Thoughts on returning beer

drink it...after all to many on this site an old DIPA is just now a barleywine.

 

I would say return it and let the brewer know who is selling their outdated product.

 

Where's the double-like button?

I have had good success with this - once for the flavor being "off", once for a chipped bottle, two different breweries. In this case, I would think FW would want to know about supply chain issues.

 

My wife recently bought some Dirt Wolf for me and it was past the drink date. Really bummed me out as it was the first time I had tried this. However it was still tasty. I think for me it was lesson learned to really check the date at the store. This same store sold her a bottle of Damination that was had been bottled over a year ago. In the future I will not be shopping at this store no matter what great beers they may have. So to answer the original question would not return just not shop there again.

 

Laws change from state to state and possibly even by county. I have returned a bomber of an IPA (that had almost no carbonation) to Whole Foods with no problems. But when I tried to exchange an unopened bomber to that same store they said store policy was that beer cannot be exchanged. Wine could be exchanged, however.

I've also returned a sixer (well, a fiver anyway) of IPA with one bottle missing to a Total Wine (bad bottle) and was able to exchange for a replacement sixer.

So I have no clue... But generally, if there was something wrong with the product (including inferior taste due to aging), I would try it. Just because you know that IPAs get worse with age doesn't mean the average consumer should be expected to know that information. If the store is selling it, there is a good faith understanding that they stand behind that product.

 

Hopefully not sounding like a dumb question here, but how would a retailer know how long the distributor had the beer on hand before it was delivered to their store? I doubt that sort of info is available to the store / retailer, etc

 

Here's the link and info from FW's website -- they say to report it -- I still might go back to the store first and see if ALL the beer there is out of date or you just got unlucky. http://www.firestonebeer.com/beers/fresh-beer.php

 

Its a good question. Basically if the retailer doesn't know how long the beer has been sitting at the distributorship before they get it that's a bad sign. One of the ways old beer makes its way onto the shelf is that some distributorships have been known to deliver old beer and the retailer accepts it and then proceeds to put it out on the shelf. A retailer who cares to have the beer fresh will ask and not order beer that's been sitting around for a while. A couple of the places where I buy my beer by the case have told me I wasn't going to get a particular case I wanted because weren't able to find it fresh. One guy checks the freshness date on the cases and refuses delivery on any case with out of code beer or any beer that has been around a long time (a lot of breweries that don't date bottles do date the case the beer comes in).

I guess the real point I'd wanted to make is that just because the retailer tells us the beer was just delivered a few days ago doesn't mean that beer is fresh.

 

All double jack on the shelves around more are at least 3-4 months old. I don't even bother grabbing FW hoppy beers around me anymore

 

I had a customer return a 6 pack of Heineken once because he said it was skunky.

 

I've never tried it, I just accepted it as an inherent risk. Buying old beer isn't quite like buying moldy bread.

 

I wouldn't expect a refund but you could probably get store credit for what you already spent.

 

If you aren't aggressive and accusatory and the store owners are chill, you might have luck. Either they intentionally push any product regardless of age, or it was just an oversight on their part and not intentional.

 

I would be surprised if the store does much other than let you get a refund or exchange, but I imagine Firestone would try and make it right. I have noticed that their beers are ancient around me, with bottled on dates anywhere from 6 weeks to over 6 months old in stores close to each other.

 

I think as long as you have the receipt to show that it was bought more recently than a year ago, they should return it no problem. You wouldn't be expected to just deal with a defective product from any other type of store, so why should it be different with beer?

 

If a bottle shop posts signs that say NO refunds or returns then you know they know they have old beer out there. It's a peeve of mine too because it's a dated product. and I have returned very old beer. Now that I feel I should know better I would not seek a refund if I bought old beer..

 

I wouldn't return a 4-pack. But I did once return a whole case of beer (minus one) when I lived in Pittsburgh. Brought it back to the beer distributor and told him I thought it was skunked. He told me it was the 2nd case someone had brought back from that batch. He was just going to get a credit from his supplier.

 

You ruin my 40 dollar steak and give me a burning husk when I asked for medium rare..

or if you give me raw poultry... cold food... Something horribly loaded with salt and can barely choke down...

it's going back to the kitchen...

In regards to the original poster yup check those dates... but selling year old beer (one that isn't really intentionally made to age)... well that's just lazy on the merchant...

So double edged sword.

 

YES! Just get a store credit, any good establishment will happily honor that.