Beer Dies

There is a conspiracy against the consumer! It is a conspiracy of silence, denial, and ignorance. Breweries don't tell you about expiration dates (because, like most corporations, they like to pretend they're infallible). Distributors try to deny the dates are important (because they're the ones who lose the money when beer spoils). Retailers and bartenders often don't realize the dates are there (because it's so hard to get good help these days). Put together, these factors may lead to expired beer being sold to you in a store or bar.

It's a crooked system, and we are not going to let them get away with it any longer!

Maybe if more consumers make some noise about stores that leave bad beer on the shelves, the breweries will get the point, and all of them will start putting simple expiration dates on their packaging. (I originally doubted that would ever happen, but more and more breweries are changing their code systems.)

The truth is that many breweries label their products with packaging dates. Packaging dates indicate when the beer was bottled (or canned) and left the brewery. Generally speaking, the harder it is to read a date code, the more likely that it's a packaging date and not an expiration date -- more on that in a couple of paragraphs.

To take advantage of packaging dates, you need to know the "shelf life" of the beer, which is even harder to guess than dating schemes. Unless the brewer (or I) say otherwise, you should assume domestic U.S. beers have a shelf life of 120 days (or 4 months, if that's easier for you). Many foreign breweries claim their products have a 1 year shelf life. (Foreign breweries often add extra sulfites as a preservative.)

Expiration Dates, on the other hand, are exactly what they sound like, and put a lot less of the work on the consumer. More breweries are switching to expiration dates at time progresses. If today's date is later than the date on your beer, the beer is past date, and its quality may be questionable.

Bottles usually have the production code stamped on the neck or shoulder, usually in black ink. Since most beer bottles are brown, it helps to hold the bottle up to a bright light, or empty it first. (See? I told you the breweries make this as difficult for you as possible.) A few breweries, notably Anheuser-Busch and the Boston Brewing Company, put dates on the labels. Good for them.

Cans are nigh-universally stamped on the bottom of the can. Remember to turn the can over before opening it. The person sitting next to you will thank you for it.

Multi-packs of beer (12-packs, 24-packs, etc.) are usually stamped on the box flaps. Larger cartons (such as the heavy boxes that hold four six-packs for shipping) are usually stamped on their longest sides.

Select a brewing or distilling company from the list below to learn about its product-dating system.