Stone Brewing Outdated Variety Packs Deception

I had a problem similar to this a few months back with the Stone Coffeehouse Collection. I purchased it in December of 2016 with a packaged date that was within 30 days IIRC. I opened the box and all the Americano stouts were bottled in February!! Almost a year old at that point. I know it's a stout so not a huge deal, but considering that it contains coffee and Stone really emphasized the slight citrus hop presence in the beer's description, I was pretty disappointed. They still tasted decent but I really felt like Stone was offloading those Americanos on unsuspecting consumers because I remember that beer not selling well (in my area at least) due to it's $16/sixer price tag.

 

Distributors are more responsible for outdated beer then people think. Having worked at a purely craft beer and small winery distributor for 4 years, I got a pretty close view of how it works. The company I worked at was pretty good about freshness but the bigger Miller, ab, distributors didn't seem to keep as close an eye on things. It's typical to see 8+ month old Firestone, ballast point, 10 barrel products on the shelf? Distributors promise a lot and then don't deliver.

 

Most likely, yes. Variety packs are one way to move aging or discontinued beers and many breweries use this tool.

 

This is why I've mostly stopped buying variety packs altogether - they are almost never dated clearly and even freshly packed variety pack can have some old beers.

 

I want to thank lots of folks who have posted in this thread. I have not purchased a great deal of variety packs in the past but I am now aware of the potentials of old beer.

One variety pack I buy every years is Straubs Sunshine Variety pack. This pack contains seasonal beers of Hefeweizen, Pilsner, Vienna Lager and Kolsch. I have no concerns about this variety pack since all of these beers are seasonally brewed (vs. being year-round product).

Cheers!

 

Stateline had plenty of KBS last month. Founders isn't in DE yet, and has launch events this month. I actually think there are events tomorrow.

 

I went to state line(in Maryland) and did not get any , guy started stuttering when I ask about it then told me they got over 2,000 plus emails about KBS. It wasn't on the shelve so I wouldn't say they had plenty.

 

Was a store a few weeks ago in MD and saw Enjoy by October 2016's being sold at full price. Sorry forgot which store, wasn't one of my usual ones.

 

My respect for Stone just grows day by day

 

It is very easy to tell who is at fault in this situation. Just ask the retailer, he'll tell you it's the distro and brewer. Brewer answers it's the distro and retailer. Distro says it's the brewer and retailer. Easy.

 

I guess I am just a crass SOB. If I have my eye on a variety pack and I am going to buy it, I will usually pop the puppy open and check the bottle dates. Life is short, drink fresh. When I am buying Lagunitas I feel like that dude in Clerks who is sitting in the back of the store spinning all the eggs.