Should best by/born on date become manditory?

Should it be? Ideally, yes.

 

It would certainly be nice if every brewery dated their beer, but they definitely shouldn't have to.

 

Yes it should...stores should also take old beer off the shelves so what happens to me doesnt happen to others...last weekend went to the closest store to me...(it was raining) picked up a 6 of torpedo...I should have known based on the dust on the bottle...all malt no pine...very annoyed but then again beggers cant be choosers.

 

Not the born on date , that's just puerile advertising drivel. Beer isn't born, it's brewed and even then what is the date to use? When mashed, racked, bottled or what? If it has been lagered for weeks what is to be said?
Perhaps a bottled/kegged/casked date would make sense.Some beers need drinking fresh others need time to mature.Knowing the bottled date enables the buyer to exercise some judgement.Brewers have no clue as to how long their beers will stay at their best as they rarely have any control over their storage conditions.

 

alrighty then...who's the agency to enforce this mandate?

stupid question (mine). the correct answer is: if you feel strongly about bottle dating, don't buy undated brews and maybe the breweries will eventually police themselves.

 

Why shouldn't they have to?

We are beer consumers and pay good money for their products.

As a consumer I want to be fully informed of the life span of my product so that I can enjoy it at it's best.

Last time I checked my calendar it was 2012.

Not much to ask in this age is it?

 

I'm assuming the Gubmint. No thanks, they have their paws in enough shit.

 

I don't see how either of these statements impose an obligation on breweries to start dating. In regards the former, it only applies if you're spending your money of un-dated beer to begin with; if dated products are presumably only sold relatively fresh, the only way in which you could have been "wronged" is by knowingly buying undated product, and that's entirely your choice.

For the latter, I think obligation begets obligation. That is, I get that you want to be informed about beer age, but unless you need to know (for example, for health/safety reasons), a brewery shouldn't need to bottle-date.

 

Yeah, bunch of jerks said it's illegal for me pour toxic waste from my factory into the town's water supply!

 

Agreed, I think it should be mandatory. Not only because I am paying for the product and want to make sure the money is well spent (which should be a good enough reason on its own) but also because I feel like there should just be some sort of regulation as there is with other food.

 

Hyperbolic much?

What does your statement have to do with government mandated freshness dates on beer? I don't need the feds for this, but thanks for the concern.

 

I'm not insisting on both bottled on and best before dates on every bottle (although that would be ideal), however one - preferably the latter should be included

It's a product that decays over time, certainly in respect to some styles more than others, and this information should be made available to consumers

 

Again, you're basically freely admitting to buying undated beer, which is entirely your own fault. The reason it's required in many other foods is because they expire* and can be dangerous if consumed past a certain date. As far as I am aware, no such harm is present in old beer.

*"May expire" might actually be more accurate here, as I'm sure those old cans of Campbell's don't really go bad, but the dates are there for legal reasons in case someone gets sick from one.

 

If consumers put that much stock in freshness dates, the producer will be forced to do it by himself or risk going out of business. Nobody is forcing people to buy beer without freshness dates.

Edit - Sneers types faster than I do...

 

I've occasionally passed on beers because I had no idea how old they were. I have come to really appreciate breweries who stamp ``bottled on'' dates on their bottles.

 

forced to do what by himself?

give an indication of when his product was produced or when it should be enjoyed at its best by?

and where and what is the difficulty in providing this information?

Is it Luddite hour on here or have I missed something?

 

I don't run a brewery, so I have no idea how difficult it would be to date every bottle. I would have to assume it would at least be an inconvenience and cost money to change existing practice.

If people were so upset that a brewery didn't use freshness dates, the market would slow or ceases to exist for that particular beer/brewery. Since brewers that don't date their bottles are profitable, I'm led to conclude it's not that big of a deal to many consumers.

 

The only way to mandate such things would be through government action. We do not need more government involvement in the industry. The more government involvement there is the more attention government officials will pay attention to those in the industry who are donating large sums of money to their campaigns. Last time I checked there were not many craft breweries with pocket books large enough to make a politician bat an eye.

If you want to see a change be proactive. Contact breweries directly regarding your concerns and stop buying undated bottles. You may only be one person but if it is not worth your time to take action than it really is not that big of a problem. If it were a problem a much larger percentage of the customer base would be proactive instead of just discussing it in forums. If the breweries see this as a big enough problem they will take action, obviously the consumers are not concerned enough to do anything about it yet.