Lagunitas Julian Date Games

IIRC there are 2 rows of numbers with the top row representing bottling date. Perhaps the top row stamp missed the box?

 

So what is the package code mean? I have no idea how to read that. I don’t buy any hoppy beer I can’t understand the date code.

Many years ago the Lagunitas case code was pretty easy to understand and the bottles inside were the same. Besides being hard to see in the bottle it looks like they don’t give a fuck about anyone knowing what the code on the box means.

Fight back

Don’t buy any hoppy beer that has no date or a date you are not sure about.

Bells has the best dates in my mind. Easy to read and straight forward.

Enjoy

 

And tell them which competing product you bought instead because they provide a readable date.

 

Just wondering, has Lagunitas ever provided a straight and reasonable answer to the craft beer consumers why they feel its best to continue to use Julian date on their packaging despite large numbers of customer complaints?

 

I'm having a real problem imagining some 1984 dystopia where the thought police make anyone drinking old IPA disappear.
Other food stuffs require a best buy date, I don't see why beer should be different. Shit, recreational weed requires more information on the package.

 

Not at the Federal level, except for one exception, according to the FDA:

Some states have dating requirements for meat and some fresh dairy products like milk and eggs.

 

The unfortunate matter about 12-pack carton design ...you cannot inspect the bottles without opening the box. Wish stores would put out one open carton as a 'floor model'. I have been angered in the past, when buying a variety pack which lists the names of the beers on the outside but does not clearly indicate that one or more of the styles contained within are fruit beers. Are the brewing companies really unaware that's a dividing point for many beer drinkers ?

 

I called their marketing department to ask that very question and was given an answer that was apparently memorized citing their main reason being the "tremendous cost involved in changing". When I pointed out a bank business loan under current lending rates could be repaid at about $200-$300 dollars a month she politely repeated her exact same answer and thanked me for being a customer. They could if they wanted but obviously don't.

 

My 12 pack carton reads: 220 8 2 3083 0204

Bottles read: 220 8 2 3083 0111

Doesn’t seem to be any issue with mine. Bottled on August 8th?

 

Yeah, buying stuff from the future would be historical. Julian dating is definitely designed to be confusing at first, but not for long.

 

That was my point. I'm not a fan of government regulations by any means. But in certain circumstances they do actually make sense.

I mean honestly does anyone want to live in a world where food isn't properly dated? Is that a guessing game anyone really wants to play? I for one am glad food products are properly labeled. My thoughts were "why not do the same thing with beer".

 

I always kinda feel beer IS food.

 

The curious thing, which is perhaps apart of this problem, is that the FDA doesn't cover beer. In other words, the Food and Drug Administration, doesn't cover a drug beverage. I wanted to state that twice for emphasis, as it just seems out flat strange.

It's not like a new law would require any additional work to most of the people on this forum. I'm not sure what the issue is, after all, it would be breweries that would have to change their workflow to meet this - not consumers.

I'm fine without the law, but it would be nice to require bottling dates (not those 'best by' dates either).

 

Those were my thoughts exactly. Not every regulation is Orwellian in nature...

That statement is both factional, and hilarious.

 

I guess the best way to avoid confusion is to stop buying Lagunitas at all!

 

Agreed that is very strange indeed.

Exactly!

 

Well, the FDA's labeling regulations do cover some "beers" (basically those without hops or those that don't use the required percentage of malted barley as the primary fermentable):

but, again, the FDA does not require date codes on food.

More info on the TTB site at:
Classification of Brewed Products as “Beer” Under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and as “Malt Beverages” Under the Federal Alcohol Administration Act
and
Memorandum of Understanding Between the Food and Drug Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms

 

@CrimeDog some weird shit is going on with the boxes, I am now seeing the Sumin Easy 12 packs on the shelves without dates on them, as @ScottK22 said the julian day is in front of the 8 so either it didn't print or it got wiped off by a nefarious distributor/retailer. When in doubt I open the 12 pack and inspect a bottle or can and if it is old, I simply put it back on the shelf. I know that will piss people off, but honestly I don't care. If this starts to become a habit I might start carrying packing tape with me in the store. I did this at one of the stores for Sucks when they came out with the christmas packaging, box wasn't labeled and when I opened it, found out it was brewed back in mid August and it was at the end of November.

 

Boy, that is some irresponsible shit right there from Lagunitas.

Kudos to you for taking the measure to double check on the bottles within a Christmas packaged box.

If I had made that purchase to find out that the beer in a Christmas packaged box was from the summertime that would be the last purchase I ever made from that brewery.

Cheers to you for checking!

 

Beer doesn't require the same label laws because beer and other alcohol can't contain harmful pathogens like food does.