Through some boring circumstances, I have come into possession of a previously opened jar of a jelly made using beer. The jar was opened months ago, its contents were not touched, and it was kept in an unrefrigerated pantry during that time.
The jar says refrigerate if opened. On the other hand, a smell test and a tiny taste test reveal nothing alarming.
If I spread this on some toast am I toast?
Feed it to the dogs/kids/wife first and look for…signs.
It’s not worth the risk. Dump it.
Any visible mold? It’s probably fine, as the high sugar content discourages mold growth.
The only thing I think it would do is ferment.
The point of jelly is to preserve fruit. Sugar is a preservative. It doesn’t go bad.
The only issue would be mold. If you see it, you could scrape it off and probably be fine. (If you see mold, it’s not likely to hurt you if ingested; it’s the stuff you can’t see that you have to worry about).
If there’s no mold, It’s fund.
Yeah, mold is pretty much the only way jelly can go bad (and that’d have to be especially true of an alcoholic jelly). If you see any mold, toss it, but otherwise, enjoy.
I think the main reason to refrigerate jelly after opening is that it’s firmer and easier to spread on a sandwich. It won’t go bad.
The alcohol burns out of the jelly so it’l unlikely to ferment. I’ve made plenty of jams with alcohol and fermenting just isn’t an issue. But, as the others say, mold is. And even if there’s mold, you can scrape that from the top. Yep, I can tell you’re gagging but my mother and grandmother did this trick frequently and my mold allergies never landed me in the hospital due to a jelly sandwich.
Agree with the rest - it’s fine to eat, but if you see mold, scrape it off or toss it. Many people stored their jellies in cupboards after opening, presuming they’d go through it quickly enough. I personally toss jelly/jam that has mold on it, but many people just scrape it off.
When in doubt, throw it out.
I never knew people ever refrigerated jelly 
Which wastes a lot of perfectly good food that never needed refrigeration in the first place.
The Mrs. used to toss out butter that was left out of the fridge for a few hours.
We do (it says to right on the jar!) but when I got married it took a few years to convince my wife to stop refrigerating the peanut butter.
That was my thinking as well- past a certain sugar content, the osmotic pressure is such that bacteria and yeasts get dehydrated very fast, so spoilage/fermentation isn’t much of an issue. Same reason stuff like corn syrup doesn’t need refrigeration.
Mold OTOH, will live on the surface just fine.
But peanut butter tastes better cold!
Are you sure it was originally jelly, and not something else that just happens to be jelly now? :eek:
We don’t refrigerate PB any longer, although that will keep it from going rancid. My wife refrigerates the ketchup, mustard, Worcestershire, hot sauce, etc., none of which need refrigeration.
Heh. We do not refrigerate our butter that is in use. Never had a problem, and it’s soft and easy to spread.