I have a single bottle of Kulmbacher Eisbock and I am trying to decipher the date code. Fresh Beer Only does not have any info on Kulmbacher. I was wondering if anyone had some wisdom on this matter.
Good luck, I've never been able to figure it out. It's sad because I like their Pils, but never pick it up due to this problem.
Don't know for sure as I've only had it on tap, but if the code is a 4 digit number its possible that might be a Julian date (first 3 digits) with the last digit being the year (e.g., xxx2 being 2012). What is the code you are seeing on the bottle?
Thanks anyway. I got a single bottle in a beer club case and I am certain that it has been around for awhile. I really like this beer and I want to be accurate about the age when I sample this and update my current review of this offering.
It's a shame when consumers who care about the freshness of their beer need a Rosetta Stone to decipher what could be a simple bottled-on date.
The "old" (mid 2000 / "Oughts") label had a best before date -- strange in its own right, as many who enjoyed that brand (and the Reichelbräu iteration which preceded it) also preferred it after it was aged in a cellar for a few years. This is true!
Just picked up a bottle with the same code, I think. I read it as 2438172, but it still doesn't help.
Is there any way you could email or call them. They should be able to answer this quite easily for you...
I assume this must have been beaten to death already, but what is the rationale for putting an indecipherable code on the bottle instead of simply a month/date/year? What's the point if no one can read it? I mean there must be a reason right?
Well, the brewer, the distributor and (sometimes) the retailer can. Now, whether they do, and whether they do something about it... Well, the attitudes expressed below are slowly dying, but there's:
Where did you get the bottle from? If stored cold and cool, age shouldn't be an issue, although it sure is interesting to see how it changes with age. I always don't get why those beers on the german market have a "mindestens haltbar bis" date on the german market, but not on the american..... Do belgian trappist ales have such dates when sold in the US?
Because the labels in the US are usually different (in rare occasions, it is the original label with additional label(s) with US-required info). The labels are for the US-market only, have to met the US TTB and state regulations (none of which are a "consumer friendly" date code), and, other than the mandatory info, the rest is done at the request of the US distributor - often a company independent of the brewery. See above quote from De Dolle: “For the US we do not put freshness code because the importer does not want to put anything as 'best before'." Likewise, US beers exported elsewhere often have date codes and "shelf life" periods that are different that their domestic products in order to fulfill foreign laws and importers' desires. In general, in the case of all imports in the US - "Some do, some don't..." At this point, imported beers in the US probably have a higher percentage of non- or obscurely-dated labels than the domestic beers.
Thanks for the info. Well, I guessed that it HAS to do with different law requirements an such- it just makes no sense to me. Btw, narrow best before dates on highly ageable beers like Eisbock or Weizenbocks makes no sense to me, either. Some german winemakers started labelling their wines with "storing suggestions",also suggesting how long the wine should or probably can be drunk with enjoyment. I think this would be the right thing to do with high ABV beers as well.
