How long after the expiry of a best before date can a bottled beer be
consumed.

I have a bottle of Fullers Vintage that states that the "best before date"
is for guidance only and that the beer improves with age.

In article <%XaIe.27220$Ag3.238@newsfe4-gui.ntli.net>, Ian 
 writes

>How long after the expiry of a best before date can a bottled beer be
>consumed.
>
>I have a bottle of Fullers Vintage that states that the "best before date"
>is for guidance only and that the beer improves with age.


If it is a BCA it will continue to improve for some years afterwards; if 
it is not a BCA it will get worse.

-- 
Ian             G8ILZ

On Wed, 03 Aug 2005 21:47:39 GMT, "Ian" 
wrote:


>How long after the expiry of a best before date can a bottled beer be
>consumed.
>
>I have a bottle of Fullers Vintage that states that the "best before date"
>is for guidance only and that the beer improves with age.


Bottle conditioned beer like Fullers Vintage will effectively never go
off. It's taste will change as it matures, sometimes for the better,
sometimes for the worse. EU rules require a BBD to be printed on the
label. It's also a useful guide as to how long the beer will taste
'normal'.

Pasteurised beer deteriorates reasonably steadily after bottling and
is likely to taste increasingly stale after the BBD, but it won't harm
you if you drink it.

HTH, Paul
--
Paul Sherwin Consulting     http://paulsherwin.co.uk

>>How long after the expiry of a best before date can a bottled beer be
>>consumed.

A bottle kept in a dark cool cellar will keep better than one in a
brightly lit place where the temperature varies widely. It also
depends upon the ABV."Use by" dates are pure guesswork on the
bottler's behalf!

valeofbelvoirdrinker wrote:

>>> How long after the expiry of a best before date can a bottled beer
>>> be consumed.
> A bottle kept in a dark cool cellar will keep better than one in a
> brightly lit place where the temperature varies widely. It also
> depends upon the ABV."Use by" dates are pure guesswork on the
> bottler's behalf!


Surely "use by" dates are just a requirement of government (EU?) 
regulations, and bear no relationship whatsoever to how long the beer might 
last - which in the case of BCAs (like fine wines) is far longer. Although 
clearly how long it will last will depend on how well you treat it!

Brian

Paul Sherwin wrote:


>
> Bottle conditioned beer like Fullers Vintage will effectively never go
> off. It's taste will change as it matures, sometimes for the better,
> sometimes for the worse. EU rules require a BBD to be printed on the
> label. It's also a useful guide as to how long the beer will taste
> 'normal'.
>


Assuming the seals are intact. A friend was advised by a brewery to get a 
really old BCA  re-sealed.

-- 

Brett

In article <42f62b7d$0$14669$ed2619ec@ptn-nntp-reader02.plus.net>,
   Brett...  wrote:

> Paul Sherwin wrote:

> >
> > Bottle conditioned beer like Fullers Vintage will effectively never go
> > off. It's taste will change as it matures, sometimes for the better,
> > sometimes for the worse. EU rules require a BBD to be printed on the
> > label. It's also a useful guide as to how long the beer will taste
> > 'normal'.
> >

> Assuming the seals are intact. A friend was advised by a brewery to get
> a really old BCA  re-sealed.


I'm still chuckling because my nephew's 18th birthday present was condemned
out of hand by his mother because it was "out of date" - a bottle of
Hobgoblin, no less! Steve and myself are going to try a bit of family
subversion in order to remedy this slight.

-- 
Christine Ramsbottom

Christine a crit :


>I'm still chuckling because my nephew's 18th birthday present was condemned
>out of hand by his mother because it was "out of date" - a bottle of
>Hobgoblin, no less! Steve and myself are going to try a bit of family
>subversion in order to remedy this slight.
>  
>

I know a pair of french brothers who got their resources together to put 
together a crate of beer to keep until their newborn nephew and niece 
will be old enough to drink them (ie. 16). Now these will be severely 
out of date by then !!! :o)))


-- 
Warning : you may encounter French language beyond this point.

.... oncques ne vit-on quidam se passer la moustache au lait de brebis. 
(F'murrr)

Laurent Mousson, Berne, Switzerland

I'm still drinking bottles of my own home brew
that have been cellered for over 15 years.
They are still (well no, not really still) great.
They continue to sparkle, plenty of hop,
plenty of malt.

This age thing is not a problem.

chuck