Old IPAs on store shelves

I noticed... I was in Memphis earlier this week and found a ton of bottles of Stone Ruination/RuinTen that were all clearly stamped "Best by 8/30/13". I get that some shops don't get the turnover on their hoppy beers, and this goes double for those breweries that don't clearly date stamp these beers; but, seeing those old dates made any non-date-stamped bottles completely unattractive to me.

On a side note, I ended up getting some fresh Adam Bomb IPA from Blackstone and a 4-pack of Dirtwolf that was good through Feb 2014.

 

Where is their date? I picked up some DirtWolf in Alabama on a trip the other day, and holy moly wow it's sooooooooo good! I know it's pretty damn fresh because it tasted like a tropical fruit bomb, in love for a year round beer. If only we got their stuff in LA.

 

It was screen printed around the neck of the bottles. You can kind of see it at the top of the image on the third bottle from the left here... (note: google search found this for me, it's not mine)

 

One thing that bothers me is when a shop has a Beer Cave and they fill it with nothing but BMC and leave all the perishable IPAs on the warm shelves. I'd buy a 3 or 4 month old IPA if is was kept cold.

 

How far before an "enjoy by" date is the "bottled on date"? Is there an industry standard for this, or does it depend on style?

 

It depends on both the beer and the brewery. There is no industry standard - typically for "average" ABV beers from US brewers, the shelf life period they recommend is typically 3-6 months.

 

I used to live in Northern CA and never had a problem finding IPA's less than a month old. Since I moved to South Texas buying fresh IPA is part scavenger hunt and part detective work. Best way to go is to find a store that has a good selection and stop by once a week to ask what just came in. Depending on your distribution region, this may not help as it might already be old. But 2-3 months out on a good IPA is not the end of the world and it will probably still be delicious. Another benefit to asking what just came in and getting beer from an unopened case is the beer will not be light-struck which will further deteriorate the hop nectar. If its a shelf stored IPA more than 3 months old, I usually don't bother due to age and light on the bottle. Refrigeration is your friend and will help preserve that fresh floral and citrus taste.

From the label of Pliny the Elder (read the border):

 

Unlike all those month-old, expired IPAs, amirite?!

 

I see old unearthly at just about every GE in the area. Then again I also got to open the new box of Stone Double BAstard today at the Market District in Robinson today. As well as a new box of Victory Oak Horizontal.

 

Oh and I got to open Celebration as well.

 

My mom sent me some sculpin from Florida this week. Old label, enjoy by date of 8/30/13

Sculpin is one of the worst! Only people that are aware of it, buy it! I would guess cause nobody wants to spend $14-$15 on six they're not familiar with! In turn, a lot of it sits! I'm real careful buying it! It's been easy lately since they've changed the packaging!

 

I recently contacted a brewer about some consistently out of date IPA of theirs that I was finding at local stores. They appreciated the information and said they'd contact the distributor. Sure enough, the next time I went in the offending store, they had fresh stuff. The brewer wants the best quality beer on the shelves. The distributor wants to move product. Sometimes those goals conflict.

 

In Oklahoma this is a HUGE problem. Even the best liquor stores have beers that are out of date. I have to check every single IPA I buy's date code. Mostly I just buy seasonals, that way I can be assured they are fresh.

 

Especially in Lafayette, LA. I regularly see IPAs which are 3+ months beyond the enjoy by/best buy/etc date on the bottles. And then when the "new" bottles come in quite often they're already a couple of weeks old. So it's either buy the slightly old bottles or ignore IPAs. That's why I've mainly been drinking MechahopZilla cause it's fresh whenever I find it. I know it's a byproduct of the location but it is a little disappointing.

 

Living in a rural area where Busch Light is king, it's difficult to find fresh GOOD beer. I bought a DFH90 today that was 6 months old, but it's better than when I bought an Oberon from them that was 2 YEARS old.

 

Bevmo. That's all.

 

This is always a problem for IPA's, and I would argue it's not getting any better. I applaud the breweries who date their product, however, there are still plenty of IPA's (a lot of excellent ones too) that don't sell fast enough and end up getting old. The only solution is that all breweries make top, top quality IPA, and they put out just enough that it sells out frequently (i.e. Pliny). But that's not going to happen, so it's up to you to track down the fresh stuff.

 

At one of my local beer distributors, I recently saw a Terrapin IPA sampler pack on the shelves that was a month past its expiration date. I think I remember shedding a tear.

 

It really sucks when you find an interesting bottle to sample, but no date anywhere on it. It seems a disservice to not have a dated product. Solution? I don't buy them, their loss, not mine.
I was shopping a few days ago and saw a bottle that caught my eye. It had a best by date of 12-02-12. Gads!!! PASS...

 

Your first mistake was shopping for craft beer in Homestead.