Craft Beers, AB/InBev, and Product Freshness Awareness

Seeing as I just finished putting away my AB/InBev order of Southern Tier goodness and Victory, I figured a few potentially unknown facts about those beers need to be pointed out. Goodness knows I have no idea if Budweiser and their sales reps will bother to and/or the average retailer will bother to look, inquire, etc.

Victory:
All Victory 6packs (Prima Pils, Hop Devil, Golden Monkey) have on the front label a "Best By" date. When shopping your b&m, make sure to check the dates to ensure you are getting a fresh beer. Granted, I doubt my Hop Devil and Prima Pils will suddenly take a turn for worse if they are a few days past date and as a beer geek I am aware of this, but there may be many a store and many a consumer who is unaware of the Best By date as a whole. As a result that beer could sit there for months before being swapped out before and after an unaware and unlucky consumer takes it home to drink and ends up with a bad beer. Golden Monkey has a longer shelf-life being a bottle-conditioned Belgian-style tripel, but even it will eventually suffer when consumed too long after its Best By date.

What prompted this in depth consumer notification?

The case of Victory Hop Devil marked with a Best By-March 20th 2010 that was delivered yesterday while I was not at work. Also of concern is the case of Prima Pils that was delivered with a Best By date of April 10th 2010. Of an even bigger concern is why the out-of-date Hop Devil was even loaded on the truck and subsequently delivered to me in the first place. It shouldn't have left the warehouse and that being said, how much of what is left in the warehouse from Victory is out-of-date and/or close to being so. Very troublesome...

Southern Tier:
No noticeable best-buy dates on any of them, though a few such as Phin&Matts, their standard IPA, and the 422 Pale Wheat will be good for about a year before they will start going stale. By then they really should be picked up. Hopefully though, they are selling well enough so that a 6pack of any the above are not still sitting on a shelf (or in a bar/restaurant cooler) a year later. Freshness on non-dated beers (of which there are hundreds) relies on the awareness, knowledge, honesty, follow-through, and all around good business practices of all non-consumer parties involved in getting the beer to the consumer.

Magic Hat #9 Not Quite Pale Ale:
Firstly, tis the only beer currently being distributed in Florida from Magic Hat Brewing. I can't speak for the kegs, but I do know that on the back of the 22oz bomber bottles of #9 there is a Best By/Consume By date. They use the old system of having the first letter of the Month which is then notched according to when the beer should be drank by as to enjoy it as fresh as possible. Magic Hat goes by the end of the month notched where many go by the beginning of the month notched. Either way, it doesn't change the fact that the #9 from Magic Hat is Best-By notched.

Sure, AB/InBev will pick up out-of-date beer, but it's far more damaging to the brewery in terms of production, sales, growth, and reputation to have their beer going out of date on a far too regular basis and then being picked up by the distributor to then be sent back to the brewery. An all around waste when one really takes the time to actually stop and think about it.

As of right now, my bottles of #9 are Best By the end of April 2010. I should sell out by then, but will my order meant to replenish be another case of Best By April 2010? Will it be a fresh batch? What about b&m stores and/or bars where the beer was ordered/delivered in massive quantities appropriate to or not appropriate to their demographic demand and sales potential?

Some Concluding Thoughts:
And so when I walk into a store and I see those mile high floor stacks of Victory, Magic Hat #9, and now Southern Tier, I worry and rightly so. I can't do much about the distribution and retail end other than my own which I can assure you will be lovingly and wisely maintained, but at the very least, hopefully this blog post (and any others that may come along in the future) will enlighten the beer drinkers out there who read my humble semi-worthy blog of beerness.

Life is short. Drink good beer.

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