Is my beer fresh?

How far down this chart are you able to read the letters?

O
P T
O M E
T R I S T
A P P O I
N T M E N
T S O O N

 

Makes sense, if it taste good it is. I don’t drink all that much ipas any more, much prefer Pils and Lagers. But your right there’s tons of variables besides age.

 

Folks here have pretty well got you covered. I would just reiterate the value of finding a good local brew. Lots of the unhyped styles /brewers can be had for cheaper than the regional brands and you have much less to worry about in terms of freshness

 

All those beers are date coded - some, like Samuel Adams and Brooklyn, have labels or stamped codes that specify a "Best by" date.

OTOH, DFH uses a bottling date and their FAQ explains:

and Long Trail's FAQ similarly says:

That's the best way determine beer freshness - you can't count on a particular retailer, large or small, or a distributor. While a retailer's turn-over for a certain beer might be fast, they are at the mercy of the brand's local distributor for the freshness of their next order.

As long as you are buying "fresh" beer (as noted above), that's not a problem. Refrigerating your beer will help preserve it.

Never heard of such a thing - most beer "in the back" is waiting to be shelved, sometimes (say, an Oktoberfest) is in the back wating for the previous season's beer (Summer ale) to sell out and take over the shelf spot.

In theory, it could be beer waiting (hoping) to be returned to the distributor due to age, but, again, just check the date code before buying.

What does the label say?

 

Oh wait--another freshness thread.

I avoid Total Wine. Some folks have commented on prior threads that TWs often do better than "mom and pops." If your mom and pop doesn't move much, you might be right, some of the time.

Just two days ago, someone told me they were filling growlers of Lunch at our local TW so I could not resist. To test this freshness idea, I was curious if they had Revision IPA--one of my non local favorites. They did and it was in bottles (had only seen cans). Bottled on date was 2/?/2018. Oh yes, the beer graveyard continues.

Freshness is so simple. Too much is available with dates on them these days not to look OR go to my local "mom and pop" who only buys what moves. He knows how "old" everything in the store is and just for fun, I still check dates on the flats in the "just in" section--but really only for curiosity.

Our local major grocer moves most things but prefer to patronize the local indie. The TW has nice people, some things that come in new from time to time and fresh seasonals but the two huge aisles with about everything on them and piles all over lead to lots of old stuff.

And my "mom and pop" got two cases of Revision IPA (cans) recently and it was gone in a few days (and <1mo old from Nevada).

 

I really think that Caffey and Barringer are the real problems here in the area. They put out there own stuff at TW, and TW like most retail stores are very bottom line orientated. So they’re an easy mark to put new stock that’s 3-4 months old already but within date into these big stores. I’m sure the store manager doesn’t have the authority to turn away product that’s well within date but just not optimal. They don’t have the man power to scour the shelves and check dates , and besides it’s not their money. Mom and pop shops are sometimes in the same boat but for different reasons. The one I go to does check dates when they receive an order, so the Distributors know better here,but they sell less volume and still in a good many cases end up with older beer on the shelf. Two different stores with the same problem for two very different reasons, it explains why mom and pop are cutting back on Cali beers, and slow movers from anywhere, they can’t afford to have money on the shelf that doesn’t turn over. Quite a problem.

 

I'm not saying that such things can't coincidentally happen (customer asks for last season's variety pack that is in the back waiting for return), but it's not a common occurrence or standard retail procedure (keeping old beer outside the customer area makes it even less likely that it'll sell). The opposite is much more prevalent - out-of-code beer on the shelves.

So,

is not really at the level of a beer buying rule-of-thumb. But if one checks date codes, it doesn't matter where the beer was.

 

I never mind buying a three month old beer if that is the freshest in the store in the style I want. So glad to say I am always able to get beer much fresher than that, so never a consideration for this old hippy.

 

I can always find beers from a few Asheville breweries fresh, some other locals too. But the days of the slew of Cali breweries with a national footprint are long gone from the shelves here. They’re the losers in the brewery explosion even though imo they do make better beer than a good bit of the local competition. Modern Times, Knee Deep, Moylans, are just a few examples, but there’s probably another dozen, Victory probably more of a regional player is about gone too. Just examples, but there is open space in the coolers now, more than I’ve seen in well over 10 years, and there was a time he was considering expanding his coolers to add more. Imo it’s a terrible retail market, beers expensive, some of the local stuff is just ok, but the bigger breweries don’t sell. The only winning play is to have at least one, but more is better of local breweries churning out excellent beer. Unfortunately I’d only put Buriel in that category here, everyone else is check the dates, or it’s average stuff not worth the price.

 

It's sort of different here, the number of beers from locals has kept steady pace with the number of excellent out of area beers we also get. Burial has been on shelf here now for about two years, many other great brands too. I love Burial. My local bev. store just added more new fridge units and dedicated a new area of store to brands. I feel sad seeing so many old beers on shelf but am glad the sell through is enough we get restocked with fresh stuff of many more beers than I can possibly hope to try. Six world class local breweries here covering 30+ styles just makes trying to keep up impossible. In my state we now have 400+ breweries.

We too have lost Knee Deep and host of others that frankly didn't make beer as good as we get made here. I agree there will be losers, and the time when we find out who they are may be nearer than we realize.

 

Just thinking on beers I used to love that are gone; Modus Hoperandi, Hop Stoopid, Hop Rod Rye, Sculpin and it brothers, Moylans, I cant remember the last time I saw Enjoy By on the shelf, even SN fresh Hop beers I haven’t seen in years, Alpine, Victory, theres some DFH but 60 and 90 I haven’t seen in forever. This is just a few, replaced by local breweries I’ve never heard of trying to sell me $11-12 Sixers. I’m sure this varies by area, but if it wasn’t for Burial the best choices on the shelf might be PBR. So it goes full circle.

 

You most definitely can smell it, but no idea how to describe it. Grab a dipa you can easily buy fresh, drink 5 and store one for 5 months or so. Rebuy and drink the old one side by side with the fresh, the nose goes as well as you can taste the hops disappear. I certainly don’t have a refined palate, but I can sniff a beer and get a pretty good idea if I’ll like it, and for me the taste does really follow my nose. The bigger the ipa the bigger the abv the faster and more likely it is to hit that point with lots of variables, age, temp, vessel, light etc.

 

And behold on Fri Memorial Day weekend there is reasonably fresh beer. It’s 6 weeks old on the FW and under 30 days on Highland Rustic IPA. It’s been a long time coming, at Bestway.

 

I’m in Philly. My basement is not cooled and can get a bit warm in the summer. It is heated by a radiator in the winter as well as the heating unit in the basement.

Never measured the temp but I have had beer there for 20 years with no issues at all. I do have a small fridge I keep all my hoppy stuff in but I have BCS, 120, Willetized etc just sitting on a shelf or the floor and nothing has ever gone bad even after 10 plus years on a few.

I check dates and don’t buy anything I consider old. I just bought some 60 minute that was canned in April and I’m sure it’s fine, it lives in my fridge as well.

Let your taste be your guide. I have purchased hoppy beer at over 3 months old that was on sale and was still fine. Some hoppy beers stay for a while, others do drop off quick. Cans could help you keep hoppy stuff longer.

Enjoy

 

On the money. Storage conditions count, as much as age. Things detrimental to beer; age, heat , light. On the heat I’d think we’re talking extremes, if your basement is whatever temp it’s proven to work out ok.

 

This brings up the point of why even evaluate and critique beers when their characteristics vary so much from so many different factors? What percentage of BA reviews are skewed by handling/storage issues?

 

I don't think we can have enough freshness threads until all brewers get the message - put the freaking date on the bottle/can!