Bottle Dates

I’m not going to delve into the murky quagmire of macro freshness-dating due largely in part to sub-standard brewing methods and ingredients which in turn perpetuates the meager profitability of a short shelf-life because, after all, the quicker the beer spoils, the more beer brewed to order, increasing profitability and creating more demand buoyed by a populace of ever-increasingly ignorant and dependant on another to proffer their decisions.

Wow. Long sentence, but that being said, I can move on to the real meat of my current rumination: bottle dates on craft and import beers.

By pinpointing craft and import beers exclusively, I am assuming a standard of quality, consistency, and pride in their product’s sustainability and enjoyability that for a growing majority of said brewers is a given.

Currently, there are quite a few breweries that date their bottles with either a bottled-on or best-by date. The common debate between the two is almost always over which one is better and why. Personally, I feel both have the same goal in mind, just different ways of achieving them. I am no brewing whiz so I am not going to claim an intricate understanding of the brewing process. On the other hand, I understand enough about beer in general and styles in particular to be reasonably confident in which styles are good for how long and why.

Simply put, it is all about that little factor called education. The individual matters most, but in the large scheme of bottle dates, a pervasive sense of the simple basics of beer goes a long way for all parties involved.

Of the two common dating options found on craft and import bottles, I prefer the bottled-on date. While only true in a limited sense, there can be an unfortunate habit of relying on best-by dates to produce a lesser product at a larger rate to reach more consumers and thus ensure turn-around at a busy brewery. On the flip-side, any brewery who takes personal pride in the quality and production of their beer does not want a drinker’s experience to end in ruin because they got an old bottle.

Bottled-on dates solve both these problems and, in a perfect beery world, that is all a consumer and retailer needs. Unfortunately, or fortunately, ours is anything but a perfect world, though it pleases me greatly to see a gradual improvement in the overall picture. Bottled-on dates are effective because both the consumer and retailer hold the power of knowledge how fresh the beer is through a simple understanding of beer style basics. Equally relevant is a brewer’s reputation for consistent quality in their beer.

If knowledge truly is power, at the hands of the individual no less, than there-in lays one of the great American conundrums regarding alcoholic products in general and beer specifically. There is an overbearing paranoia that revolves around the ridiculously irrational idea that the more people, Americans specifically, understand about beer, our fragile psyche and moral compass will suddenly crumble, plunging mankind (Americans) into an abyss of unbridled carnal desires, hypocrisy, destitution, decay, and bloody horrors.

Frankly my dear, I’d say we are already there, figuratively speaking, thanks in a large part to the perpetuation of willful ignorance and a blind-eye, but let’s stay on topic, shall we.

An established brewery recently stated they felt no need to bottle-date their beers because they had faith in their network of distributors and retailers to properly handle their beer and in their consumers to know what they were buying.

Hogwash and fiddlesticks. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at this amazingly blind and wholly skewed mess of policies.

Remember earlier when I made it clear we don’t live in a perfect world of beer. Well, accepting perfection is but a delusion to get lost in and an aspiration to work towards; placing blind trust in a wholly separate group of entities demonstrates a lack of responsibility and pride in one’s product. As a retailer, I know better than to assume my distributor will care enough about the breweries they represent and the retailers to properly care for and sell those beers. Of the four main distributors I work with, I am graciously blessed to have even just one distributor who shares the same passion and values for the beers they carry as I do. But unfortunately, the reality is usually far less reliable, and in some cases, downright appalling. All this results in misplacing the burden of responsibility for a bad beer on the consumer, instead of the brewery, distributor, and retailer.

Let me explain.

When I walk into a store as the consumer, I am stepping into a realm of uncertainty and potential danger. What is their relationship like with their distributors? Is the staff beer friendly and knowledged? How fresh is the beer, and how will I know otherwise? As an average consumer, I would be extremely frightened of and disturbed by these significant unknowns. Personally, I enjoy an advantage because as a professional beer geek, this is what I do, what I get paid for, and what I love. Someone else may not be so lucky, and their adventure into the wonderfully wide world of beer could in an irreparable disaster.

All that being said, who in the end gets the blame?
The brewer.

And so we come full circle to that particular brewery’s willfully negligent statement towards bottled-on dates for their beer, and all good craft and import beers in general. No brewery and brewer should ever be too full-up to humbly stand behind their beer no matter what. Fraudulent claims and cheap scams would wean themselves out simply by being unsustainable in the face of a beer of consistent quality backed by a bottled-on date and, here’s the challenge, an educated retailer and consumer. But if the beer drinker has become so woefully lax and ignorant in the ways of bottled-on dates, does it really matter?

Absolutely.

There are far more outstanding drinkers, veterans and newbies alike, who are learning how to determine beers drinkability in regards to freshness and quality. Even better, they are more than willing to share in and learn from the growing number of mediums in which to share the power of beer’s knowledge: publications, internet, word of mouth, seminars, dinners, tastings, and beyond.

Knowledge being power, it is no wonder the giants of the brewing world want the mass-marketable consumer to stay the mindlessly subservient pliable masses they have spent billions on to create. But I am digressing again.

Bottled-on dates are an easy win-win for all parties involved. It poses the easiest transition of long-lasting productive permanence with flexibility for inevitable change. A consumer armed with knowledge is not a deranged menace ready to rain ruin and despair, but a consumer made strong by a firm hold on their life and the choices being offered where-in. It is a simple matter really, as most true revelations in life are, whose process of realization is another story altogether. If, when, and how a precedence of bottled-on dates come about still remains to be seen, but craft and import beers represent a return to individual quality, diversity, and sustainability which is a natural partner to bottled-on dates.

(an original written work by Kristyn Lier. plagiarism is not tolerated)