Packaging Date Or Expiration Date. Which Do You Prefer For your Beer?

A few German breweries show both -- I believe Hofbräu does it on their cans. Maybe Paulaner, too. They show 12 month BB date.

 

Make no mistake, I’m completely with you. I was attempting to be funny by asking the question in Deutsch, since some (too many?) German exports land here with an 18-month “shelf life”.

Of course, it helps if there’s decipherable coding that indicates a bottling/canning date.

 

preach

 

Too many brewers put those BBD dates of 12 months or whatever knowing damn well their product won't even each the half-life due how they are shipped & stored before purchase

 

YOU may know, but not everyone else does.

 

No disagreement there. There's like 8 billion people on the planet. But, in general, regular users of this website, are pretty well-informed on when beers are at their best. Make no mistake, many folks don't care. There are many people on this site that have no interest in either packaged on or expiration dates. And that's fine. Hell, I'm in that camp myself fairly frequently (probably half the beer I drink is consumed at bars/restaurants, where I have no idea how old the beer is). But, people who do care about freshness, know when certain styles are best, and know that the packaged on date is the most be informative piece of information. Expiration dates are largely irrelevant to such folks. Beer doesn't go bad, first of all, so it's never "expired." And second, as I suggested in my original post, there's a financial incentive to misleading customers on when the beer is truly at its best. Thus any "best-by" or "expiration" date will get significant side-eye from the folks who care about freshness.

 

Next poll: Which is better, 1 beer, or 2 beers?

 

Ok THIS poll may be the first which sees 100% of the people voting for one choice.

2 beers...always....who drinks just ONE beer?

 

If the beer is 22oz or more, I’m not having two.

 

Well... I have at times. (shrug)

@jesskidden

 

Well, that's technically more than one drink isn't it?

It was mostly tongue-in-cheek...mostly.

 

I know. Mostly.

 

I had an 8.4 oz. can with dinner the other night... fit nicely okay- in a Schaefer sham pilsner glass after a sip or 2.

 

If a 40oz can be one drink, so can a 22oz mug!

 

Expiration date has no value. Those dates are based on said beer being stored in ideal conditions. Most of the time beers are not.

 

Packaged on date always. Then can make a reasonable decision based on style.

 

With a packaged on date the goal would be to drink it as close to when it was packaged as possible. If there is an expiration date the goal would be to drink it as far away from that as possible.

The "best by" date could be used at least two different ways possibly for ulterior motives I think, either to have a close best by (3 month or less, for instance Stone Enjoy By) to exacerbate freshness and also increase sales, but when it gets past the best by people don't want to purchase it thinking it won't be good anymore. Another way is if the best by is too far away, then it could increase sales with consumers thinking the beer is still fresh, when it could be well past it's prime, in the case of IPAs being more than 6 months old, or even light pale lagers 9 months or older imo.

So, for me packaging date is best with the obvious intent to drink it as close to the freshest as possible, because I don't know how old a best by or expiration date could be. If I know a beer was packaged more than 6-9 months ago then I know it is no longer fresh and to probably not purchase it unless it's a sour wild ale, stronger or maybe a malty darker style that can hold up near a year. For food products I prefer an expiration or best by date I suppose because it can spoil.

 

I only order draft beer when out. If a bar/restaurant doesn't have draft, then I'll either not drink at all or have a whisky.