freshness matters

Buy something local. Goose Island IPA rocks, and it's brewed in Chicago. Get some Three Floyd's--right in your area. You should be able to get all sorts of incredible beer there as fresh as can be, and, if you aren't, it's the fault of the retailer you're supporting. Go to a real beer store that knows how to keep its shelves properly stocked, and things will improve.

Not a problem, but Bud came late to the dance. Plenty of brewers were putting a date on their beer before Bud came along and did it. And as Dan said, this is MUCH more a retailer/wholesaler issue than it is a brewery issue. I guarantee you that you will not find a micro in the U.S. letting open cases of beer sit out in the sun. You see that happening, post immediately, because I'm going to run out and find a priest: it'll be the End Times.

Lots of good points. I will add that freshness is not only a matter of age but of storage condition and treatment, as you tangentially mentioned. Even Vud can taste like crap if the bottles are stored hot for a couple weeks. (What A-B has that small breweries often don't is a vice-like grip on their distributor network, so they can enforce good storage policies.)

You are probably right. I just did not start looking at 'born on date' until after Bud starting using it as a promotion. But I have noticed several microbrews in my area start using a 'born on' or 'best by' date on their bottles after the Bud campaign. Maybe they would have done so without Bud, I would guess that some were influenced by the attention Bud directed toward the born on issue.

Beyond the retailer/wholesaler, I think there is a serious issue with exporting Euro beer to the US. I have yet to have a Pilsner Urquell that was not slightly skunky. Has anyone seen their brewery? Are their bottles stored hot similar to the Slovenian brewers I saw? My guess is most Eastern European beers, and probably some western brewers too, just never paid much attention to quality control needed to keep their bottles fresh during export.

By the way, never have been crazy about Goose Island. As far as regional brews that I can get fairly fresh, I look for Capital brewery beer (Middleton, WI) or Sprecher from Milwaukee. I have enjoyed those brews. Have not tried Three Floyds but will look for it.

Patrick

I'm wagering that if you don't care for Goose Island and their wonderful stuff (especially that grapefruitty Honker's Ale), you'll like Three Floyds even less. Three Floyds (at least what I've had of their stuff) strikes me as Goose Island on steroids. As I recall, Capital is more a lager brewery, as is Sprecher............ though I'm going from memory here..........

Age and/or heat do NOT make beer "skunky" - light does (that's why they call it "light struck"). A beer, in a green bottle, exposed to light will turn skunky in less than an hour, so "freshness" isn't really the issue. I NEVER buy green bottled beer "off the shelf". If I'm buying Pilsner Urquell, Jever or (in a nostalgic mood...) Ballantine XXX Ale or Chesterfield Ale, it's by the case, sealed (preferably, on a cloudy day and I'll throw a blanket over it when I get it into the car ). PU also distributes closed 12 packs in some markets. Have NEVER had a skunked bottle since I started doing that. (And if I only wanted a six pack, I'd "steal" one out of a case on the floor.)

That's not to say that I don't ALSO check date codes (and I've been doing that for many years BEFORE A-B started using it as an advertising gimmick), since I don't like old/stale beer, either.

snipped-for-privacy@nav-international.com wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

Eh, people have different tastes. As for Capital, I've typically found them very impressive and, as I'm relocating back to the Midwest pretty quick, I intend to drink a lot of Capital's lagers this summer. Same with Sprecher--both their Vienna and Schwarzbier are teh r0x0r.

Agree with what another poster said, if you don't like Goose Island, Three Floyds is probably not for you. Three Floyds is not a brewery that exactly embraces the concept of subtlety with open arms. If you're in the mood for honkin' big beers, go with 3F.

snipped-for-privacy@nav-international.com wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

You have it backwards. Bud does not give a f*ck about you, the Bud- drinking consumer/dupe. They care (as has been said previously) about the idiot f*ck retailers who blow away shelf space for goodbeear because they got paid by Augie.

The Born On date bullshit was in reaction to those who have been doing it all along (Do you not remember the Bud "Pumpernickel Stout" commercials?) Anchor has had a code all along, and the ubergeeks among us can read it. Et al.

The hilarity, the hilarity...Bud doesn't *need* a Born On date. They command so much shelf space and continuous distribution...

When was the last time you *didn't* see a Bud delivery truck?

If Born On clued you in...well, that's fine.

Scott

The point is that A-B didn't start using this as a selling point until well after many others had already done it. You just happened to see if for the first time on Schludweiller packaging.

You haven't had it from cans or on draught then?

Sure have. Goodbye, old-fashioned wood lagering vessels; hello, shiny cylindroconical steel.

Some are, some aren't. PU has been putting a buncha money into "upgrading" their brewing plant to more modern standards. Probably doesn't hurt that they have SABMiller corporate cash to draw on, either. The problem for a lot of those old Eastern European breweries, and not a few Western European ones, is that there was never much investment in expensive stuff like gigantic cold-storage facilities and all that, 'specially during the bad old days of the Communist governments. And not only is the construction of cold-storage expensive, but it's expensive to run, too, and a lot of those countries were rather cash- strapped - and some still are.

The problem is, they lose control of that product as soon as it departs the brewery, after which it's sent to some port, loaded into ships, sent abroad, unloaded, sits around, gets loaded on trucks, sits around some more ... you see the problem here. Long distance shipping is not the best friend of many beers.

Your best odds of getting a beer in decent shape are when you can find it in a package that allows the least light in, since temperature changes are pretty much out of anyone's control. That usually means canned or kegged beer. Problem is, canned beer is looked on as "downmarket" packaging in the USA, while bottles are considered "upmarket," and thus appropriate for imported beer.

I'll echo others' sentiments: if you're not fond of some of the more assertive GI beers, the 3F range might not be enticing either.

I live in Australia and suffer the same fate with PU. Luckily, one of the mega liquor stores stocks PU and their turnover is high. I always buy it by the un-opened case, from their cool room, and check that its well inside the best by date - usually by 6 months. Thus so far, the beer has been fresh without any off flavours or skunking. Steve W.