I recently read an article about beer not spoiling. I won’t die or become poisoned (excluding ethanol) by beer. NO MATTER HOW OLD!? Cool. But we’ve all done it. We’ve all bought beer. We have tasted victory and consumed dread. Craft beer. I see some reviews on untapped whilst consuming something that I would call acceptable, for the style of beer, and read a scathing remark about it. (pick your off flavor. I pick “meaty”) I have no doubt that they are tasting something, meaty, that is associated with yeast death. Before passing judgment look at your beer buying and storage strategy. If you’re just looking to get better beer buying results or to impress your friends with a well purchased six-pack, look no further;
#1 Is the beer stored cold?
This is easy to pick out at the liquor store. This one is the most important. The best liquor stores I visited HAVE their craft beer refrigerated. Beer is consistently approaching an equilibrium. The chemicals inside of your beer is slowly changing from the day it’s bottled. Keeping it cold helps slow the aging affects on the beer and it is ready for immediate drinking.
#2 How old is the beer?
Beer experts will all agree that fresh beer is the best. We like beer so much we consume it before its packaged. Typically, distributors claim that the beer is good for a year. Maybe the craft brewery agrees. Maybe they don’t. This can be really easy to determine if they have a “packaged on” date. Other breweries use a “Best by” date on the package. “Best by” dates make it hard to confirm how fresh the beer is. The breweries should know better than to date something that will be oxidized before date, but profits and distributor/retailer demand plays a heavy role. Check the bottom of the bottles, is there a large amount of sediment? Unfiltered beers will have sediment, but still can’t hurt to make sure you don’t have a centimeter of growth on the bottom. That much growth is probably not a good sign. Is there dust on the packaging? I know this one seems obvious, but it’s easy to let snazzy marketing predator feline distract you from the cougar-aged beer. I recently had a beer that tasted like potpourri. I’ve had that limited release beer before at their brewery. When it was fresh it had a wonderful melody of guava, malt, and passion fruit flavors. After a year, I purchased it at a liquor store, it tasted like something your grandmother fills the vase on her toilet with.
#3 Is there direct light in contact with the Beer?
Some larger breweries can monitor and predict the exact moment of staling agents. (Notice I said predict, not prevent.) Some breweries are now taking to using pre-isomerized hops to have their beer change less over time. Import beers taste, light struck or like cardboard/trans-2-nonenal) Most craft breweries don’t choose to use hop-oils or end product additions. This means that if there is a window shining light directly on the bottles, you guessed it, its going to be different. This one is only applicable to bottles.
#4 How far did the beer travel?
If you are uncertain on what to pick; Pick local. LOCAL. That is craft beer.
Conclusion
Most of the tips will likely push you into being more of a can consumer. Cans are more eco friendly and are less prone to flavor changing environmental factors. If you have any other tips, feel I missed something, or disagree send me a message or comment here or on facebook!
Zymologist.com 