Best brewery dating...

And the price makes it taste that much better

 

I prefer "bottled on" dates rather than "best by"..dates. I occasionally enjoy a "blind" date. I'm not trying to crack a code when finding a beer date either.

 

bottled on is all i want

julian is fine

 

I like how Boulevard, Deschutes and Ommegang do it. Usually they have either a "best before" date or in Deschutes' case sometimes a "best after" date (Abyss etc.), but it's also pretty clear from this info when the beer was bottled. Ommegang shows both the date bottled and the "best before" date, can't get much clearer than that for the consumer.

 

My favorite is Bells, they have bottled on date, batch number, and shelf life code.

 

The ones that have a bottled on date are the best. Best by dates aren't terrible, but it seems that every brewery has a different idea on how long the beer should last. Founders, Bells, Troegs, Southern Tier and many others I can't think of at the moment have bottled on dates.

 

Russian River. Very clear, easy to find, bottled on dates. Such a pleasure when you pick up a bottle and see that date staring at you in the face.

 

Bottled On: xx/xx/xxxx

 

Sweetwater uses a best by date, but makes it widely known that date is 90 days from bottling, so I just do the math.

 

Harpoon prints a best by as well as a born on right next to each other in yellow laser print on the bottle neck.

 

I prefer "packaged on" dates.
In fact, the "best buy" are often meaningless as the style & handling of the product has a far greater influence on the quality of the beer inside over time than any arbitrary date.

 

shhh your not suppose to tell people about one of my favorite IPAs. Not that it matters living in kalamazoo everyone reaches for Two Hearted anyways!

on topic: I prefer bottled on dates myself but either way works as long as its there rather than not

 

i like bottled/canned on date like founders and surly

 

This would be the most complete and easiest to interpret I have come across. The bottle date is much more easily understood than a julian date. The shelf life code (A,B,C equaling 3 months, 6 months and unlimited respectively) is very easy to interpret.

If you only list the bottling or best by date you are giving incomplete information.

 

Weyerbacher: they include both a bottled on and best-by date. What else could you want?

 

Is this the standard for all of their beers or does it vary from beer to beer?

 

A batch number of course

 

They say that is standard for all of their beers. Their beer is unpasturized and they say that they perfer you drink them fresh. Although with Festive Ale and Happy Ending they will wax seal bomber formats to age.