Board of bottling dates for hoppy beers

How do you know the board is accurate regarding bottles that aren't dated by the brewery? The store can put whatever date they want on that board to make everything seem fresh just to move product. Ill stick to buying hoppy beers that I can confirm the date is accurate.

 

Why only "hoppy" beers? Doesn't the "ciccerone" program explain to it's members that most beer styles should be consumed as fresh as possible, since it's not only hop flavors that degrade with time. I want my pale ales, pilsners, brown ales, kolsch and most every other style fresh as well. (Even if a beer is "cellarable", I want it to be the one to decide how and when it's cellared, not the retailer).

Are these "hoppy" (and other craft) beers refrigerated? Freshness is not only a factor of time but also of temperature.

 

cool idea.

can you share a pic?

 

Hi Guys,

I'm the Beer Buyer at Wine Library, and I'll gladly send anyone who wants a picture of the board in question via email. Please just send your request to: [email protected]. I wont post it here because I'm sure this post will get deleted if I do.

In response to whether or not the dates are accurate, I'd be happy to so show anyone interested where I get the bottling dates from. Some breweries simply print bottling dates on the bottles themselves, in these cases I just copy those dates. Other breweries, like Green Flash, Ithaca, Sierra Nevada, Smuttynose, etc... print bottling dates on the cases the beers come in. I never have cases of hoppy beers at room temperature (except 12 packs of Sierra Nevada, and believe me I wish I had room in the cooler for these), and since customers aren't allowed in our cold room, I post these bottling dates on the board for everyone's convenience. In most cases, I have beers that are even fresher than the dates posted on the board, and I will bring those out for anyone who asks.

Lastly, I'll eagerly discuss the freshness of any beer in my store, but the notion that I should post the bottled on date for every beer on the 1 dry erase board I have to utilize would not only be a full time job in itself, but would also require that I write in illegibly small print since we stock hundreds and hundreds of different beers. Moreover, I personally feel that it is far more exciting to know if an IPA or Pale Ale is only a few days or weeks old, rather than know when a Pilsner or Brown Ale was packaged - I admit, that is my personal bias. I'll also be the first to admit that I don't know absolutely everything about beer, and I welcome any constructive criticism or suggestions. However, as a Certified Cicerone®, I'm more than aware that the vast majority of beer is best consumed fresh, and should be stored in a consistent, cool temperature. Therefore, you won't find a beer that is under 5% alcohol, any Pale Ale, IPA, Kolsch, Pilsner, or any other style that is especially fragile at room temperature in the store.

Cheers,
Graham Haverfield
Graham HaverfieldCertified Cicerone®Wine LibraryBeer Buyer / Sales Consultant
586 Morris Ave.
Springfield, NJ 07081
(973) 376-0005 ext. 554
[email protected]
www.winelibrary.com

 

Or an easier solution. All beer should have to have a bottle date by law! Stop with the f'ing codes already just put a bottled on date and be done with it!

 

It would be simpler to say that you are catering to the hop crazed folks. Sure, that will annoy some people who would like the same courtesy for all the 100 or so other styles of beer. Maybe you could be another dry erase board?