German Brewing

Inspired by the Aying post, I realized that the local bottle shops have a ton of Ayinger beer but not a whole lot of other brands.

The issue is that here in California its hard to find anything fresh, lucky to get something 6 months old, really.

So that brings me to my point: Does anyone know the dating convention on the bottles? They don't post julian or standard dates, no codes. But they do notch the label on the bottom for dating purposes and I have not been able to find any sources on how to translate those into freshness.

Any ideas? I might try emailing them tonight.

The industry standard for packaging is 9 months. Although many are aiming for 12 months nowadays.

Assume 12

Last year I found a 2012 six pack of Hacker Pschorr. They wanted full price.

I am still seeing drink by Jan. Pilsner Urquell here, too. So that beer was probably brewed a year ago.

Date codes aren't everything, just end caps. I bought a Weihestephaner Pilsner that was only a month old but reeked of mercaptans. Clearly improperly stored warm and in the light. Sigh...

I try not to buy any bottles anymore since they don't seem to ship well. But thankfully I can find a decent bit of good kegged beers around. Between Frankford Hall and the Brauhaus Schmitz I've had nice access to kegged Helles. WO, Hofbrau and Spaten easy enough at least.