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Author Topic: It's getting worse...  (Read 5407 times)

Offline hopfenundmalz

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Re: It's getting worse...
« Reply #15 on: March 09, 2018, 12:06:46 pm »
I brew the Dead Ringer, a clone of Bell's Two Hearted Ale.  I was thinking of changing the recipe a little bit.  Picked up a 6 pack of Two Heart yesterday to get familiar with it again.  Freshest I could find was almost four months old.  Tastes terrible.  Very little aroma and finishes with an oil slick reminiscent of motor oil.  I brewed the clone before I tasted Two Heart a number of years ago.

The clone would never had been brewed if I would have tasted one like I had yesterday before brewing the clone.  The 6 pack out in front on the shelf was 6 months old.

Fresh it is great. It drops off like most hoppy beers. You might try to find it in cans sometime.
Jeff Rankert
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Offline flars

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Re: It's getting worse...
« Reply #16 on: March 09, 2018, 01:38:26 pm »
I brew the Dead Ringer, a clone of Bell's Two Hearted Ale.  I was thinking of changing the recipe a little bit.  Picked up a 6 pack of Two Heart yesterday to get familiar with it again.  Freshest I could find was almost four months old.  Tastes terrible.  Very little aroma and finishes with an oil slick reminiscent of motor oil.  I brewed the clone before I tasted Two Heart a number of years ago.

The clone would never had been brewed if I would have tasted one like I had yesterday before brewing the clone.  The 6 pack out in front on the shelf was 6 months old.

Fresh it is great. It drops off like most hoppy beers. You might try to find it in cans sometime.

A 12 pack of cans was there but instead of a packaging date there was just code.  Didn't want to risk that.  Cans may have been good but I'll never know.

Offline klickitat jim

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Re: It's getting worse...
« Reply #17 on: March 09, 2018, 03:32:14 pm »
I just assume if they are using a "code" they don't want me to know. Pass

Offline Phil_M

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Re: It's getting worse...
« Reply #18 on: March 09, 2018, 04:47:33 pm »
I wonder if this is related to an overcrowded market for shelf space in general. Not only have a lot of breweries popped up in the past few years, but many of them are aggressively growing their distribution.

While that's true, generally the freshest beer is whatever brewery is new to the area. You get one or two months of fresh beer...then someone buys a giant lot of it and you're stuck with stale beer.

From what I'm seeing, it's an across the board issue. Just about everything is stale other than Sam Adams, Yuengling, the macros, and a few other "trendy" fruit or otherwise sh!t craft beers. Even many trendy (but good) IPAs are stale.

As for Two Hearted, it's one of my favorites, and I haven't had it fresh in a couple years now. Last year I found a pack that was almost a year past it's drink by...
« Last Edit: March 09, 2018, 04:49:17 pm by Phil_M »
Corn is a fine adjunct in beer.

And don't buy stale beer.

Offline klickitat jim

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Re: It's getting worse...
« Reply #19 on: March 09, 2018, 05:14:11 pm »
I be decided to email the brewery when I find out dated oxidized beer. Just sent one to Cascade Lakes, naming the distributor and store. This aggression must not stand, man.

Offline klickitat jim

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Re: It's getting worse...
« Reply #20 on: March 09, 2018, 05:22:16 pm »
I'll just finish my input on this subject by saying that cronyism is not good for beer! The 3 tier system is just another example of an idea so good it has to be mandated. The only thing we can do is stop buying old beer and notify the brewer. Stores don't care, or are just as stuck as we are, and the rum runners REALLY don't care.

Perhaps a reminder to support you local quality brewer!
« Last Edit: March 09, 2018, 05:27:34 pm by klickitat jim »

Offline Robert

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Re: It's getting worse...
« Reply #21 on: March 09, 2018, 05:47:05 pm »
Not only do the "rumrunners" not care, they can be financially incentivized by one producer to favor their products/drag their feet on others, as long as the retailer or brewer bears the cost of taking back the stale stock.  We need "beer neutrality!"
Rob Stein
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Offline klickitat jim

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Re: It's getting worse...
« Reply #22 on: March 09, 2018, 05:53:47 pm »
Not only do the "rumrunners" not care, they can be financially incentivized by one producer to favor their products/drag their feet on others, as long as the retailer or brewer bears the cost of taking back the stale stock.  We need "beer neutrality!"
A market free of cronyism would help

Offline Phil_M

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Re: It's getting worse...
« Reply #23 on: March 09, 2018, 07:01:22 pm »
From what I can tell, the shop owner know, and are frustrated. True, many purchasers don't care if the beer is fresh or not. But whenever I make my enthusiasm for fresh beer known, I'm met with quiet embarrassment.

So I buy Yuengling, and other beers that I can find fresh. That's most of what I buy, and I always have Guinness and Yuengling on hand these days. But on the rare occasions when I start craving an APA or an IPA...well I'm SOL.
Corn is a fine adjunct in beer.

And don't buy stale beer.

Offline hopfenundmalz

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Re: It's getting worse...
« Reply #24 on: March 09, 2018, 08:49:04 pm »
Bell’s has always had a batch number on the bottles. They did add dates to the bottles a few years ago, this first link says on the bottom of the cans. I’ll have to look at some cans next time I’m in a store.

https://www.bellsbeer.com/batch-finder
http://www.mlive.com/kalamabrew/index.ssf/2011/04/bells_brewery_inc_to_begin_bot.html
Jeff Rankert
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Offline Robert

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Re: It's getting worse...
« Reply #25 on: March 09, 2018, 09:06:07 pm »
Maybe the most common system for packaging date codes has the key in the first four numbers in a format of DDDY:  the first three numbers are the numerical day of the year, the fourth is the last digit of the year. So a code like 2677xxxxxxx would mean packaged on the 267th day of 2017.  Whatever that was. The rest of the numbers may key to the plant, line, or some other info of internal interest.
Rob Stein
Akron, Ohio

I'd rather have questions I can't answer than answers I can't question.

Offline Robert

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Re: It's getting worse...
« Reply #26 on: March 09, 2018, 09:49:48 pm »
Just remembered this tidbit. 

"Whether you purchase beer in bottles or in cans....if you wish to savor beer at its height, look at the date to make sure it won't be over 2 months old when it is served."

--  Joy of Cooking, 1975 edition

Like there was no doubt the date would be clearly displayed at that time!
Rob Stein
Akron, Ohio

I'd rather have questions I can't answer than answers I can't question.

Offline Phil_M

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Re: It's getting worse...
« Reply #27 on: March 10, 2018, 03:18:16 pm »
Bell’s has always had a batch number on the bottles. They did add dates to the bottles a few years ago, this first link says on the bottom of the cans. I’ll have to look at some cans next time I’m in a store.

https://www.bellsbeer.com/batch-finder
http://www.mlive.com/kalamabrew/index.ssf/2011/04/bells_brewery_inc_to_begin_bot.html

I haven't checked in a while, but unless they're changed things there is no marking on box the 12-pack of cans come in.

FWIW, many breweries print the "best by" date on the bottles with an ink that hold up terribly to moisture. Here in SOMD, it gets humid enough that the condensation that forms on the short trip from the beer truck to the store will make that ink illegible. Stone and Dogfish Head are the two that come to mind with this problem. Really it's just about anyone with the little green dot matrix ink date stamps.
Corn is a fine adjunct in beer.

And don't buy stale beer.

Offline Wilbur

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Re: It's getting worse...
« Reply #28 on: March 21, 2018, 10:34:31 pm »
Recently we bought about $25,000 worth of outdated beers back from the distributor. It is extremely painful.

Ouch.

I see a lot of this, any Mikkeler beer (@ $6-7/12 oz. bottle) has dust on it. If I try and get a keg, the freshest I can get is 2-3 months old, with most being closer to 4-5. I haven't been checking most six packs, but I try and buy more seasonal offerings. Then you come across the issue of breweries making their Octoberfest in June to be ready for September.

I think part of the issue comes from sizing and profitability concerns. Breweries upsize their system, and all of a sudden they're brewing 30 barrel batches instead of 5. Distributors have no incentive to help you move your product, just a product. With 5000+  breweries, it's a lot easier to sell the latest new thing.

Offline klickitat jim

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Re: It's getting worse...
« Reply #29 on: March 22, 2018, 03:42:39 am »
This seems to be a great reason to support your local brewery. Theoretically there should be a quality brewery driving distance from the majority of each of us, each brewing to the demands of their customer base, keeping everything relatively fresh.

Since that's a pipe dream, about all we can do is check dates and quit buying stale beer. Maybe take the extra step and notify the brewery.

On that note, I emailed Cascade Lakes about the burned out IPA I bought. No reply... so either they are busy, or don't care.