A customer had complained about the fact that a certain one of our beers was “expired.”  This is truly a dreaded word, isn’t it? Old beer, yuck!….. Maybe not!  If you are inclined to attempt to get some cheaper beer by complaining to a person in the liquor store about a beer’s expiration date, then go ahead. But this article is not actually about that. In fact, I’ve re-named the article several times in order to avoid the idea that I’m actually writing about getting a discount based on expiration dates. If you will, allow me a quick tirade.

Companies like Budweiser are to blame for this “Born on Date” crap that has so quickly become ingrained in the minds of would-be beer buyers. To an extent, companies are caving to the pressure of putting a date on their beer because the market (read: beer buyers) demands that something commenserate be done with what Bud is doing. This is maybe all that beer giants and craft breweries have in common. In everything but production dates, they have nothing in common. So, I’m sort of complaining not that production dates go on beer but that so much importance has been placed on this one aspect of beer making. Can you imagine a vintage wine with a “born on date”? Me either.  Why are we so fixated on this?

So, what sort of steal am I proposing that you can make at your local beer store? I’m not going to tell you just yet because I want to qualify one thing. An old Bud Light is a bad Bud Light. Actually, any Bud Light is a bad Bud Light. I suppose it would be more accurate to say that a Bud Light that has gone bad is an even worse Bud Light. The point that I am driving at is that most large beer companies that make bad, cheap, and adjunct-filled beer to begin with have to put an expiration date on their product because they actually expire in a short amount of time. Not so with craft breweries and many imports. Why?

In a word, craft and import brewers use plenty of quality ingredients. Four main things really make some beers last much longer than others. Some of one, two, three or all four of these things may give some beers a longer shelf life than others: alcohol level, grains content (often associated with beer color), hops content and type of storage. It is in this respect that quality beers can, most of the time, be differentiated from cheaper beers. Quality usually equals longevity.

Hopefully, a point is starting to emerge. Let me make it explicit by saying that some beers, like wines, improve with age. Have you ever tried aging a beer? It can be hard not to drink the thing (right, Scott?)!  You have to have a place to store and have to wait quite a while. Guess what, though? Sometimes someone has aged the beer for you. “Who has?” you ask. Your local liquor store. Instead of complaining that the beer has expired or that it is old, try seeing this as an opportunity to buy “pre-aged” beer. Imagine someone letting you have a bottle of wine that is already cellared for five years rather than a “new” bottle.

Here is the trick to getting a steal at your local liquor store. Find the craft or import beers and try to find a bottle that it is not so new. I know that I sold a bottle of Thomas Hardy Ale that was a 2004 edition the other night. The brewery claims that the beer will easily age 25 years. It’s 2009, and this person bought a bottle that has already been aged for them for five years. How do you like that? Do you know what else? The beer was the exact same price as the new bottles of Thomas Hardy Ale. Is that a steal? To me it is. Try getting on Ebay or a site that sells beer that has already been aged for you. Make a comparison and see what you get. A 10 to 15 year-old Thomas Hardy is about twice as much as a new bottle ($10-15 a bottle versus $5-7). This is not a drastic difference, but some beers cost much more than this. I have a couple bottles of Vertical Epic by Stone brewery from 2007. I bought mine for about $8 a bottle. People will now pay $35-40 a bottle for this. By the way, I’m not trying to make you a beer capitalist by buying and selling beer; I’m just showing that you may pay a lot more for some beers that are only a couple years old–unless you get one a your local store.

***Disclaimer*** You could get a bad bottle if it hasn’t been stored well or you pick a 5% ABV lager that is eight years-old (highly doubtful scenario). Other people are looking for a fresh beer such as an IPA that is within it’s year date. This one is a little more understandable, but it is still assuming that a fresh beer is the best beer. To me, it seems a little like asking for a wine where the harshness of the fresh grapes, tannins, and oak are at their peak. Or asking for some Cheddar that hasn’t been aged and Bourbon that hasn’t touched a barrel. Waiting a while may surprise you with a real treat… the best is yet to come. Here is a review that I did of a Fuller’s Vintage Ale, which I aged for five years.

In conclusion, be on the on prowl for some steals at your beer store; you might be pleasantly surprised.