Buying beer that's considered "old"

Hoppy - less than 6 weeks old
Normal - if I check, less than 4 months old
Cellarable - I'll check but it won't influence my decision

 

IPA/DIPA - my preference is 2 months old or less, I won't buy anything older than about 3 months old. If I can't figure out when it was bottled, I won't buy it unless I know for certain that it is fresh.

Other beers - don't buy many but I don't really look at the dates and most of the time they are seasonals so I know about how old they might be.

 

Anything that is hop forward I check, but I'm not as picky as some other BA's but I'd say around 5 months is a good cut off!
As for anything else, I don't look!
Who am I kidding, I don't ever look!

 

another thing to consider about fresh IPA is that the original style was meant to be shipped from GB to India so they were not drank fresh for the original intended consumer. the hop flavor profile will not be as prevalent but it is still fine. like everyone else is saying, that if you find an "old" beer they have done the cellaring for you. I would try one out to make sure it was not lightstruck or stored in a trailer in the sun somewhere before stocking up.

 

If it's an ipa or pale ale I check the dates, is it's a high abv stout, porter, barleywine etc I only check the dates to see how much aging has been done for me before buying it

 

I tried Founders Red Rye for the first time on draft last weekend in Michigan with my fiancé. It was delicious so I wanted to pick up some on the way out of town. Found them at a local liquor store and picked up 3 packs. Got it home and tried it and noticed it tasted completely different than it did on tap. Now I know it won't taste exactly like it did on draft turns out the bottles were dated dec of 2013.

 

Bought a 2009 Stille Nacht just the other day. Thinking it's going to be delicious.

 

Depends on how old and what style.

 

I like old arrogant bastard.

 

Was at Ottercreek a few weeks ago and bought a 2 year old case of their RIS. It's delicious!

 

If you really must know; most DIPAs and TIPAs are just young barleywines in disguise.

 

Beers that tend to handle age well are:

· Higher in alcohol

· Darker beers (e.g., Porters, Stouts, etc.)

· Sour beers

· Bottle conditioned beers

An Imperial Stout is a twofer since it is higher in alcohol and is a dark beer.

Beer styles that are not consistent with the above tend to not handle age as well and will show signs of staling after a few months.

I know that lots of BAs like to make fun of Anheuser-Busch but from a manufacturing process perspective they make quality beer. Let’s consider the case of Budweiser. For that beer, AB takes steps to optimize the shelf life of that beer:

· Pasteurization

· Utilizes special oxygen scavenging material for the cap liners of their bottle beers

Even with the above steps, AB states that Budweiser should be consumed with 110 days of the bottling date.

The fact is that the majority of beer styles are best consumed a few months from their packaging date.

Cheers!

 

I think the only beers that are date sensitive would be your IPA's, pale ale's and such.
But you also need to be carefully because some beer styles are being made quiet hoppy like hoppy browns and stouts.
Other then that your probabaly fine.
I've been shying away from IPA's with no date on bottle or can.

 

I find this to be very true for coffee beers. No one wants to drink old coffee...same logic applies to coffee beers. Drink them fresh!

 

@Peter_Wolfe has confirmed in other discussions that Goose Island is using A-B's oxygen-savenging bottle caps too.

 

ABV & style always a factor for me. Flavored stouts (chocolate or coffee) that are 8% and lower i try not to purchase too old as those flavors might be dimmed. Also, i would drink an IPA that's many months old if it's been refrigerated the whole time but at room temp, my tolerance is low

 

I actually just got home with a sixer of Lagunitas Censored from Bevmo only to see that they were bottled on June 12th. I have no clue what the "shelf life" of a red/amber ale is but i'm guessing these are past their prime, no? This is the second time i noticed this, but is seems that most of the local grocery stores all have much fresher beers than Bevmo.

 

I have some Great Divide Espresso Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout dated jan 22, 2012. What do you think?