So, I went to the local liquor store and, after my usual chitchat with the owner, I was presented with a free bottle of beer. Apparently she (the owner) was going through the inventory in her beer cooler and discovered that she had a bottle of a local microbrew that had gone past its expiration date. Like me, she couldn’t bear to waste even one bottle of beer, so she asked if I wanted it. I couldn’t really say no without being rude, so I took it home with me.
Now, looking at the bottle, I see that it was made in July 2008, with a “Best Before” date of September 2008. The bottle boasts that it uses no preservatives and no pasteurization, and suggests drinking the beer within 30 days of the production date for the freshest flavor, and between 30-60 days for a “matured” flavor. It is now, however, closer to 200 days past the production date. The beer looks very opaque, but it is a weizen and so that is not out of the ordinary.
I don’t really plan on drinking it because I know it will most likely taste awful. But I am curious, besides the obvious hazard of a really skunky beer, could there be any danger to drinking this fella?
Drink it. It will taste fine. The born on date is just a way the beer guy can be protected if someone dosen’t like the beer. Taste it, take a chance. I’m sure it’s fine.
Too late, I already opened it and drank it anyway! Curiosity got the better of me. It does that a lot.
Tastes good. Certainly doesn’t taste like it is going to kill me. A bit stale, maybe, but it has that nice yeasty flavor that I like from an unfiltered beer. I figure that if I can eat some of the stuff I’ve eaten and survive, I can handle this beer.
Homebrewer here. From everything I’ve read on the subject, beer can’t grow anything that’ll kill you, and if a beer gets infected, that’s pretty much obvious during the fermentation and would/should have been caught at that point. A sealed bottle really doesn’t have any way to become ‘infected’ unless infected beer was added or poor sanitation tactics were used.
The “best by” date is an indicator of ‘freshness’ or best flavor. A lot of beers don’t age well, and the flavor will start suffering at some point, so that’s just there to give you an idea if you’re getting a beer at its peak or not.
Some beers can improve past the date marked- ales, especially higher original gravity brews. Ales will tolerate some temperature “abuse” and the brown bottle helps prevent the beer becoming light struck. Bottle conditioned beers are more susceptible to off flavour from yeast autolysis though.
Of the beers in the link, Alt would be a contender.
I just way overpaid for some microbrews a couple weeks ago. Like almost 20 bucks for a 6-pack, each a different brand (they weren’t priced and I didn’t want to look like a cheap bastard at the checkout counter :rolleyes:.) Later I realized they were ALL expired - like back in 2007. The dust on the bottles is literally what tipped me off. Like a big sucker I drank them instead of taking them back, and they tasted like shit. Didn’t make me sick or anything, though.
