I noticed 3 North Coast packs - Scrimshaw, Red Seal and Rasputin - - all the codes started with "20". (I did not buy).

I can no longer find the emails and the BA forums have been updated so many times that my previous posts on the topic are gone but...

Around 2000 a friend and I purchased a case of Red Seal Ale each at a local chain liquor store, Joe Canal's. The beer was on the second level of a industrial rack in their cooler - so, about 10' in the air, with numerous other cases on top of 3 cases of Red Seal Ale. So, we had an employee get a ladder and bring the two down we purchased.

About a month later I decided to buy that case we left (Mmmm....that was some good stuff...think I'll buy another). It was in the same spot and the other brands' cases on top of it were the same. Nothing had changed on that shelf.

I bought it, came home, drank one - OLD, STALE. WTF! Checked the date code (at the time, it was Day of the Year/Julian coded, but I'd long before learned to read them) and it was much older than the two we'd bought earlier. So much for stock rotation.

Wrote an email to North Coast and the owner, Mark Ruderich (now retired, IIRC), actually wrote back and said, "Yeah, that's old and shouldn't have been on the shelf. I'll get my local distributor to replace it for you."

Got a email a few days later and he said he was still working on it. Then, a few days after that he said he could not get a hold of his local NJ distributor (!) and he was sorry but could not send me beer from California so would I like to pick out some swag from their store to make up for the old case? Picked out an Acme hat, an tin Acme IPA Vargas girl sign, and a Red Seal glass. (Still got the first 2 items, maybe even the shaker pint somewhere). Ah, whatcha gonna do?

A few years later, the topic of old beer/date codes came up on a BA forum (imagine that? An oldie but a goodie). Ruderich was quoted:

and he went on to say (either in that thread or elsewhere), he'd never received a complaint about old beer.
WHAT?! Dude, don't you remember me? We once had a email relationship!

 

Only the 2 is relevant to the date and indicates they were brewed in 2022. So none super fresh but they could be under 6 months old