TOPIC:

Time for my semi-annual moan about freshness dates and imported hoppy American beers. This time I was provoked by this blog post, which explains pretty much how I feel:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="probuswines.wordpress.com/2012/09/12/ipa...ell-brewing-company/">probuswines.wordpress.com/2012/0 ... g-company/

Being curious, I then wandered down to my local (nameless) retail purveyor of quality ales only to find Odell Myrcenary dated: [b:3fn094tr]10/24/11[/b:3fn094tr]
The bottles don't say so but Odell uses best-before (not bottled-on) dates that are 4 months out from bottling: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="sites.google.com/site/freshbeeronly/">sites.google.com/site/freshbeeronly/
That makes this beer almost [i:3fn094tr]a year and a half old[/i:3fn094tr].

This is hardly an isolated incident. Southern Tier 2XIPA had a born-on date of 4/11/12 in the same shop, making it 8 months old tomorrow. Sierra Nevada Southern Hemisphere, meanwhile, is a spring seasonal and is also creeping up on a year old.

I understand that there's a limited audience and you need to buy by the pallet, etc. etc. but if these beers don't sell faster they shouldn't be ordered in quantity and if they're still around half a year later, they belong in the discount bin because [i:3fn094tr]they are not fresh[/i:3fn094tr].

OK, I'm done.

I think the only way you're going to fix this is as a costumed vigilante.

So its full marks to my local Londis store:

Shiel's of Malahide.

Once some beer is past its printed BBEof John seriously discounts it.

Eg. My Favourite Aventinus at about 8.2% will only improve but Shiel's sold it at 4 ( may even been 5 ) for a tenner. <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D -->

BTW: None available at the moment! <!-- s:( --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_sad.gif" alt="" title="Sad" /><!-- s:( -->

Will

Ah great KeeganAles, I penned that very blog post a couple of months back when the long awaited arrival of Southern Tier hit our shores - wonderful!....only wait, the bottles were already five and a half months old when they landed - less than wonderful.

Very very frustrating stuff. So frustrating that I refuse to buy hoppy beers without checking the freshness date first (a bit pedantic I know, but christ if I'm paying up to eight quid for a double IPA in a bar then I want to know that the hops aren't completely dulled).

If fresh/wet hop ales are your thing, then I know that SN Northern Hemisphere only landed back on our shores last week (having been transported by refrigerated container) - grabbed a bottle at Drinkstore over the weekend and it's as fresh as I've tasted in Ireland (although, obviously, the true point of a 'fresh hop' ale is rendered more or less obsolete when it gets transported anywhere), nevertheless it's full of great resiny hop stuff if you're into that.

I ran a couple of side by side tastings at Probus with 'fresh' IPAs (less than 12weeks after bottling) and not so fresh ones (more than 5 months) - everyone in attendance could INSTANTLY spot the difference, even as soon as the cap popped off the bottle. Got people thinking at least.

And yes, vigilante action may well be the next logical step.

&amp;quot;duelly&amp;quot;:1u6wv2fm wrote: I ran a couple of side by side tastings at Probus with 'fresh' IPAs (less than 12weeks after bottling) and not so fresh ones (more than 5 months) - everyone in attendance could INSTANTLY spot the difference[/quote:1u6wv2fm]

The difference between fresh-squeezed and frozen orange juice is the best analogy I can think of.
It's got the potential to give US craft beer a bad name, given some of the prices asked here, unless most people just really don't know what they're missing.

&amp;quot;TheBeerNut&amp;quot;:1u6wv2fm wrote: I think the only way you're going to fix this is as a costumed vigilante.[/quote:1u6wv2fm]

Outstanding - I'm in.
I'll need a name, though: Dr. Lupulin? The Resinator? Capt. FreshCone?

Nah nah nah nah nah nah

Hop man!!!

Once you have your own theme tune, everything falls into place.