freshness matters
 

Hello. I only occasionally peruse this NG and have never posted. Hope
I am not rehashing old topics.

More often than not, when I buy a craft beer (micro US domestic or
imported), it is totally skunky. There are a lot of great beers out
there, but it is so hard to find them fresh. They just sit so long on
the shelf that they are sometimes beyond drinkable.


Case in point, Sierra Nevada ... in my neck of the world, it is almost
always skunky (I live in the western burbs of Chicago). Same goes for
a lot of great European beers like Pilsner Urquell. I
have heard a lot of great things about PU, but every time I buy the
stuff, it tastes skunky.


I recently travelled to Slovenia (just south of Austria) and visited
their main breweries (Union Pivo and Lasko Pivo). At both locations,
there were thousands of crates of filled beer bottles sitting outside
baking in the sun. That is fine when served locally but does not make
for good export. Coming to my area, they probably sit outside at some
train depot waiting to go to port, then they sit at the export port,
then in some musty boat hold, then outside at the import port, then at
some train/truck depot before they finally get deposited at my local
liquor store. How could that beer ever be fresh once sitting upon the
shelves of my local store.


Say what you want about Bud, but their 'freshness matters' campaign
opened my eyes to the importance of freshness with beer. I think they
did a service to brewing in general. Now a lot of micro brews will
list a date when the beer was brewed. I won't buy old beer and I won't

buy a beer that won't list a brewing date or at least a 'drink by'
date.

Just wanted to share those thoughts. Thank you for your support.

Patrick

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.
--
************************************************** ***************
Dan Iwerks thinks that the beer you're drinking probably sucks.
The fundamental problem with Solipsism is it makes me
responsible for the fact that you're a complete idiot.
************************************************** ***************

> wrote in message
> Say what you want about Bud, but their 'freshness matters' campaign
> opened my eyes to the importance of freshness with beer. I think they
> did a service to brewing in general. Now a lot of micro brews will
> list a date when the beer was brewed. I won't buy old beer and I won't
>
> buy a beer that won't list a brewing date or at least a 'drink by'
> date.
>
> Just wanted to share those thoughts. Thank you for your support.

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.

--
Lew Bryson

Their clothes are weird, their music sucks and they drink
malternatives. And now you tell me they probably don't think Sierra
Nevada is cool? This is what the passage of years does to you: It
makes everyone around you more stupid. -- Michael Stewart 6/24/02

www.lewbryson.com

> wrote:
>Say what you want about Bud, but their 'freshness matters' campaign
>opened my eyes to the importance of freshness with beer. I think they
>did a service to brewing in general. Now a lot of micro brews will
>list a date when the beer was brewed. I won't buy old beer and I won't
>buy a beer that won't list a brewing date or at least a 'drink by'
>date.
>
>Just wanted to share those thoughts. Thank you for your support.

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.)
--
Joel Plutchak "The first thing to understand about the truly clueless
is this: they are incapable of comprehending that
they are clueless." - DS

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

> 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.
>
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..........

> 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.
>
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.