# How long does it take for beer to go bad? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 15, 2001, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-for-beer-to-go-bad/87535 "2001-10-15T19:00:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tsarina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@tsarina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tsarina)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2001, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-for-beer-to-go-bad/87535/1 "2001-10-15T19:00:49Z")
This summer as I was leaving my German host family, my host dad gave me a bottle of the beer we’d enjoyed together on so many occasions (Vulkanbraeu… mmm…). Ever since then it’s been sitting on my dresser, out of direct sunshine. I was planning on drinking it after I graduate in a year and a half, but upon telling my dad he practically had a fit. “You can’t do that! It’ll taste like horse piss!” So, how long can I wait before my wonderful beer becomes ersatz horse piss? It’s in a brown bottle, was given to me at the end of June, and hasn’t been refrigerated since my host dad took it out of their fridge. ---
**Author:** ![skripek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7bcc69/32.png) [@skripek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skripek)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2001, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-for-beer-to-go-bad/87535/2 "2001-10-15T19:12:26Z")
If I remember correctly unpasturized beer is good in the bottle for about 90 days, and pasturized for something like 180. For the most part you shouldn’t drink any beer older than 6 months. ---
**Author:** ![Spritle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Spritle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spritle)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2001, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-for-beer-to-go-bad/87535/3 "2001-10-15T19:13:32Z")
Drink it now. That’s what beer is fore - drinking. When you graduate, you’ll probably get a job. From this, we can assume that you will make money. With this money, and your contact in Germany, you can make an international call, get your German friend to purchase a bottle for you, have him mail it and you can reimburse him for all expenses and include a nice gratuity. QED On the general idea behind the OP, it depends on the beer. Natty Boh goes bad right before they bottle it, hon. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2001, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-for-beer-to-go-bad/87535/4 "2001-10-15T20:21:04Z")
Well, here’s some info from [http://southerndraft.com/sodraft/9504/GREG.html](http://southerndraft.com/sodraft/9504/GREG.html) that might shed some light on the situation. As a side note, I sifted through quite a few documents on the Web, and the general consensus is, “beer shelf life is highly variable, but if it’s been more than about 9 months to a year since it was bottled/canned, pitch it”. Anyway, here’s part of what that site had to say: > [@](#): > > “Everyone has a different threshold for oxidation,” Old Dominion brewer Ron Barchet commented. “This way, it’s up to the consumer to decide what fresh is.” George Fix, University of Texas professor, author of several books on brewing and a prolific writer for technical brewing journals, notes that beers age differently, depending on how they are stored and what style they are. > > “I wouldn’t be concerned about a 3-month-old stout, but I’d be concerned about a continental lager that old,” he said. He insists the bottling date is “the most honest and forthright way” to date for freshness. The consume-before way of dating is “too arbitrary … you can put on any date you want.” > > INDEED, BREWERIES that freshness date vary widely in terms of recommended shelf life. On the one hand, Redhook Ale Brewery of Seattle stamps each label with a date less than 2½ months from bottling. At the other extreme, Brooklyn Brewing notches its lager with a date six months in the future, and allots its brown ale a full nine months. > > Boston Beer Co.'s Koch agrees with Fix that there is a potential for abuse in consume-before dating. Except for “highly unusual” beers, beer has a shelf life maximum of four months, he said, and added he “would like to see brewers police themselves” to make sure no brewer resorts to bogus freshness dates. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2001, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-for-beer-to-go-bad/87535/5 "2001-10-16T00:59:36Z")
If you are going to store it for a while, keep it in a dark place and at a moderate temperature, perferably refridgerated. What color is the bottle? Brown is more resistant to light. Green and clear bottles do nothing to protect from light, and can have their taste negatively affected after an hour in sunlight. ---
**Author:** ![5-HT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/f19dbf/32.png) [@5-HT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5-HT)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2001, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-for-beer-to-go-bad/87535/6 "2001-10-16T02:38:25Z")
I think you should clarify exactly what you mean by “go bad.” Do you mean before it grows mold, or just before it starts to taste “skunked.”