New Trail finally dating cans?!

A local NJ brewery was dating their packs like that a few years back and often all that was left of the illegible sticker was some adhesive and bits of paper. At first, it appeared that someone (distributor? retailer?) tried to obscure the date but it turned out that, stacked on pallets or under other cases of beer during truck transportation, delivery and storage, the vibration or movement (sliding cases to pick them up) often combined moisture (from cold beer or just the atmosphere) usually rubbed enough of the sticker off to make it useless.

 

Any news on them distributing to NJ?

 

This is the 2nd time I’ve heard this recently, which is awesome. But, both examples were Goggles. Hoping it’s every beer and not just this one.

 

One of my local third tier distributors had a New Trail feature display near the registers. Goggles, Holiday Cookie and Broken Heels. Out of 20-25 4 packs, only 2 of the Goggles 4-packs had stickers on the top. None for Holiday Cookie or Broken Heels.

New Trail still can't even be bothered to place stickers on every single 4 pack. 2 to 4 pricing gun stickers per palette. I don't know what it is with these guys. They make some good offerings, but they just don't understand or care about consumer logistics.

I've always been burned when trying their hoppy beers. It's very easy to make sure every single 4-pack of new beer has a canning date on the top. Yet they still screw this up. .

 

I think you’ve brought this same thing up in a different thread and I agree. To an extent. Besides Broken Heels (part of their regular lineup) and maybe a couple others, it’s easy to find a date. Just check their Instagram or Facebook page.

The one store by me adds beers on Untappd when they get them in. Maybe I’m just used to going to social media when they do this to see when beers were canned.

It’s just hard to pass on New Trail because their stuff is the best I’ve had outside of the New England region.

 

except that their social media doesn't actually give a canning date. it just states a release date for in person pick up from the physical brewery location.

for me personally it just feels foolish having my head buried in my phone flipping through instagram accounts while walking into a third tier distributor trying to find out if a beer is a shelf turd or not.

i would also disagree with them being the best option in PA outside of New England. depending on your location, Equilibrium, Grimm, Magnify are readily available in many third tier distributors.

 

Can’t get those 3 at my distributor. Either way, we both have our opinions. I will continue to support them.

 

Yeah, the lack of dating used to really tick me off. But their stuff is so good - I haven't been disappointed yet.
And I think I figured out a workaround: New Trail produces so many beers there's usually at least one new one a week. So I just visit the distributor weekly and - if I see one I haven't tried before - it's probably a week younger than the last one I had.
Clever marketing ploy? It keeps me coming back week after week.
They also don't bother to list the ABV on most of their stuff. I just bought a 4-pack of Mountain (11%). That was a surprise, but a pleasant one. Always an adventure with New Trail....
They do this stuff on purpose, to mess with your head. And they're good enough to get away with it.

 

They are very good at their canned selections. However I am beyond disappointed in their Vanilla BA Moonlit. It had zero carbonation and it wasn't a one off issue. They purposely distributed a beer, at full price, without any carbonation. While the flavors were all there and I could see it being good, it was an absolute miss for me and I probably won't buy another bottled beer from them.

 

Yes, if you and other fans in this thread are willing to buy all of their beers. I see them on the shelves of my local beer retailers but with no dates I choose to buy beers from other breweries that do date their beers.

Cheers!

 

Good to know. The distributor a minute from my house only gets Broken Heels (and I’m ok with that for a quick fix), so this is great news.

 

Looking forward to trying Goggles (12/1 date) again tonight, after my beer shop guy raved about it. Tried one last night, but it was right after two Parish beers with hop profiles that I think really messed with my palate.

 

Goggles is in my top 3 from them along with Broken Heels and Flannel Weather. Goggles was one of the first I had from them, so it might have been a wow moment at that time. Either way, hope you enjoy it.

 

Picked up a four pack of Snow Tracks and one of Mountain. Both had stickers on the four pack holder. Both read “Born On 120720”

Snow Day, indeed.

 

Good to know.

 

Carbonation isn't something I'm particularly concerned with in BA imperial stouts, but I too thought that BA Vanilla Moonlit was unimpressive. However, I ALSO think that the non-aged Vanilla Moonlit isn't particularly impressive compared to the base beer.

I have a bottle of BA Moonlit without vanilla, but I'm not in a rush to open it. I like the taste profile of the base beer, but the mouthfeel is surprisingly thin for a 10% stout. It was an impulse purchase because it was my first time at the taproom and I was surprised that they still had bottles left from last year's releases (and the year before in a barleywine) so I bought one of each. In retrospect NOT the smartest decision, given the price.