Is Bottle Dating Really THAT Difficult?

I know I've seen Julian dates on New Holland bottles.

 

Where's the accountability for the distributors? We're still seeing out of date beer from breweries that date their bottles. That's much more a distribution issue than a bottle dating issue.

 

Exactly what I was going to say, and I believe this is the base problem. The option is to not buy their beers, there's plenty out now thst date their stuff, just say no.

 

I usually won't even buy a hoppy beer without a bottling date unless I know it was a limited or seasonal release that was just put out.

 

Another point - though I do agree with most that has been said already - some beers do indeed get better with age - Coopers (a family owned South Australian brewery) has a "best after" date on all their bottles... so yeah whilst some brewers may or may not be conspiring for craft drinkers to buy their 6 month old IPAs, mostly I think that breweries don't see it as a priority in the grand scheme of things.

Agreed: With a hoppy American IPA there should definitely be a "best by" date due to hop flavour degredation though.

 

Ballast point just came to Michigan, and I was looking at the bottles for a date to see if they brought new stock or if they just brought whatever was sitting around. Couldn't find a date, and haven't had sculpin before for reference, so I have no clue how old for it.

stamped dates on the labels seem pretty freaking easy to find...

 

I'm waiting for someone to use some Trekkian Star Date on their bottles....then we'll be begging for a Julian date!!!

 

Some breweries are starting to use the "captain's log" system

 

That benign little object that only spits out ink is a very real cost to consider. Both space wise, and for investment with money.That's another fermenter, or a bright, or a few of them. Or it's equal to the cost of a new meheen.
Breweries of a certain size around here have gotten around it with using an ink stamper on the case or the carrier. It's effective. As they grew larger and are able to take on a benign little ink spitter. It'll probably happen because it's not fun to hand label a few thousand things when there's other stuff to do.

 

Here is the most easy and super inexpensive way to do it. If a brewery doesn't do this it has nothing to do with cost, it has to do with they don't want us to know how old the beer is. Period.

 

If you make a perishable product (beer) than you should provide your customers with some way to know how old it is. The only reason why it's not a federal law is that old, nasty beer is not usually a health hazard, just a flavor and wallet hazard.

To all the canning/bottling experts here, is there a cheap way to date cans?

I've been bugging one of the breweries in Denver to start labeling its cans. They make a triple IPA that seems to sit on shelves and I have no idea how old it is.

Epic Brewing does a great job of putting clear, concise dates on all of their bombers, I can't speak to the smaller packages because I am not sure. I feel like they are stamped or printed in ink on the label. They even take it a step further with BBB by putting batch number on there.

 

I disagree. All bottles should have just a "bottled on" date. That's all anyone needs, let the individual make the decision on when it's "best by".

 

The best reason to put the dates on is the idea that your perfectly good beer will sit there because it does not have it. I like the idea of the word seasonal and the year in the label and that is courteous as well.

 

This is one of the reasons I'll be a fan of Stone's Enjoy By for as long as they brew it. Hop heads want beer as fresh as they can find it. For them to name a beer with the best by bate is a ballsy move in a day and age where brewers, as Yemenmocha said above, "want their beer to sell regardless of how old it is". More brewers need to follow Stone's lead. I think consumers would reward them for it.....

 

DFH is also twenty some odd years old, and also operates at a much larger scale than any of the breweries than I know of, or am even referring towards.
But. Since you have a need to speak using definitives. Can you give me the specifics on how much that notching machine costs?
The date stamper thing I mention is like $20 at Staples.

 

excellent point and for the reasons you mentioned I actually do reach for STONE beers almost every time I'm at the store, including the ENJOY BY. I love their beers anyway, but I'm damn tired of using the Julian code app on my phone when I can clearly see the nice dates on the Stone bottles.

When I'm sharing beer with guests who are new to craft beer I also tend to prefer Stone's lineup because I know if they like it, they have much better odds of finding it fresh. We also have Stone products at grocery stores here and other discount retailers, so the convenience kicks ass too.

Thanks, Stone.

 

If they can get a best by date on a yogurt container or a they can get one on a bottle or can of beer. Personally I would prefer to know when the beer is packaged but I have been abused enough where I will accept any indicator of age.

 

That's part of the label, which requires approval. Plus, if you include the year on there, you'd have to get each reprint with the proper year approved again. That's not a costless process, especially for a smaller-scale brewery.

 

I would guess that most breweries that do not date have considered it and decided the money could best be spent elsewhere to help their bottom line. It is up to us the BA's and consumers to make sure that balance tilts toward dating bottles and cans. We can help by letting breweries know when we do not buy their beer based on no dates. We can also educate anyone who will listen about the joy and value of fresh beer.

 

You mean the same approval each label has to go through for every beer?

And the idea comes from Jim Koch, who said that it is cheap and easy. Sam Calagione (that pic I used was of a 2003 beer from Dogfish Head) in his book says the same thing.

Not wanting to go to minimal trouble and expense is the same as wanting customers not to know how old your beer is. In my (imaginary) brewery freshness would be paramount, and I would consider good labeling an important investment in my customers and my business.