Beer Store Shelf Life for Different Styles

It all depends on shipping method and storage method.

 

Belgian Dubbels,Tripels, Quads and Strongs are pretty muchgood to go without too much worry about bottled/best by date.
I love finding dusty Three Philosophers and Trois Pistoles. Oh and the occasional dusty ABT12.

 

You're correct about most I.P.A. brands, and my "Short Answer"? The fresher the product is, the better it is. I've enjoyed some well-kept (cold and dark...) American style I.P.A.s at eight months past bottling, but at a year, the same brand had a greatly-diminished hop profile, which many hop lovers would consider a "drain-pour."

Double and 'Triple' I.P.A.: Generally maintain their optimal flavor profile longer than I.P.A., often up to a year.
Porters and Stouts: Maybe six to eight months -- beyond that, you're on your own.
Pale Ales and Pilseners: five to six months, tops. As with I.P.A., the fresher they are, the better!

Now, here's my Long Answer (and I apologize, but it's a classic: "Too Long; Didn't Read" screed):

When I started at retail, I learned that some brands from certain breweries were given slightly-longer use-by dates than other brands from the same brewery -- Great Northern Porter from Summit is one example, allowed a six month use-by as opposed to five months for the rest of the line.

Most breweries don't make such a distinction between darker/stronger beers and lighter/hoppier styles, but instead package with uniform best-by (sometimes packaged-on) dates across their entire line. Examples off the top of my head:

110 Days for Anheuser-Busch brands ("Budweiser" etc)
120 Days for (most) Miller Brewing Company and Coors brands
150 Days for many Craft breweries (including August Schell)
180 Days for other Craft breweries
270 Days for Pilsener Urquell
365 Days for some Imports (Corona)

It's long been 'common knowledge' that some Belgian / Belgian-style ales can sit on the shelf for years and still taste fine, and alcoholic strength (sometimes hopping and even spicing) being key to this unusual duration. Strong Belgian ales may even improve with age - depending on your personal taste for such a practice, of course. Likewise, the practice of cellar-aging* is often one which is employed by fans of strong (Export and Imperial style) stouts and barleywine style ales.

*"Cellaring" is dependent on heat, light, and humidity -- just as is the keeping of beer at point of sale.

It's worth mentioning that rotation of stock ('near-code' and expired packages out, and fresh stock in) is big part of day-to-day retail and wholesale stock-maintenance.

Cheers -- especially f you made it this far.

 

One clarification about stouts: imperials are good for a while. Milk stouts, light porters, irish dry stout, etc. not as much.