So I'm an American studying abroad in Ireland for a semester, and I'm getting a little tired of all these Irish dry stouts. I walk into the liquor store today looking for a hop fix and I find some IPA offerings from Odell, which got me pretty excited. But then I looked at the bottling date and it read 7/10/12. Naturally I was pretty bummed out. But then I remembered that the European dating system is different from America - 7/10/12 would mean October 7th, 2012 - which is still OK. So, when an American brewery distributes to Europe, is the freshness date day/month/year (like in Europe) or month/day/year? Then what about a European brewery's freshness date selling in Europe? Or in America for that matter? Is there a standard system?
I always thought Julian dating was annoying (who the heck knows what number day of the year it is??), and wondered why brewers do it, but maybe this is the reason why.
The dates I've seen on European beers in Europe are all DD/MM/YY. I avoid bottled American IPAs in Europe since they're almost never fresh and only get them on draft when I trust the bar serving them. Can you get Kernel beers in Ireland? Their IPAs are excellent. Also, if you're in Ireland: http://www.drinkstore.ie/GOOSE-ISLAND-BOURBON-COUNTY-VANILLA-STOUT-650ML-736920112799/
Odell can ship their beer across the Atlantic but I have to drive to Missouri?? WTF????? I would think that would be a July bottling...
If you're tired of those Irish stouts then I'd try the Odell IPA. Maybe the beer has been stored well enough so that the hops have not faded to much. It's worth a try.
I cant imagine you finding an American craft brew in Ireland on November 14 that was bottled on October 7. 38 days from the bottling line in Fort Collins Co to a bottle shop in Ireland? I'm not buying it... On another note, If it was July, still fire it up. It might not be at it's very best but it will still most likely be very good. I had the exact same experience in Bavaria. I got to where I was going to scream if I had another malty lager.
