Anyone notice these bottles have a "Best By" instead of a "Best After"? The date is 5/8/16. Wonder if that was intentional or a typo...
I think the op is saying that it has a drink now and not save it, rather than the normal age until after. Op maybe it's because the first batch was a huge failure they want people to drink it fresh??
Not a big fan of The Stoic, but the 2011 they had as part of the sampler on Friday was pretty damn good, time did it some favors. Deschutes is usually pretty good about details, but it wouldn't surprise me to find out "Best By" was an error no one caught in proofing.
The 2011 Stoic also had a "best by" (not "best after") date. From my 2011 review: "22oz bottle (bottled 8/4/11 - best by 8/4/12) poured into a chalice." It's unusual, so either it's a typo repeated from the previous label, or they did it on purpose.
Alright, alright I misinterpreted the OP's question. Anyway, I would think that the "Best By" is a typo (or something unique to Stoic).
I believe the "Not the Stoic" bottles have a best after date. The Stoic bottles have a "best before" date
I finally emailed Deschutes to ask. It's not a typo - here is what they said: In chatting with our brewmaster and quality manager, we decided to go this way with these beers due to this particular style of beer. They thought that for this style, it would be best to have a set date where the beer would taste best. Quads tend to become more sweet and present more raisin/dried fruit flavors over time creating a bit more sweetness then we intended for this particular beer. We did notice that over time, this beer has been aging great. We opened the original The Stoic 2011 and Not The Stoic at our release party of The Stoic 2015 last month and they all tasted wonderful. It's up to you whether you want to age this version, but maybe grab a couple of bottles... one for now, one in a year and one for a ways down the line. Hope this helps. I guess this means that when the bottle hits the Best By date, there is a chance it may go too far to the sweet side, but you may still like that. So, totally intentional, not a mistake, really just a guideline (like with the other bottles who do, in fact, have a Best After - like Abyss, BBXXnn, Not the Stoic, etc.).
I saw it at Central Market but couldn't bite...didn't seem worth $18. Heck, it's more than Stickee Monkeee which has a lot more depth.
