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Ukie wrote: The expiry date is probably Sept 01 2015, if its all the same run.
Yeah I grabbed a couple bottles and the BB date is September 3rd. It's drinking fine right now (not as good as the fresh kegs we got in February) but I probably won't buy anymore after this week.
Got some today BB Sept 13, 2015, probably same as yours.
Ukie wrote: The expiry date is probably Sept 01 2015, if its all the same run.
Yeah I grabbed a couple bottles and the BB date is September 3rd. It's drinking fine right now (not as good as the fresh kegs we got in February) but I probably won't buy anymore after this week.
Got some today BB Sept 13, 2015, probably same as yours.
Ten extra days, woo hoo!
Stone has given us the OK to extend the shelf life of the IPA from 90 days to 120 (same as Cali and Arrogant). Not sure how we're going to fix that on the bottles though...
Apparently this is something they've been testing in their quality control lab for a while and decided the deterioration isn't significant in those extra 30 days. (at 3 lbs of hops per barrel it's no wonder...)
Also, for what it's worth, this batch of bottles took three days to get to Toronto ...then it sat for 2 months in the warehouse. Stone is super adamant about freshness and was just in town to speak with them about this. One of the delays was that the palates were a half inch too short for board requirements.
biegaman wrote:Also, for what it's worth, this batch of bottles took three days to get to Toronto ...then it sat for 2 months in the warehouse. Stone is super adamant about freshness and was just in town to speak with them about this. One of the delays was that the palates were a half inch too short for board requirements.
Pallets. Unless your beer sommelier was not up to Gene Simmons standards!
Seriously though it's cool that Stone cared about us & extended the shelf life for this batch. Thanks for the feedback Biegs.
biegaman wrote:
Stone has given us the OK to extend the shelf life of the IPA from 90 days to 120 (same as Cali and Arrogant). Not sure how we're going to fix that on the bottles though...
Apparently this is something they've been testing in their quality control lab for a while and decided the deterioration isn't significant in those extra 30 days. (at 3 lbs of hops per barrel it's no wonder...)
Also, for what it's worth, this batch of bottles took three days to get to Toronto ...then it sat for 2 months in the warehouse. Stone is super adamant about freshness and was just in town to speak with them about this. One of the delays was that the palates were a half inch too short for board requirements.
I thought Arrogant was 90 days and only Cali was ever 120 days?
I don't even know what to say about LCBO. I'd be pissed if I was Stone and the importer. There is no excuse to have this beer sitting in their warehouse for two months. Seems a bit strange that when the beer hits shelves with three weeks left to "enjoy by" that we're now getting an extra 30 days. Maybe they think their 90 day standard is a little too hardcore, and it will be interesting to see if they implement this extension permanently or if it's a means to avoid a bunch of "expired" beer sitting on LCBO shelves in three weeks.
The whole lab testing thing is totally ridiculous. It's a standard that, to the best of my knowledge, isn't applied to any other food or drink products imported to Canada or Ontario at all. Can you imagine if the government decided that whenever someone wants to import a shipment of lettuce or ground beef to Ontario they have to undergo 2 months of lab testing? It's obviously ridiculous, especially when you consider that things like leafy greens and meat actually do have records of E. Coli and other nasty stuff living in them, unlike alcohol products. Even beyond the ridiculousness of it and how it gets in the way of quality product hitting the shelves, it's obviously not free to get that done and you have to know that consumers are the ones paying for it. Whether we're paying for it at retail or paying for it through a reduction in royalties going back to the province, either way the little guy pays for it.
I agree with this 100%. I would much rather prefer that these resources were spent testing food products from China.
Craig wrote:The whole lab testing thing is totally ridiculous. It's a standard that, to the best of my knowledge, isn't applied to any other food or drink products imported to Canada or Ontario at all. Can you imagine if the government decided that whenever someone wants to import a shipment of lettuce or ground beef to Ontario they have to undergo 2 months of lab testing? It's obviously ridiculous, especially when you consider that things like leafy greens and meat actually do have records of E. Coli and other nasty stuff living in them, unlike alcohol products. Even beyond the ridiculousness of it and how it gets in the way of quality product hitting the shelves, it's obviously not free to get that done and you have to know that consumers are the ones paying for it. Whether we're paying for it at retail or paying for it through a reduction in royalties going back to the province, either way the little guy pays for it.
Ukie wrote: Got some today BB Sept 13, 2015, probably same as yours. Ten extra days, woo hoo!
The "03" is crystal clear on my bottle so I find it strange that we have shipments that are only ten days apart. I wonder if there are other dates out there as well?
Jay-Brew wrote: I don't even know what to say about LCBO. I'd be pissed if I was Stone and the importer. There is no excuse to have this beer sitting in their warehouse for two months.
Craig wrote:The whole lab testing thing is totally ridiculous. It's a standard that, to the best of my knowledge, isn't applied to any other food or drink products imported to Canada or Ontario at all. Can you imagine if the government decided that whenever someone wants to import a shipment of lettuce or ground beef to Ontario they have to undergo 2 months of lab testing? It's obviously ridiculous, especially when you consider that things like leafy greens and meat actually do have records of E. Coli and other nasty stuff living in them, unlike alcohol products. Even beyond the ridiculousness of it and how it gets in the way of quality product hitting the shelves...
Couldn't agree more.
"Bar people do not live as long as vegan joggers. However, they have more fun." - Bruce Elliott
spinrsx wrote:I also don't get why brewers still date formats like "09/03/15"
Is that September? Is that March? Most of the time I just buy another beer and not take the chance.
Ambiguous date formats always piss me off. Although at least the numbering is better than some stupid code with letters and a number representing the day of the year. But really how hard it it to print. BB Aug 21/15 or something like that?
spinrsx wrote:I also don't get why brewers still date formats like "09/03/15"
Is that September? Is that March? Most of the time I just buy another beer and not take the chance.
I know you know but for newbies:
North America Month / Day / Year
Europe Day / Month / Year
Usually, unless they use the Julian code or some other weird combo.....Sometimes I compare several bottles hoping for a 2 digit over 12 date just to be sure
I still fall for the bilingual Cdn code on food BB/MA 16 MR 28
Best before May 16th WTF this is August! Oh right the French I get it now and again, March 28 2016.
Kel Varnsen wrote:Ambiguous date formats always piss me off. Although at least the numbering is better than some stupid code with letters and a number representing the day of the year. But really how hard it it to print. BB Aug 21/15 or something like that?
They must figure it's better to piss off consumers than retailers, because date codes can seem intentionally arcane or hard to read. US retailers must not want to sort out the bad stock or even feel responsible for those who are stuck with stale crap they brought home.
Stone date codes are pretty clear though, FWIW. And pretty conservative by about an extra month. According to Stone.
biegaman wrote:
Also, for what it's worth, this batch of bottles took three days to get to Toronto ...then it sat for 2 months in the warehouse. Stone is super adamant about freshness and was just in town to speak with them about this. One of the delays was that the palates were a half inch too short for board requirements.
from what i understand, there are Europe standardized palates and North American standardized palates.
i have never, ever heard of Ontario standardized palates. this makes no sense unless Stone just screwed up. but the size difference between Euro and NA palates is more than half an inch.
(more boring factoids: there also are palates with rounded corners. those can't be used in NA)
