Do you check for freshness?

Hell yeah.....unless it's a high abv, non-hoppy beer , & I'm in a mood for surprise .

 

Do you happen to know what the best by duration is for this beer?

As a reference point on the Bell's website they list for Two Hearted Ale: "Shelf Life: 6 Months".

https://www.bellsbeer.com/beer/year-round/two-hearted-ale

In my opinion listing a best by duration of 6 months for this hoppy beer is nuts!

Thankfully Bell's provides a packaging date for Two Hearted on the product so I can make my own determination of freshness here.

Cheers!

 

Yes and the freshness determines my purchases.

 

So there is some hope. Thanks, I'll take a looksie next time I see some Racer 5.

 

Ah, I see it now

11431123
So, November 23, 2021

 

Absolutely. I'll at least look 100% of the time. Most of the styles I typically drink don't age well. With CO's shelves getting more and more crowded, I encounter old beer A LOT. I don't mean IPA's that are 3 months old (which I consider fine), either. I see normal 4-7% ABV beers that are 8-12 months old all the time.

 

Crazy!

Non-cheers to breweries using long best by durations!

 

Total wine is where beer goes to die. Everything there pretty much is out of date

 

The south side market is stale overall. Bubbles in Castle Rock has paulaner doppelbock that has a best buy of 11 of 2020.

 

LOL, that beer actually ages moderately well (at least IMO) so those might honestly still be decent. Ever since Paulaner/H-P's US offices pulled out of Littleton our local bottles from both have been getting older and older. 2-3 months used to be standard. Now it's more like 6-8 or worse. Their bocks and weissbiers can swing that, but hell/pils can't.

 

My 'local' Total Wine is in Claymont, DE. And during my visits I have seen the beer shelves being stocked by the Wholesale Distributors. Total Wine insists that the Wholesale Distributors provide 'free' labor here.

There is zero doubt in my mind that these Wholesalers use Total Wine as a 'dumping ground' if they have old product in their warehouses; nothing comes for 'free'. Some of those products are DOA.

I mostly buy wine while visiting Total Wine but I do browse the beer section and every once in a while I 'win the lottery' and find non-old beer there. Often times I improve the odds by concentrating on seasonal products.

Cheers!

@Harrison8

 

Holy Toledo. Thankfully I can now cut and paste this paragraph into my Notes app and have it for reference wherever I take my phone. Wish me luck looking for fresh Red Seal.

 

Wouldn't it be 'nice' if North Coast would just print in ink/font that stands out with a dating system like "Bottled on NOV 23, 2021"?

Cheers!

 

I order practically all beer now, sold the car in spring. So not much point in checking dates...I have faith!

 

Still not as bad as one of my local places that has a can stamping system, but rather than putting the canned on date, they like to put some silly useless phrase or in-joke.

 

On IPAs, yes. Especially, if they're pricey and there's the potential that no one buys them and they sit on shelves.

 

On a somewhat related note:

For a period of time a year ago my local Retail Beer Distributor would not permit customers to come into the store (a lockdown thing) but you could order your beer online and drive up and they would place your order in the trunk of your car. This was 'advertised' as contact-less shopping.

I refused to purchase this way because there was zero doubt in my mind they would 'take advantage' here to get rid of old product.

Luckily for me my local supermarkets would still let me come in to buy groceries (while wearing a mask) and I could also purchase some beer while grocery shopping (and check dates before placing them in my cart).

Cheers!

 

BA just can't stay away from the PBR/analingus these days

 

Well, I would tell them "the jokes on you because without a date I will not be buying your products".

What I am about to say is not specifically directed at you but the problem here is disinterested and/or lazy beer consumers. If all beer consumers refused to buy beer unless it has a clear and easy to read packaged on date then all breweries would be compelled to 'do the right thing' and date their beers. Breweries really should just 'do the right thing' anyway but we consumers should be involved with influencing those 'bad' breweries since for business reasons they refuse to 'do the right thing'.

Cheers!