Even when I was but a lad, discovering the wonders of inebriation —“Dude, like, my tongue is numb!”—I was already aware that some beers had more cache than others. Thanks to the magical power of advertising, everyone knew imported beer was way better than the American stuff, a sign of class. So I graduated quickly to Molson, Moosehead, Heineken and St. Pauli Girl; the pretty lady on the label meant St. Pauli had to be good. Like many beer drinkers, I came to associate the sour, skunky, wet-paper taste of these beers with quality. What I didn’t know was that imported beer in green bottles is most likely to suffer from the three main enemies of freshness—heat, time, and light. Before arriving at your local retailer, imports typically spend months sitting in cargo holds of container ships, tractor-trailer trucks, and warehouses. Transit temperatures can easily reach higher than 100 degrees. And while being transferred from one conveyance to the next, the pallets might sit in the sun for several hours.
The long stretch from brewery to your mouth can result in oxidation, a chemical reaction in the beer that results in papery, metallic or buttery flavors. Heat and motion accelerate oxidation, making imports particularly susceptible. Time also gradually breaks down a beer’s hops, leaving behind a dull flavor and a lack of head retention.
As the variety of available beers has increased, many American-brewed craft beers are allowed to sit on the shelf far too long. Liquor stores often do not properly store or rotate their stock. I recently had a Left Hand Ginger Juju that I discovered too late was over a year past its “best by” date and was not refrigerated, as recommended on the label. This is unfair to the brewery as well as the consumer, since beer explorers may venture to try something new only to decide they don’t like that particular brand.
Many of those “classy” imports from my youth come in clear or green bottles, making them particularly susceptible to light. UV rays break down compounds from the hops, which then bind with sulfur from amino acids in the beer to create a “skunky” taste. Recent research has shown that the chemical compound produced, prenythiol, is the same one found in skunk spray, so the notion of “skunked” beer is not a spurious comparison. Beers can become “light-struck” even after a few days under the fluorescent lights of a beer cooler—a problem Miller solved in its Genuine Draft by chemically altering the hops, rather than shelling out for the more expensive brown bottles.
So how to you avoid spoiled beer? Check for a “brewed on” or “best by” date stamp, and steer clear of those without one, especially if they have a fine layer of dust or visible sediment in the bottle (bottle-conditioned beers, however, are intended to have a yeast sediment). Most pale ales, lagers and hefewiezens are best within 3 to 6 months of brewing. Darker beers and those with higher alcohol content might last a year. A few special beers are meant to be aged, but they are the exception. Beers stored in the cooler are less likely to spoil than those stored at room temperature, although many liquor stores stack case boxes on the floor, and those beers are less likely to be light-struck.
Some breweries will buy back beer past its freshness date—Sam Adams is well known for this— while some will split the cost with the distributor. Other times, the retailer is left paying for beer that doesn’t move. But don’t be duped: Let retailers know when a beer is expired or return a six-pack you find to be stale. Check back in a few days and see how they have responded to your complaints. If the expired beer is still on the shelf, let them know you’ll be shopping elsewhere.
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