I have 4 pack of World Wide Stout that I picked up at local store without a brewed on date. As far as I can tell Dogfish Head dated bottles as early as 2005. This matches the 2005 OA Yeti I picked up there as well as some others on the shelf like the Stone 10th Anniversary and Rogue 10,000 Brew Ale. So my questions are (1) when did they start dating WWS and (2) do I need to snatch the rest of this up? I had a 2009 early this year and it was amazing if this is any older I will be pumped.
i think 04 and 03 have notches with "02 / 03 / 04 / 05" printed on them, and either a slice or a mark showing which year the bottle is. i know by 2007 it was the bright yellow ink on the bottle neck. i think before 2002 it was a large format bottle, no?
High volume stores near me are loaded with 2010 bottles, I can see where low volume mom and pop type bottle shops may be sitting on much older bottles. Couple that with the fact he's picked up old stuff there before and I'd call it plausible.
It looks like the bottle cap color should be able to help be determine the date. I'm not at home but will check when I get back. I haven't stocked up yet but the WWS stouts were bottom shelf in the high cardboard holder, plain white. i have seen english ales as old as 1997 there and plenty of beers dated around 2005-06. Many are IPAs so I have no interest in picking them up. He has Utopias as well and I think he said they are 2004 and 2007. By what I have read, no date stamp plus a bright yellow cap, and it's likely 2004 vintage.
Ok, no date stamp, bright yellow caps. I have to assume they are 2004 vintage. I will try one to see how they have aged but if anyone is interested in some let me know and I will grab more.
