Inconsistency in Anchor Porter.

Based on what you ate/drank/smoked each of those days, can you definitively rule out your palate as the difference?

 

Those "product codes" are bottling dates, using Anchor's unique* 3 character letter/number coding method - see Anchor FAQ's (#5) (* Others have used other terms for it.)

Twice you mention that some of the beers you're drinking were bought at least 6 months previously, suggesting the beer was even older than that (adding in the time it spend traveling from SF to NE, in warehouses and at the retailer).

Noting those date(s) would be helpful as would knowing if they had been refrigerated at the retailer and by you (as recommended by Anchor, and routinely ignored by retailers).

Old beer is the most likely problem. What you call q "measley 6 months" I'd consider "too old" - I seldom buy Anchor products on the east coast because they are usually well beyond my personal preferences (less than 3 months from bottling) when they first hit the retailers' shelves.

 

That is a very complex way to date a beer. Just the year and month is all I would care about . I have never had freshness problems with any Anchor products but will be more careful from now on. Thanks

 

Yeah, in 2016 it is, but it's been in use since 1991 according to the FAQ and it's done mechanically - examining the code, one can see the digits are "punched" into the back of paper label, rather than electronically printed the way most codes are today on labels or the bottle itself. Whatever antique stamping unit Maytag picked up back then, the code was designed to use as few characters as possible and, admittedly, to be somewhat opaque to the consumer (not unusual at the time).

And that info is there in the first two characters - last digit of the year, first letter of the month - except for May-August, which all use obvious other letters. I've been reading Anchor's codes since the '90s and they are no more difficult than figuring 3-digit day-of-the-year "Julian" dates if you know the code. The sad thing is how seldom I read fresh dates on Anchor products.

 

The way you are describing which bottle is which is very unclear. If you are getting huge differences from bottles from the same six pack consumed within a small time frame, then it's hard to imagine that the beer is "the culprit."

 

Don't age it! Drink it fresh!

 

Personally haven't noticed inconsistencies, but I also haven't had it in awhile. If it continues for you, definately recommend Founders (actually try Founders anyway).

Also yea I wouldn't age this, it isn't "big" enough. If I am not mistaken, coffee flavors are the first to go in porters/stouts.

 

Exactly recommend Founders, all Flavors

 

Not buying that a sixer of bottles that are packaged within seconds of one another are going to pull what op is claiming is possible for one six pack Beer changes when you change. Your palate will detect, and zero in on very different things over the course of a couple days. Even over a couple hours. You will probably be able to notice how your palate modulates. It could be what you had an hour ago. It could be atmospheric pressure. Humidity. Temperature. Any number of things.
A beer you have personally held onto for six months that is the same as the one you are currently drinking which is a month old, but that is a sidebar issue and not relevant other than for educational purposes of what drinking a 7-8 month old porter is like.

 

I see the recommendations for Founders Porter, and raise the classic that is Deschutes Black Butte. I really like a good porter, and find BB far superior. TETO