I'm trying in vain to find the freshness date on Green Flash West Coast IPA. I bought it anyway but would just like to know. Was pretty shocked to find it here in Northern Canada!
They stamp it in yellow ink right below the labels. Well, at least it should be there unless someone rubbed it off
If you are able to (I've never tried returning a beer) then I would. The beer won't hurt you but it will be a far cry from what the brewers intended. That said, it's pretty cool to see the reach of craft beer - Northern CA - love it!
I'm going to try it and see I think. I've actually had some interesting results with trying older IPAs. Yeah i'm consistently surprised by some of the stuff that makes it up here. Saw Jester King, Ommegang, Deschutes and Green Flash at the store today.
What IS the deal with Green Flash beers? Is it the distributor, demand, or the brewery? ALL of the bottles around here are dated 8/--/12!(Imperial IPA) Or they are rubbed off. Stone is kind of the same way, just not as extreme...there's bottles of Arrogant Bastard with drink by 12/--/12 date.
I was pleased that the palate wrecker we just got in PA was bottled on 01/29/13. It seems that the GF beers are typically about a month old when we get them. I guess it depends on the distribution chain b/c we get two hearted and flower power usually less than two weeks old.
Actually tastes great! Granted I have no fresh one to compare it to but it still packs a powerful hop punch.
That's the power of GF WC IPA - the hops will never lose all of their power because it starts at over 100 IBU!
Which suggests to me either a) IPAs do not have to be as fresh as everyone says they do b) this particular IPA for some reason ages ok c) I have a completely useless palette
My vote would be a modified b) - some IPAs will drink better than others with age. Some of them have their hop profile fall off a cliff but the malt and yeasts are such that the beer is still drinkable and still has some semblance of balance. Other IPAs with a lot of age (Hop Stoopid for me) have the malts completely take over and make the beer undrinkable (again, to me). I've had to drainpour a couple of bottles of HS before I looked up the bottle date code format they use. That said, I may just resemble c.
I have found a lot of GF beers where the date was right on the bottom of the bottle, where it starts curving from the side to the bottom of the bottle. Stamp can be very light, and on a curved surface very hard to read. Also, if i remember correctly, the glass is not smooth there, making it harder to read.
Glad you tried one anyway. I just had one last night and couldn't find a bottle date either. It tasted great.
I bet it just rubbed off. I have issues with finding dates on GF bottles all the time and I know that they are not from before they put bottle dates on them because there are gaps in time between when it is on the shelf. I also dont think the owner of the small store would let me buy the old IPAs seeing he knows I spend 50 bucks a week there.
I've returned beer a few times. If it's a quality bottle shop, they should take it back and credit you.
Idk I know what it taste like fresh and I have bought 4pks in the last few months that were fresh with no dates.
Actually the West Coast is just under 100 IBU; you might be thinking of Palate Wrecker which is over 100 IBU.
I am glad I saw this, I grabbed three bottles in a just opened case, one was dated 8/26/12, and the others were dated 1/25/13. the two fresher dated ones are leaving in a trade, so i thought i was screwed. I will report back with the freshness.
