Draft IPA age?

Would you be willing to venture a guess as to the best by date for a typical craft brewed kegged beer?

Cheers!

P.S. The Stone 18th keg may have a filled on date but how would a typical bar deal with that information?

 

I would guess that something like a Stone keg would be at least equal or less than their packaged dates. I know they post some information regarding quality control on their website. If there is a filled on date, we usually just count forward from the filled on date to figure out if it's still good.
As far as a typical bar, it's usually the sales rep's responsibility for ensuring that the beer is fresh or fresh as possible in a bar. I have met very few bar owners that are aware of how to read a code date on a keg because they know that the sales rep will be checking it. The rationale is that the better tasting the beer the more likely that it will be bought and more sales for the bar means more sales for the rep. Hope that helps.

 

Looks like we've really narrowed his options down.

 

Right on, but one quick point: when you make truly spectacular beer, freshness is not an issue. If I go into a store and see some Lawson's on the shelf, I don't even have to think about it. It will be gone in an hour. It's very, very fresh.
I get that not every brewer is interested in a Lawson's style business model and (unfortunately), I get that most brewers don't have the skill to match, but I just think it's fair to point out that when you make something really, really good... it's going to sell fast and be enjoyed fresh.

 

its always that price here??? don't know what u mean? never seen it any higher then $10 a 64oz

 

Because it was old.