Dirtwolf Enjoy By Dates

All I find right now are bottles with ebd of Nov, pass. Get some fresh Dirt Wolf in WI already!

 

Still seeing September 1 in NC - nobody is buying at this point, at least at Total Wine. The dates are tiny on the neck and some you can't see. Looking forward to a fresher batch with the dates on the label!

 

Off topic and sorry, but I wish they would switch it up and offer Hop Ranch all year and Dirt Wolf in January for a few months. Much better flavor profile IMO for a year round beer.

 

So should we bash industry leaders like Sierra Nevada too? From their FAQ:

Most beer is best consumed fresh. Optimal storage conditions are cool, dark and dry. Our beer is dated on the day it is packaged. Since our Pale Ale is full flavored, with lots of hops and malted barley, it should last up to 150 days when stored under optimal conditions.

 

Jim, you asked: “So should we bash industry leaders like Sierra Nevada too?”

Boy, that is personally a tough question for me. I had a BA thread exchange with Bill Manley (@sierranevadabill) where he informed me that the timeframe of 150 days is for the case of the beer continually being stored cool (e.g., 49° F). So I now have some information in order to make a better educated guess in terms of purchasing Sierra Nevada beer. I copied the three message exchange I had with Bill Manley below; as you can see I stated: “…it would seem to me that I will need to seek out cases of Sierra Nevada that are less than 2 months old from my retailers. Hopefully once your East Coast brewery comes on line that will be more feasible for me.”

I suppose my comments to the FAQ posted on the Sierra Nevada website are:

· It would be more appropriate for them to specifically define the term optimal conditions; something like: beer continually stored at 49°F.

· They should list a best by timeframe for the more typical (it is at least more typical for me with my beer purchases) of the beer being stored at room temperature (e.g., 70°F).

Cheers!

Jack



Bill, thank you for your thoughtful post.

You stated: “We consider the bulk of our beer to be "fresh" for about 150 days--if, and only if, stored under proper conditions (cool, dry, out of UV light etc)”. What specific temperature defines “cool” in that sentence.

If I purchase a case of Sierra Nevada beer at my local beer stores (beer distributors) they are sitting on the floor at ‘room’ temperature. How can I factor this into my purchasing decision? In other words, how long does the beer stay “fresh” under these conditions?

Cheers!


Jack

We consider cool below 49 degrees F (general rule of thumb is below 55) for bottled beer and below 38 F for draught.

Your question about unrefrigerated product in-stores is a good one. This is one piece of the puzzle that we really can't control. Ideally, the store would only stock enough to get through until the next delivery, and therefore wouldn't be sitting out long enough to make a difference.

Regarding freshness at room temperature-- Charlie Bamforth of UC Davis states that "for every 18 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees C) the rate of staling doubles." E.g. Beer stored at 68 degrees F will have a shelf life of 75 days. At 86 degrees, 3-ish weeks.

The trick is, knowing how long the beer has been at the store. The package date doesn't speak to that... it may be 100 days old before it gets to the retailer and will be fine because it has been cold, or it may be 10 days old and in the store warm for three weeks.

We encourage retailers to keep our beer cold whenever possible but this isn't always the case. When you can, buy beer from the fridge that is in-code. Chances are you'll be all right.

Hope this helps.

-Bill



Bill,

Thank you for your reply.

As you astutely pointed out: “The trick is, knowing how long the beer has been at the store.” I do not know of any retailer that ‘tracks’ when a given case of beer arrives at their store. It also must be remembered that every retailer has a ‘conflict of interest’ in stating something that will sell the product they have on hand. It would be an atypical retailer that would say something like; yeah, that case has been sitting there for months vs. a more beneficial reply (beneficial to the retailer) of: yeah, I just received that case earlier this week.

I am familiar with the Arrhenius' equation but the missing piece of information I needed was your response of 49 degrees F to provide a baseline. Given that information it would seem to me that I will need to seek out cases of Sierra Nevada that are less than 2 months old from my retailers. Hopefully once your East Coast brewery comes on line that will be more feasible for me.

I want to thank you once again for being a Beer Advocate and providing open and honest communications.

Cheers to you sir!

Jack

 

I dont understand why beers cant just tell me when it was bottled. 5 months is way the f-ck too long for an IPA. Hell 5 weeks is too long. I wont buy an IPA unless I know it is less than a month only. Usually, I shoot for less than 2 weeks.

 

I agree with you, a bottled on date is a better date.

I have posted numerous times on BA threads: if breweries want to provide a best by date they should also include a bottled on date as well.

Cheers!

 

Cold storage is such a massive part of the equation though, I'd take a two month old IPA that's been cold the whole time over something at room temp for two weeks.

 

Jim,

I know that you specifically mentioned Sierra Nevada but another industry leading brewery worth discussing is Stone Brewing.

Below is information from the Stone Brewing website concerning beer freshness. As you can see, Stone Brewing uses a best by timeframe of 35/90 days for their hop forward beers. It seems to me that Stone Brewing responsibly recognizes that hop fade occurs relatively quickly and they account for it with their best by timeframes.

Cheers to Stone Brewing Co. and @StoneGreg and @MitchAtStone for their responsible best by timeframes!

Jack

Beer Freshness Index

We have some high standards when it comes to beer, and many of our creations are intended to be consumed fresh. We stamp each bottle the day it's filled with an "Enjoy By" date. Below is a chart with the "code lengths" of our beers...

Stone Pale Ale: 90 Days after bottling

Stone Smoked Porter: 120 Days after bottling

Stone IPA: 90 Days after bottling

Stone Cali-Belgique IPA: 120 Days after bottling

Stone Ruination IPA: 90 Days after bottling

Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale: 120 Days after bottling

Stone Levitation Ale: 90 Days after bottling

OAKED Arrogant Bastard Ale: 90 Days after bottling

Arrogant Bastard Ale: 90 Days after bottling

Stone Enjoy By IPA: 35 Days after bottling

Stone RuinTen IPA: 90 Days after bottling

Stone Go To IPA: 90 Days after bottling

Stone Saison: 120 Days after bottling

 

Yes, please move to bottle data over Enjoy By date.

 

There are many reasons a brewer will put an extended date on an IPA besides greed. And if greed is the motivator and the beer sucks after 5 months, you'll know to either not buy the beer at all or consume it well before the date. It's a great beer regardless. Besides, it's obvious you got the beer soon after bottling; and if you refrigerate it, the enjoy by date doesn't really matter all that much.

 

Permit me to help you out with your math. According to the Arrhenius equation, chemical reactions (i.e., staling/oxidation processes) double for every increase of 10°C (18°F).

So, a beer stored cold (e.g., 40°F) will last 4 times as long as a beer stored at a temperature of 78°F. A typical room temperature is 70°F. So a beer stored for 2 weeks at room temperature (i.e., 70°F) will be fresher than a beer stored at refrigerator temperatures for 2 months.

Just so you know, unless you purchased your beer directly from the brewery (assuming they store their freshly packaged beer at refrigerator temperatures) you have no way of knowing how that beer was stored over the entire distribution chain. For example, I have seen beers delivered to my local beer stores and those trucks are not refrigerated trucks; those beers have been exposed to non-refrigerated temperature at a minimum for the time they were loaded and then unloaded from that truck (and needless to say the transit time in between. An unknown is how was that beer stored at the wholesale distributor and how was that beer stored at the retailer prior to placing it in a cooler?

You should feel lucky that you have retailers that store beer cold for a period of time. I buy beer from retail beer distributors and those beers are stored at whatever temperature that warehouse type building is at (i.e., room temperature).

Cheers!

 

“Besides, it's obvious you got the beer soon after bottling; and if you refrigerate it..”

Instead of concentrating on one specific purchase it would be more appropriate to concentrate on the ‘bigger picture’: my local retailers store the beer they receive at room temperature; they do not store the beer at refrigerator temperatures.

A best by timeframe of 5 months is just not consistent with the entire beer distribution chain. It really is as simple as that.

Cheers!

P.S. Not once in my prior post did I make any mention of “greed”. You are the person who did that!

 

I don't believe I inferred that you did make any mention of greed. I only used it as an example since that's the reason for alot of financial douchebaggery.

And if you don't agree with a 5 month time frame for a certain beer from a certain brewery, don't buy it. It really is as simple as that.

 

“And if you don't agree with a 5 month time frame for a certain beer from a certain brewery, don't buy it. It really is as simple as that.”

It really isn’t that simple.

One reason for having discussions on BA threads is so that we can express opinions like the one I posted. If the ‘solution’ is “don’t buy it” then there really is no reason to have BA thread discussions. If every time somebody posted something and the other person responded: “don’t buy it” we would not have a discourse.

Cheers!

 

What makes you think "don't buy it" isn't part of the discourse? You posted an opinion and so did I. The only difference I see is that you like your opinion and don't like mine since you called my opinion a solution rather than what it was - an opinion.

Cheers to you too!

 

A bottled on date is no more helpful in dealing with the distribution chain. In either case, as you pointed out more than once the storage is the great unknown that affects the lifespan of the beer. It does so regardless of the bottle dating method in use. Even having both best by and bottled on date won't help.

 

“A bottled on date is no more helpful in dealing with the distribution chain.” It can help if it is a recent bottling date; the concept is that if the beer is not exposed to extremely abusive temperatures that little staling will have occurred for recently packaged beer.

I am able to discern the bottling date of DirtWolf since I have a priori knowledge of the best by timeframe for this beer but I don’t know that for every beer made; I would prefer having the bottled on dates on beer.

Cheers!

 

I would honestly like to try Dirt Wolf at 5 months old, just to see what shape the beer is in that Victory based their decision on. I bet it's got some redeeming qualities, even though it's not at its best. I'm not really that willing to buy a 4-pack of it, though . Hopefully a single crosses my path one of these days.

 

Michael,

When I was a teenager I worked at a Car Wash (and yes, it was exactly like the movie Car Wash) and the Assistant Manager, Kit used to always say: “Money talks, Bullshit walks.” You stated: “I'm not really that willing to buy a 4-pack of it, though…” You did some talking there according to Kit!

Cheers!

Jack