Expired Dirt Wolf in NJ

Five months prior.

 

I haven't seen fresh Dirt Wolf in a while, either. Maybe the distributor ordered too much with the previous shipment and hasn't gotten any fresh stuff in.

 

Nash, who else. Kind of a joke at this point. Email Victory. Let them know how their prized double IPA is being treated.

 

good on the stores for not giving you grief and pulling the product ASAP.

 

For future reference, on their blog, Victory stated this:

Please refer to the following:
·Prima Pils: 5 months
·HopDevil: 5 months
·Headwaters: 5 months
·DirtWolf: 5 months
·Victory Lager: 5 months
·Summer Love: 5 months
·Helios: 1 year
·Golden Monkey: 3 years
·Storm King: 5 years
·V12: Bottled On
·Monkey Big Bottles: Bottled On

 

I was excited when I first tried Dirt Wolf that we'd see a good double IPA that I would still consider "local" in our neck of the woods below the Mason-Dixon line. Together with The Truth from Flying Dog, I thought I'd see them moving regularly with fresh stuff on the shelves most, if not all, of the time. (Two different beers, but I love both - especially fresh.)
Flying Dog has been making regular batches and there is a pretty good chance I can find it reasonably fresh. Dirt Wolf is so hit-or-miss. I was excited to see it with a late November enjoy by date in late September.

Point being - We feel your pain in Maryland as well. Wish this stuff was available fresh regularly.

 

Hate when great ipas go to waste sitting on the shelf. I usually ask for 50% discount and my beer stores will sell it to me for that. They are not fresh but still taste decent and get the job done! Btw love fresh dirtwolf!

 

I have found DW here in Delaware that is 2 weeks old. It is probably not at the brewery level as they can get beer out fast. Now this was at Total Wine a pretty big chain.

 

Been finding Dirtwolf dated 11/27/14 for the last several weeks, including this week. Finally found some dated the last week of Feb on a stop last night. I figured it was being sent out in big batches infrequently and sitting around for awhile.

 

It's really a fucking shame. I try so hard to buy Dirt Wolf and Double Jack but just can't because everything is a minimum of 2.5 months old when it hits shelves. It's a goddamn shame. I'm going to have to start taking pictures every time and emailing the breweries.

 

Most of the DW I find is at least two months old. I wonder if bad stock rotation at the wholesale level plays a role, I know it's a problem at the retail level.

I was at a distributor a few weeks ago looking for a case of DW in the cooler. The case on top was best before early Feb. The 2 cases below it on the stack were best before Jan. and the case on the bottom was best before Dec.

Months ago at a Wegmans I was looking for a 4-pack and they had them in at least three different places throughout the store. I found four different dates, with fresher dates sometimes on top of or in front of the older dates. I can find relatively fresh DW if I'm willing to work for it, and I am because it's such a great beer. But if it was easier I would drink obscene amounts of this stuff.

 

I still see Lagunitas DogTown Pale Ale "299 13" on the shelf at a very popular big store down here in S. NJ. Couldnt tell you the last time I saw fresh Double Jack.

 

I have noticed this problem as well and I am going out on a limb to say the problem is on the distributors end.

I went into my local store about a month ago to pick up beer for the week and noticed they got a new case of Dirt Wolf in along with a few new cases of Hop Devil. I went straight for the DW and opened the case to find out the Best Before date was Nov 31st 2014. I would say that I was at the store the week of Halloween. That would mean the beer was bottled on June 31st 2014. I found it very odd that the store, which does a great job rotating beers and getting fresh cases in on Tuesdays & Fridays of each week, would have ordered a case of old DW. The Hop Devil was as fresh as can be, reaching us roughly 2 weeks after the bottling date. That confused the hell out of me. How can the distributor bring an almost expired beer and a fresh beer from the same brewery on the same day of delivery? I asked some employees and they said the DW just came in with the newest shipment.

They must have either forgot about extra cases sitting around and wanted to get them out, or ordered too much and had been sitting on them. Poor move on the distributors part if either of these are true. I cannot imagine Victory sending out beer almost near the end of its freshness date.

 

I just came home from the same distributor I described above and they had 7 cases of best before 24 April 2015. That was bottles 8 days ago right? I'm still working through my Celebration but I couldn't pass that up. Having one now, so goddamn good...

 

You must live in a parallel universe where November has 31 days. Or maybe victory's bottle date printer does.

 

Cable Beverage just over the border in Nanuet (Bardonia, actually) has/had a decent amount of Dirtwolf with a drink by 3/10/15 FWIW

 

I meant 30th*

 

Enjoying a DirtWolf now with best by date of 3/10/15. Picked it up at a Bottle King near Bridgewater.

Also found some Victory Harvest, at a nearby store. Had to pick up a 4pk. Still drinking great so save the "too old IPA" BS.