Beer "born" date?

[PeteC]

This is really starting to become a problem unless you drink Singha, Chang or Leo. It's hell trying to find a Heineken, Tiger, San Miguel etc., with a date later than May. To me a date over two months for canned beer and you have bad tasting beer. A bottle perhaps 3 months tops. I sit here sipping a Tiger with an April 20 date and it tastes like kwai piss Told the wife not to buy if more than two months old, but oh well.

How about in the UK and EU, is there a policy where shops pull beer that gets too old? I've been gone from the USA too long to remember what they do there.

Personal opinion, I think the small Thai shops get a discount by buying old beer from distribtors, then sell at normal prices. The only places here where I've found consistently new beer are Tesco, Carrefour, Foodland etc. However, in those places you can only buy during the allowed hours. Pain in the butt! Pete

[STEVE G]

How about in the UK and EU, is there a policy where shops pull beer that gets too old?

In the more Northern beer drinking latitudes, it's never on the shelf long enough to get old Pete.
When I go to the shop later I'll have a look how old the stuff is.

[sandman67]

stuff in the UK (and EU I think) used to have either a "Sell By" or "Use by" date.... sell by is for a shop, use by is for the consumer.

the beer here also gets left about in boxes in uncooled environments, and lets face it it gets a lot warmer here than back in the UK, so that probably doesnt help.

Cant say Ive ever had bad beer in a bar....warm beer yes but bad beer no.

[migrant]

Here in the States now Pete it's all over the board. Some have new, some old.

I don't know of many that pull the beer unless very very old.

Mostly people don't look.

[Vital Spark]

This may surprise (or even shock) some of you, but I've become a bit of a connoisseur of Beer Chang. The glass I have tonight was brewed on the 21st of July at 02.50, and it's a good one. If you look on the side of the bottle there's a bottling date and time. I have had some mediocre brews, and some even taste of whiskey (which I hate).

Living in the LOAG (Land of Anything Goes) the quality goes up and down like the proverbial yo-yo. SM's point about the temperature and lack of cool storage will undoubtedly affect the flavour. I personally think that it's best to drink it as fast as you can, as I don't like adding ice, and when it gets warm it really doesn't taste nice.

Coming from the land of 'Real Ales' this is kind of a substitute. Lager isn't 'live' beer (like my favourite Adnams), but I still think that it shouldn't be more than two months old (especially in this climate).

VS

[Big Boy]

prcscct wrote:

To me a date over two months for canned beer and you have bad tasting beer. A bottle perhaps 3 months tops.

and asked:

How about in the UK and EU, is there a policy where shops pull beer that gets too old?

We do certainly have a best before date in the UK, but 2/3 months - I don't think so. I've just pulled a can of beer from the fridge, and it was canned in Oct'07, and has a best before date of 28 Feb'09. As the best before date gets close, the price tends to drop in an effort to sell it faster.

Coincidentally, of the batch mentioned above - we've had 3 duds already that ended up straight down the drain, with first passing through my bladder

[raphoedon]

I'm looking at a can of McEwans Export, that I've just dug out of the cupboard, not fridge. Bought as a 24 pack for New year 2008. Expirey date 08/09/08.
Thank you for reminding me about old beer, as it's now empty and tasted wonderfull!

[Guess]

Cans and bottles have two completely different needs. Pete specifically mentioned cans which I know a little about. Bottles I don't know about except that they definitely do have a limited shelf life. I have attached a link that goes into it a little.

Beer using modern canning techniques will in theory last for ever. Effectively it will outlive it's consumer. Unlike a bottle or a barrel there is no on the shelf processing done to any noticeable degree. Chemicals are added to the beer to stop any further fermentation and degradation. This is why many real beer brewers will not brew cans as they do not wish to be associated with what they consider to be fake beer. (This information comes from Fullers who do not brew beer for cans.)

This all means that the taste should remain consistent as long as the can remains undamaged or unopened. The debate about "how long" is still going on. There are visible changes ion the contents of canned beers after 12 months or so.

Under old British regulations, which I believe have been superseded by EU regulations beer must have a sell by date.

A "sell by" date is just the "consume by" date minus a period deemed to be acceptable for the consumer to keep it stored. In Southern England this would be up to two weeks. In the North it is measured in minutes. In Liverpool most canned beer is consumed before reaching the check out.

As beer falls into the general "beer" category it requires a "consume by" date. This is one year from the canning date. I believe that is the EU maximum but not 100% sure. It has absolutely no meaning whatsoever and is just there to satisfy demands of the EU officials who have just been re-assigned from specifying the size and shape of a banana. The one year keeps the brewers, wholesalers and retailers happy enough. There is quite a lot of movement in beers to satisfy local demands so a short lifetime is unacceptable.

Beer canning here in Thailand is just as hi tech as in the west so I can't see why a beer should taste any different after two months and I would like to see anybody who says it does to take the blindfold test. However my taste buds have been shot to pieces by tobacco, Indian curries and South American tea so maybe I am wrong on that one.

What I can tell though, is that a can of Singha poured into a glass does not taste the same as a bottle of Singha poured into the same glass. If anybody can supply six of each I will willingly take the blindfold test.

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/101/store.php

[johnnyk]

Sing tastes crappy no matter what the date!
Elephant pee for mee.

[margaretcarnes]

Just checked my Guinness can and amazed to find there is no canning date on it, just the 'best before' (April 09.)
Rummaged in the trash for a Murpheys can. Same. No canning date, just a 'best before'
But thanks for raising the issue Pete. Made me realise that I carefully check dates on ALL food stuff - including cans and jars - but never ever the beer.
There must be a deep psychological meaning there somwhere...

[crazy88]

Prcscct wrote

" in those places you can only buy during the allowed hours. Pain in the butt! "

Try walking to the fridge in 7/11,family mart and fill your basket with the required amount of beverages .Open one and commence drinking it in a confident nonchalant manner whilst walking around the shop .Grab a couple of packets of crisps and proceed to the checkout .They will look confused and ring it all through .Has worked every time for the last 20 years including in England back when you could not buy beer on a sunday afternoon .



Crazy 88

[STEVE G]

I had a look at a can of German Bitburger I bought in Luxembourg last night and it was about three weeks old and lifed for a year from manufacture.
I remember once drinking a can of Carling Black label that was nine years old from an old relative’s cupboard, and to be honest it didn’t taste much worse than new Black label!

[caller]

(This information comes from Fullers who do not brew beer for cans.)

Then somebody is impersonating them in every supermarket in the land! Pride is available everywhere in tins, they are cheaper than bottles to buy.

Guess - I suspect the England you know is disappearing fast!!

[PeteC]

I'll use Thai Heineken as an example. Put a blind fold on me, or even a wooden box on my head with a 5' straw in my mouth, and I'll tell you which is a can, bottle or draft 10 out of 10 times. When in HH next we shall do a test.

Heineken draft here doesn't even resemble the other two regardless of born date. A bottle or can 2-3 months old has the strongest hopps/stale taste I've ever experienced.

Maybe it's the Thai water. Maybe it's the Thai brewers not giving a flying F or knowing their main consumers (Thai's) don't know and don't care. I wonder how many Dutch QC people I would find if I visited the Thai brewery. Betcha 0. Pete

[Spitfire]

If you are staying in a hotel somewhere in Thailand and fancy something from the mini-bar, good idea to check the dates. This is where I have found the worst offending takes place as the staff are often too absent-minded to rotate the beers, just fill from the front.