If you buy craft beer on a regular basis, it has most likely happened to you, whether you know it or not. You bought and drank beer that was just not fresh. Ever notice why some microbrews taste a little funny – maybe you thought (and were told by your local beer purveyor when you questioned it) ”that’s just the way that beer tastes, maybe I just don’t like that style or breweries beers”. Its craft beers dirty little secret that very few in the industry are willing to do something about – let alone talk about.
If you are the type that goes out beer hunting – looking for beers you have never tried before – chances are that you spotted something rare and jumped at the chance to give it a good home – in your belly. But did you stop to take a look to see if the bottles had a best buy date or a brewed on date? Even if the brewery cared enough to offer this information on their packaging, how do you decipher the coding –is 4 months beyond brewdate ok? How long does this brewery give the beer until it “expires”? Well the good news is that the beer most likely will not make you sick, but it can effect the enjoyment that you were looking for when you plopped down your hard earned cash. I have been burned so many times with stale beer, that I have almost given up buying beer in a store unless it is a strong or a seasonal beer which I know is all but guaranteed to be fresh. Instead I drink homebrew primarily (quaranteed freshness) or enjoy draft beers at my local brewpub or beer bar.
Some beers stand up better than others. Usually strong beers will hold up on the shelf, but everyday, flagship type beers don’t fare as well – especially if they have considerable hop flavor and aroma. Oxygen is the #1 cause of stale beer. Even though brewers spend considerable amount of money on bottling lines that help reduce the amount of oxygen that is trapped inside the bottle, removing all of it is impossible. Oxygenation of hop characteristics is usually the first sign of a beer that is aging and on its way to becoming stale. Beers with lots of hops are more likely to turn oxidized quicker than something like a dopplebock that relies more on malt flavor than hops. Oxidized hop flavors can range from metallic, grassy, cheesey, to even giving a caramel type flavor that is offputting to those who love fresh hop flavors. I once bought some Three Floyds Dreadnaught – one of my all time favorites – with a buddy of mine (we cleaned out the newly shipped allotment of one store when it first arrived). He kept his bottles unrefridgerated, I stored mine in the fridge. A month later, we both brought a bottle from our stashes to a party. Although the unrefridgerated sample was still in decent shape, in comparison to my sample, it was not as fresh. I could detect some oxidation of the hop character since it was a little bit grassier than the refridgerated bottle. Keeping a beer cold helps to slow down the oxidative reactions that take place inside the bottle – so stick those IPA’s and Double IPA’s in the fridge and encourage your retailer to do the same. Kegged beers offered on tap are usually kept cold throughout the distribution process, so chances are, depending on how much craft beer your local beer bar sells, that whatever on tap is reasonably fresh.
Sometimes oxidation can be a good thing in certain beer styles like in barley wines or old ales, since it will provide port or sherry notes that make the beer more complex, but if oxidation goes too far, it will cause beer to taste like cardboard. If you want to know what oxidation tastes like, pick up a bottle of Berliner Kindl Weisse – I have yet to have one that wasn’t horribly oxidized. Many German lagers that sit on warm shelves for months or years have this cardboard flavor from oxidation – meanwhile that Budweiser 30 pack that will be drunk within a few weeks of its “born on” date gets the preferential treatment in the beer cooler. Again, talk to your beer guy or gal at your local beer store – don’t think you will get any movement on taking Bud out of the cooler, but hey, its worth a shot.
So what are the answers to stale beer and how can you minimize the risk of spending money on crap beer? Stay local is one answer, some small local brewers self distribute and take care to rotate their stock at a store. Local brewpubs are a great resource for fresh beer and usually offer take home growlers for a lower price than having a few pints at the pub itself. Visit your local or regional breweries, take a tour, have a few samples, and pick up a case or two on your way out. Eliminating the middle man can increase your chances of buying fresh beer – distributors are notorious for ordering more beer than they can sell in a reasonable amount of time in order to get volume discounts (another rant for another time). So even if your local beer store, keeps their craft beer in the cooler, you usually have no idea how long or under what conditions it has been sitting in a warehouse before it even made it to your retailer. Homebrewing is also an answer for those willing to spend the time to learn how to brew delicious beer and are dedicated enough to keep brewing to keep the fridge stocked. Buying beers with born on or best buy dates are helpful for those who know how to interpret them, just keep in mind that most brewers believe their normal (4-6% abv) strength beers will last about 4 months before becoming noticeably stale. Buying seasonal beers before or shortly after a particular season starts is a good idea (just beware of those imported Oktoberfests that hit the shelves in early August – sometimes they are last year’s leftovers that get delivered as a “new shipment”). One of the reasons why I end up buying so much Sierra Nevada – Bigfoot barleywine, Celebration, and now the Anniversary Ale and Harvest are always dependable when they first arrive at the store.
Buying craft beer can be a crapshoot at times, but with a little knowledge you should be able to find beers in good shape. I am hoping that more microbreweries will emerge to fill the gaps of missing local breweries out there, as well as some changes happening in the three tier distribution laws most states that will allow consumers to order beer directly from those breweries willing to deal with individual consumers. It would also be nice to walk down to a brewpub in any town with your growler and get a fresh refill of delicious – and hopefully, hop laden beer.
