Funky Budha old IPAs at the source?

I feel like their 3 year anniversary is far from a shelf turd. They actually have a pasteurizer also so the beer keeps longer. Hops might not be as sharp as they were at bottling but there is nothing wrong with that beer. Any one that goes to Funky Buddha or drinks their beer knows they are very strict on what they put out.

 

Close to 5 months old, that is on them, not you.

 

Strict on what they put out? I actually lol'd.

 

1. Their IPAs just aren't very good in mine and a lot of other people's opinions with maybe Hop Gun being the one exception. Due to that, they don't move as fast as their other packaged product.
2. Regardless of style, general rule of thumb in retail is beer has a 6-month shelf life. You really think every brewery is going to just throw or give away their packaged IPAs once they hit the 3 or 4 month mark? No way. If breweries lived by the strict rules of IPA freshness us beer geeks have collectively conjured, they'd go out of business.
3. It's always on the consumer to check dates, whether it be from the source or not. The assumption that the Mango IPA would be fresh just because the Hop Stimulator was, though understandable given the circumstances, is still an assumption.

Was too bad that you blew your money on some IPA not within its optimal freshness range but, if you truly feel slighted, maybe you should email the brewery and at the very least they may apologize and send you some free schwag.

 

Customer service at the Funky Buddha is pretty damn good, wouldn't hurt to ask about a refund or exchange if you are really unhappy about the dates.

 

OP...No big deal cause Fresh Funky Buddha IPA's aren't very good either

 

BUT HOW DID IT TASTE?
That, after all, is the most important thing in the end (assuming your objectivity was not tainted by seeing the date before you sampled it )

 

IDK right now up in New England we have a Mango IPA with the brewery telling us to give it time ;-)

 

That's on you, most if not all folks here know of Funky Buddha and are generally aware when stuff is released. The 3 YEAR ANNIVERSARY IPA was released at their 3 year anniversary party which was in June. Maybe you should have done 2 seconds of research, Im pretty sure there was an entire thread related to the 3 year anniversary party

 

Agreed, it should totally be on the customer, especially out of state customers, to research each brewery they visit to understand the release schedule to avoid purchasing old beer. That makes way more sense than trusting that the brewery itself has the integrity not to sell 5 month old IPAs to those dumb customers that didn't do their research.

 

I've been burned a few times buying old IPAs and come to the conclusion that pretty much every brewery and store will continue to sell them over throwing away product as long as ppl will buy them. I've become so paranoid that I have to check dates on any ipa style beer I buy. If I have multiple options I buy what is the freshest but will usually still purchase up to 2 months or so from packaging. Bottom line - YOU have to check the dates before buying or else you could be wasting your money. Don't leave it up to the seller because they just want to make $$.

 

I'm worse than you. Not only do I check dates 100% of the time but I won't buy IPAs without a canned on/bottled date. I just don't trust retailers.

 

Same here. No date and I won't buy it. I have ended up buying less IPAs too because so many bars, restaurants and retailers don't have anything fresh or recently packaged so I drink other beer styles.

 

It was a 'limited' beer (this site's terminology). It was brewed once. Did you expect they would make more?
Of course they are going to suggest that you buy some. I'm sure FB has been carefully monitoring the progress of this beer over time and they will pull it off shelves (including their own) when they think it is no longer within their quality parameters. That's what any good brewery does.

Trust them. They know this beer better than you do.

Would you care to tell how it tasted Or did the sight of the date on the package completely ruin your experience?

 

It's a 4.5 month old IPA. Even if it has held up remarkably well, it won't be that good and people were complaining about the $14 a bomber price back in June. At least if he had purchased at TW or something and was local, he could bring it back and exchange it for another beer. Sucks he bought it not knowing it was a shelf turd and now is out of state.

 

To play devil's advocate, MOST ipa/dipa/pales have a 6 month shelf life and these were kept optimally by/at the brewery. I'd rather have a 4 month old ipa that never left the brewer than a 2 month that's gone through a distributor and sat on a shelf at room temperature for weeks.

With that said, I still wouldn't buy the beer in question and it is clearly dated.

 

All the above being said, at the end of the day, only you can decide if it was worth buying. Have you tasted it yet? Arguments about age, price, etc don't really matter, until you can form an opinion on the beer itself.