Dusty beers, worth a try?

id check the return policy before purchase then give it a whirl. for $10 if the beer is a little old u can always cook with it and not be too upset. esb make excellent additions to cottage/shepards pie or onion gravy. (assuming its not light struck)

 

Go forth with courage, dear slusk, for all beers are worth a try

 

Dust = no purchase in my world.

 

As long as the dust is on the OUTSIDE of the bottle, not the inside...

 

I'll purchase dusty if it's strong, smoked or sour. Other than that I don't go past 90 days. The exception is when the purchasable dusty ones are on the top of an open shelf sitting directly in light. I won't buy those ones either.

 

Whoa!! Applying common sense? Where did you come from??

 

Look at it from a different perspective...I am a clean freak and dust/vacuum/clean my house 2,3,4 times a month. Even if I'm cleaning every weekend there is still dust on my furniture. I change my air filters every three months and like I said I'm a clean freak...point? It doesn't take long for anything to become dusty...even beer.

That doesn't mean the beer isn't old, only that it really isn't a good gauge on freshness.

 

There are times when I will...Impy Stouts, Strongs, Barleywines, etc. Having said this, I would not pull the trigger on the OP's scenario.

 

IPA...no, stout/sour...maybe

 

Yeah, definitely depends on style. I recently was going through a mixer sixer section, which is usually older stock their trying to move, and I found a dusty Old Rasputin. Couldn't locate any date, but I picked it up anyway as part of the mixed sixer. Haven't tried it yet, but I bet it'll be good.

 

If this was IPA, I would have passed on it. ESB - I probably would have picked them up although Fuller ESB is much better

 

This. Also, be careful of "it's a recent seasonal" ... some shops (hopefully not the ones you know and trust, but $ is a funny motivator) might keep previous year inventory of seasonals hoping to dump it on unsuspecting customers. It's shitty as hell, but don't pretend it doesn't happen.

 

Or because "old ale" is an incredibly similar style

 

Age worthy beers = worth a shot if under the shelf, hoppy brews not for any kind of reasonable discount. I don't buy hoppy stuff if it's not dated or I have a good idea is to how old. Esbs would be a pass.

 

I will support the be careful, but don't let dust be your final determination school of thought. There are sections of our store that could be dusted daily, if we had the time and staff. The wine on the bottoms of our lay down racks can go from clean to dusty in a day, and dusty to dirty in a couple of weeks. Especially in the high traffic sections of the store. The more people walk by, the dustier things get. Beer in our cold box that is in front of the blowers lasts about a month before it is dirty. If you can find a manager, or someone that can access the inventory system, they might be able to tell you when it came in. That will help you gauge how fresh it is. Now you just have to hope the distributor shipped it fresh to the store.

 

Dust doesn't necessarily mean it's been there for a while. If the store owner doesn't regularly clean the shelves dust could accumulate pretty quickly.

That said, better safe than sorry in most cases. I sure wouldn't take the chance on a dusty IPA with no date on it.