Fresh beer?

Discussion in 'Beer Talk' started by Atilio, Apr 21, 2016.

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  1. jesskidden

    jesskidden Grand Pooh-Bah (3,145) Aug 10, 2005 New Jersey
    Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    "Most"? There is no universal or even majority shelf life period. For example, for US breweries, AB uses 110 days and 6 months (depending on beer), MC (and, apparently the Pabst brands they brew) uses 17-26 weeks for domestic beers, BBC, Victory and Sierra Nevada use 5 months/150 days for most of their "standard" line-up, longer for others, etc. Many other craft brewers use 3 or 4 or 6 months, some go even longer.

    Many Euro imports go with an even "1 year" but even that varies by beer style and brewer - Heineken and Diageo have a slightly shorter period, SABMiller imports (like Pilsner Urquell) are given 9 months.
     
    #21 jesskidden, Apr 22, 2016
    Last edited: Apr 22, 2016
  2. MostlyNorwegian

    MostlyNorwegian Pooh-Bah (2,236) Feb 5, 2013 Illinois
    Pooh-Bah

    Much like wine. Beer is, and should remain a living vessel in every regard. How it actually changes as a living vessel and what that actually means for the beer itself is as much ingredient driven; as it is style driven, as it is taste driven. Some beer will not keep past a month. Other beer will only begin to taste good after being kept for 2 to 3 years. There are really only a hand full of styles that truly do benefit from being fanatical about drinking them hours from their packaging.
    Is it worth it?
    Yes. It. Is.
     
  3. DougC123

    DougC123 Savant (1,186) Aug 21, 2012 Connecticut

    Covered a hundred times here, the good thing is that you only need a couple of fresh hop forward beers and a few months and you can prove it to yourself.
     
  4. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,375) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Society Pooh-Bah

    Most beer is best consumed fresh and this has been known for quite some time.

    Below is an old ad courtesy of @jesskidden.

    Cheers!

    [​IMG]
     
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  5. jesskidden

    jesskidden Grand Pooh-Bah (3,145) Aug 10, 2005 New Jersey
    Society Pooh-Bah Trader

  6. MikeP64

    MikeP64 Zealot (661) Jan 24, 2015 South Carolina

    Buy fresh-drink immediately-end problem. Repeat often.
     
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  7. zid

    zid Grand Pooh-Bah (3,132) Feb 15, 2010 New York
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    1947's Wooden Shoe was better.
     
  8. MarshallBirdhouse

    MarshallBirdhouse Initiate (0) Feb 19, 2013 Kentucky
    Trader

    Unless you're drinking your IPA's straight from the bright tanks then you're obviously NOT getting a fresh IPA.
     
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  9. SLewis

    SLewis Pundit (901) Jun 17, 2014 North Carolina

    I think it's greatly exaggerated.
    Older beers will taste different, but I've yet to have a older beer that actually tasted "bad"
     
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  10. Atilio

    Atilio Initiate (0) Apr 21, 2016 Grenada

    Thanks for all the replies. If I understand it correctly the freshness is particularly important for hop forward beers.
    The website of the Oude Geuze Boon,for example, states: "Want to know the bottling date? Simply subtract 20 years from the “best before” date!" Other trappist beers say you can drink them after several years.
     
  11. jesskidden

    jesskidden Grand Pooh-Bah (3,145) Aug 10, 2005 New Jersey
    Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    BBC's Jim Koch's father, Charles Koch, brewed Wooden Shoe ... since he graduated Siebel in '48 and brewed at WS up until it closed in the early 50s, I guess it was his version you didn't like. :wink:
     
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  12. zid

    zid Grand Pooh-Bah (3,132) Feb 15, 2010 New York
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    Regarding your first point - the fixation on beer freshness does indeed have elements of unintentional parody to it.
    Regarding your second observation - you must be lucky, because I literally opened up a beer a few minutes ago that tasted "bad" due to its age (I'm not speaking of a drop in hop flavor, but of off flavors taking over). Happens to me too often because sometimes I'm not very strict about what I buy.
     
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  13. jimmyfishkin

    jimmyfishkin Initiate (0) Nov 17, 2008 Wisconsin

    I never put much stock into this either, but after having less than 2 weeks old Zombie Dust I saw the light.
     
  14. zid

    zid Grand Pooh-Bah (3,132) Feb 15, 2010 New York
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    That's totally it. Charles should have paid more attention to his great-grandfather's recipes... then he would have really had something. :wink:
     
  15. WhaleSlayer85

    WhaleSlayer85 Zealot (690) Jul 28, 2015 Illinois
    Trader

    I've really wondered about this, and my opinion continually changes. John Kimmich from the Alechemist sure seems to be enjoying this near year old Heady Topper?

     
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  16. Atilio

    Atilio Initiate (0) Apr 21, 2016 Grenada

    Are you supposed to pour this beer to create a 3-inch head?
     
  17. Jay_P22

    Jay_P22 Initiate (0) Mar 17, 2016 Virginia

    If you dont believe it, go by two of the same IPAs that you enjoy. Drink one now. Drink one in 8 months. Report back. The later will taste dead.
     
  18. deleted_user_1007501

    deleted_user_1007501 Initiate (0) Jun 30, 2015

    Agreed 100%. I know most breweries, large and small, don't exactly have the time and money to adequately age X amount of brews. Then taking into account people who are avid and knowledgeable about cellaring may have a much more empirical opinion than I. But in a perfect world, it would be nice to have every beer released as it was intended to be enjoyed. Cheers!
     
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  19. Squire

    Squire Grand Pooh-Bah (4,385) Jul 16, 2015 Mississippi
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    In a perfect World beer would be free.
     
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