Firestone Walker Double Jack Dating Question

Discussion in 'Beer Talk' started by carolinabeerguy, Jun 27, 2012.

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  1. carolinabeerguy

    carolinabeerguy Pooh-Bah (2,035) Oct 10, 2005 North Carolina
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    I bought a bottle in Maryland (I live in Florida) on our road trip last week and I didn't think to check for freshness info in the store because I was in a hurry. I am looking at it now and can't seem to locate the date anywhere. I checked their website and it says it should be on the neck or the bottom left side of the label. I'm seeing nothing. Has anyone seen this before? Maybe the sales rep knew it was old and rubbed it off. I hope it isn't too old.
     
  2. baybassboy

    baybassboy Initiate (0) Feb 23, 2011 California

    black ink on the neck/shoulder of the bottle. look hard, because it is really hard to see sometimes. there is also a chance it could have been rubbed off
     
  3. carolinabeerguy

    carolinabeerguy Pooh-Bah (2,035) Oct 10, 2005 North Carolina
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    I held it up to the light and see nothing. I guess it got rubbed off. Maybe I'll get lucky and it will not be old.
     
  4. carolinabeerguy

    carolinabeerguy Pooh-Bah (2,035) Oct 10, 2005 North Carolina
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    Just re-checked and there's definitely no date. After peeling off the foil, I saw that the cap says: Champion Mid-Size Brewery 2004, 2006, 2010 World Beer Cup. Also, there is some sort of code printed on the bottom of the bottle.
     
  5. KingforaDay

    KingforaDay Pooh-Bah (2,445) Aug 5, 2010 New Jersey
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    I know on the single IPA's freshness is important, but is that so with the higher ABV DIPA's? I don't pay as much attention to the dates on the DIPA's and find a lot of them actually improve with a little aging (including Double Jack).
     
  6. tjensen3618

    tjensen3618 Maven (1,391) Mar 23, 2008 California

    Yes. The hops will fade on a DIPA just as they do on single IPA's.
     
  7. carolinabeerguy

    carolinabeerguy Pooh-Bah (2,035) Oct 10, 2005 North Carolina
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    I prefer mine fresh. While they're still good when they're older, the hops will fade significantly which completely changes the flavor.
     
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  8. stupac2

    stupac2 Pooh-Bah (2,031) Feb 22, 2011 California
    Pooh-Bah

    Uhh, not likely, unless something has changed recently. The first time I had Double Jack I wasn't impressed at all, then people I trust said that my experience was atypical, so I went looking for another bottle. The freshest I could find were over 4 months old. I found many that were over 6. I think I even asked one time and it had just arrived, 4 months old.

    I talked with someone, I don't remember who, who said that Firestone made more than they could sell and so they had perpetual backstock of it, which makes finding fresh stuff impossible. This was about 5-6 months ago, so things could be different now, but I completely gave up on trying to find fresh double jack.
     
  9. KingforaDay

    KingforaDay Pooh-Bah (2,445) Aug 5, 2010 New Jersey
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    Yet it continually gets stellar reviews so the age doesn't seem to be hurting it too much.
     
  10. stupac2

    stupac2 Pooh-Bah (2,031) Feb 22, 2011 California
    Pooh-Bah

    Looks like about 1/4 are on tap, where that wouldn't matter. Even with bottles, I think there's so much variation in what people want from a DIPA that the maltier ones can take a pretty big age hit and still get good reviews. (Although I'm just going on my recollection that it was one of the maltier ones, that may not be true, for some reason I've never described it in my check-ins on Untappd. My recollection of why I was looking for bottles was also wrong, but that's irrelevant here.)
     
  11. carolinabeerguy

    carolinabeerguy Pooh-Bah (2,035) Oct 10, 2005 North Carolina
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    It was excellent despite my concerns about it's age. I'd like to try it when I know it's fresh to compare notes.
     
  12. SawDog505

    SawDog505 Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,922) Apr 9, 2010 New Hampshire
    Pooh-Bah

    The fact that it had the plastic on it tells me it isn't that old. The just started putting the plastic on this year. I bet it was the bottle days 3/15/12 which is still drinking well, but really fresh it is one the best around......
     
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