Kudos to BWS.....

The range is certainly getting better at them. My local one now sells Birra del Borgo and also has 6 packs of Big Eye for cheaper than 6 packs of LCPA. Pretty well all the craft there is refrigerated too.

 

Ask to see the cartons of Hog they have laying around. The date bottled is on the top.

 

BWS at Canning Highway / North Lake Rd (Perth) used to have a very wide range of beers, but it died about three years ago. I did manage to find a decent amount of The Mad Abbott tripel last year for storage

 

BWS in Maylands is great. Just picked up a fresh bridge roads 4 x single hops ipa pack (ella, vic secret, galaxy, summer) for $20, 3 x 500ml Weihenstephan pils (expiry aug 2014) for $15, and a Little Brewing Mad Abbot Dubbel for $7.

 

Woolies want you to go to BWS for those 1-2 products as they get a higher margin on what they charge compared to Dan's. They win.

 

yeh eric,
that BWS was great, a guy called Duane, who work fro Phoenix now, ran it,

 

This.

I always go straight into the freezer, find the newest carton and grab it, or tear it open and grab a 4 pack.

 

It is customers like you that I despise.

 

I despise the BWS employee who told me on the weekend when I quizzed him about when a beer arrived: "a lot of breweries aren't bothering with use by dates these days because beer keeps so well".

 

Haha, that's awesome!

 

Speaking from a pure bottle shop perspective, there needs to be some respect for the rotation (first in first out) policy. The only thing that is saving it is the fact that customers like dansmcd are the vast minority. Long may this be the case.

 

That's BWS customer service for you

 

Well excuse me for picking up fresh beer for my hard earned. In my experience, 95% of people (including bottle shop staff at BWS, Dan's, First Choice etc.) wouldn't know the difference, or even know that IPAs should be consumed fresh.

It's a practice I unashamedly exercise at these stores, and will continue to do so.

When you buy milk at Coles, do you grab the one with the use by date that is tomorrow just because it was first in store?

 

I agree 100% except I extend that to all beers (not just IPAs. Yes some beers age but I want to buy them fresh and age myself). Most bottle shops will not hesitate to sell you stale beer, and here lies the problem. I think this is partly because beer is not cheap commodity in Australia like it is in other places. Shops are reluctant to throw it out like they would milk.

I have zero respect for rotation (sorry). I will always read the BB dates before I consider buying. At the moment it needs to be at least Jul14 for me to consider buying it. You may call this harsh, but the attiitude has developed from a lot of wasted cash and disappointment (expensive drain pours). I think we are just reacting to the environment we are in.

 

I would fathom a guess in regards to Hog that they only send 2-3 cases per store each week or so. I wouldn't think each store would be getting 10+ and sitting on it for a few weeks.

 

Learnt the hard way with dodgy Radeburger and Bitburger. I check dates all the time now.

 

I think it's all about knowing your local store and what it does/sells. The Dans in Hyde Park (yuppy/hipster/wanker/me central) has a reasonable turnover rate of craft stuff. I have no problems getting beers from there. The Dans in Balga, I wouldn't touch a pale ale there with my worst enemies tongue. Know your stores and caveat emptor I guess.