When did Founders start putting dates on their bottles of Backwoods (or anything, for that matter). Got a couple BBs with no date on them, just trying to figure out what year they're from. Thanks.
As far as I know, Founders has been dating their bottles for years. You can barley see it, but usually stamped on the neck of the bottles...
I had done some digging last night and found a (maybe) 2009 review of a BB where the reviewer complained that there were no bottle dates, so I was just curious. They may have just rubbed off?
They had to of rubbed off, because I have bottles of 09'-12' Backwoods in my cellar that are all dated.
2007 was the first year Backwoods was released, and the 07' had a completely different label. 08'-12' all have the same labels, but the bottles are dated to identify vintage... I think 09' was the best vintage of Backwoods. (IMO)
If it is twist off or not will let you know if it is 09 or before. I think that is the last year founders did twist offs.
Most Founders beers prior to 2012 have the bottling date in black ink on the neck of the bottle, right above the shoulder. I've had to hold the bottle up to the light, at an angle, with the light coming in high and rotate the bottle around entirely to find any trace of bottle dating. Even when you find it, it can be extremely hard to read. Alternately, you can look at the numbers around the bottom of the bottle. There's usually a two digit year embossed around the base. However I've had the experience of '10 Founders beers having "10" stamped on the bottle down there, but I've also had '10 Founders beers having "09" stamped down there. So the bottom-of-bottle dating method may have a margin of error of +/- one year.
