Reporting Old Beer

Jack, if I thought I had a shot at brewing anything close to what you put out I'd do it. A mans got to know his limitations, and I can't see me producing anything but swill. I've had other home brews and without exception they pretty much sucked.

 

Well, I agree with much of what you say about the retailer responsibility, but if there was only one wholesale distributor here in PA who's done it I'd not have mentioned my example. (That one was pretty responsible in that they took back the case, refunded the money and gave me a free case of beer as well.)

So I agree that you're absolutely right that the retailer should not sign for delivery on old beer. But then think about this, if there weren't wholesale distributors pusing out old beer, why would a retailer even need to check in the first place? :-)

There's a major retalier here in SEPA who sells a lot of beer (by the case or 12 pack only) and reports having had to refuse beer from more than one wholesaler. He has also said, on here, that despite the fact he always checks he's often gotten repeats on shipments of old beer from some wholesale distributors (which gives a sense of how many retailers don't check :-) ).

So I suggest it's actually a combined problem involving the retailer failing to check and the distrubtor taking advantage. If the retailer is clueless there's little or no damage done to the distributor's reputation and even when the retailer does check there's no motivation to publicly call out a particular subset of wholesalers when that retailer wants other beers only handled by that same distributor.

It's also in part a customer issue in that, unlike you and I, many customers don't bother to check dates and so the beer sells even though it is old. Forcing the rest of us to have to be extra cautious.

 

The fact you have discussed this with the owner and things haven't changed tells you enough. Distributor Reps will use a store as a dumping ground only so long as the owner allows it to continue.

 

Not bad advice, when I moved from Denver to the good-beer wastelands of Southern Mississippi (this was 1994), the only way I could get good beer was to learn how to homebrew

 

I live in an area with several bottle shops and I still have this problem. I like you, love Lagunitas sucks but won't buy it for the same reason. The "bigger" craft companies like founders, lagunitas, ballast point etc now produce so much, and aren't as sought after as newer lower production breweries with "rare" beers, that those kinds sit on the shelf for ages. It sucks, cause i now have to resort myself to only buying the beers that just came into the shop so I know they're fresh. Stouts/other styles that can age, excluded of course. My biggest gripe right now is temperature control. I've noticed a lot of beers "going bad" very quickly (within two weeks of bottle dates), because the bottle shops are like 95 degrees inside due to the summer heat. A lot of beers should be kept cold in the summer, just like most of the cans and bottles say to!!!

 

For a retailer, having a realistic understanding of your market and a general knowledge of demographics are both essential, especially with time sensitive products. IPAs aren't exactly fish and veggies, but one needs to be wary in marketing any of them. Quick sales can cover wastage in some categories, but beer morphs through time before expiring....and lots of retailers refuse to "give up the ghost", holding on to products "being" not as they were intended to be. It is not a perfect world, and old beer is infinitely easier to sell than old fish.
I doubt that the merchant in question will become too concerned about beer, especially if his cash cow is spirits...beer may just be "gravy". Trust the store for dark beers, load up on your favorites on forays to locales that can ensure a "healthy" movement of more "fragile" beers, and continue to home brew. I'm certain that where you live provides a great deal more than any good fresh supply of beer could replace.

 

Well I'm not privvy to all of the particulars, but I know and have great fondness (mostly) for South Georgia. Good luck!

 

Sam Adams also has great programs for reporting old beer including allowing their employees to purchase all of outdated beer they see at a place for a full reimbursement plus small "unknown" incentive

 

Very interesting legal article on this subject as well..

http://consumer-law.lawyers.com/warranty-law/check-that-date-expired-goods-on-stores-shelves.html

 

Except very few brewers call their dating methods "expiration" dates. A "Best by/before" date does not mean it expires the next day. Even a "sell by" or pull date implies that the product will still be good for a period after the sale.

And the preferred dating system among beer geeks is "Bottled on" dating, which is even less specific as far as the brewer's recommended pull date is concerned.

 

The best buy carries over to many things outside of beer too. This enables retailers of all "perishable" goods to discount and sell rather than being forced to pull from the shelves.

As for the bottled on dating this is essentially just flipping the date for the brewery. Rather then subtracting 180/90/60 however many days from the best buy date you would just add it.

Additionally some breweries are moving to Canned/Bottled On PLUS Best by dates

 

But few brewers state their recommended shelf life period for their beers on the label, most people don't know that shelf life period and most beer geeks don't agree with them anyway - I think that the likelihood of successful state legal action (which is what the post I was responding to suggested) is low.

 

I don't see why more places dont do that. Canned/Bottled on, Best By, and Expiration.

 

Does it seem like there are many other craft customers who buy stuff from that shop? If there are very few others, you arent going to have a whole lot of luck convincing the owner and distributor into changing their business model.

Personally I would just do what others suggested. Stock up on occasional runs, buy stouts from your local place,and keep homebrewing.

 

Admittedly, I haven't read all the posts, but this is a problem at the grocery down the street from where I live. For example, there are multiple six packs of Lagunitas Any Time that were bottled 184 2015. Who would buy that if they knew it was over a year old? I've mentioned it to management several times, and in turn they respond back with a, "We'll let the distributors know," and nothing happens. I suppose a grocery where craft isn't a priority vs a bottle shop is an apples to oranges comparison. But to the OPs point, this happens too often.

 

What about educating him? IPAs are the biggest issue, instead of trying to have a big selection the store owner should only buy really fresh ones in small amounts, just enough that will be will be sold in less than 2 months then order more according to demand. If a customer gets pissed off because of an old beer he did not notice it is likely he will never return to the store again or just by seeing outdated ones he will runaway without buying anything.

I know several craft beer store owners. Some decided to have big selections but then they buy really small amounts of each beer and run in the issue of having them sold out really quick while others prefer to always have the beers in stock so they buy a lot of a small selection of beers. I know one in particular that has a mixed strategy, he composed a small selection that you will always find in the store and really tiny stocks of all sorts of random beers. And all of them offer big discounts when the beer is getting old to get rid of it and buy a fresh batch.