Keg Freshness Dates? Sam Adams?

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- TwoBearCatz
  
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posted
17 years ago

Fri, Oct 6, 2006 5:17 AM

Anyone know how to figure out the "kegged on" dates for keg beers? I just got a keg of Sam Adams Octoberfest and I think it might be too old. It's got a number like 6/17 hand written with a magic marker on the keg and I can't find any date actually printed on the keg. I know some beers (like Miller) have codestamps but other do not seem to have this? Unfortunately, I've learned that you can't trust local distros and liquour stores in far South regions like Florida. I last got a keg of Miller from a local store that was over 4 months old the day I bought it! TIA for any help!

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- Joel
  
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posted
17 years ago

Fri, Oct 6, 2006 1:06 PM

Call the brewery.

So what is "too old" for a kegged beer? Has the keg been stored cold? In my experience, kegged beer is treated with more respect than bottled beer by distributors and retailers, so it's less likely to be impacted by a bit of age. It's also in an airtight, completely opaque container, so will have no skunking issues.

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- jesskidden
  
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posted
17 years ago

Fri, Oct 6, 2006 1:56 PM

You can't trust distributors or retailers *anywhere* (with some rare exceptions).

Nor can you trust brewers who conveniently "leave off" the dates for certain distributors, even when they have pre-printed month/year "notching" areas or "best by" spaces on their labels. If they're going to purposely leave off the "best by" date so the distributor can sell old beer, one would think they'd be a bit more sneaky about it and print up different labels.