Photo credit: Brewers Association

This year saw the most entries in each category, with approximately 3,921 beers entered in 95 style categories. According to the Brewers Association, this was a 17.7 percent increase over 2010.

World Beer Cup boasts the most judges of any competition (211 brewers from 27 countries, with around 67% outside the U.S.) in the world and handed out a total of 284 awards this year. It is an honor indeed to get an award from the World Beer Cup, when you consider it is an international competition and those judging were professional brewers and industry professionals, bringing a wealth of experience and professionalism to the event. Many brewers proudly display their World Beer Cup award(s) at their brewery.

The Brewers Association saw an increase in the number of entries per category, stating this year “the average number of beers entered per category was 41. The category with the most entries was American-Style India Pale Ale, with 150 entries. The second most-entered category was Imperial India Pale Ale, with 93 entries. The German-Style Sour Ale category had the fewest number of entries at 11.” They go on to say that “The 2012 World Beer Cup saw substantial growth of entries in the American-Style India Pale Ale category. Category entries grew 41.5 percent over 2010 to make it the largest category of the 2012 competition.”

Photo Credit: Brewers Association

In addition to style awards, the Brewers Association hands out five Champion Brewery/Brewmaster awards. This years winners were:

Small Brewing Company Category
Brauerei Michael Plank, Michael Plank

Mid-Size Brewing Company Category
Firestone Walker Brewing Company, Matthew Brynildson

Large Brewing Company Category
AB InBev, Claudio Ferro

Small Brewpub Category
Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant-Media, Iron Hill Brewery Team

Large Brewpub Category
Pelican Pub & Brewery, Darron R S Welch

Not about to go unnoticed, Texas came in big with Houston’s Saint Arnold’s Brewing Co taking home a silver for their Pumpkinator in the Pumkin Beer category, as well as a bronze for Santo in the American Style-Dark Lager category and a silver for Endeavor in the Imperial IPA category. Austin newcomer Hops and Grain took home a gold medal in the German Style Brown Ale category the for their ‘Alt-Eration and proving they still have what it takes, Austin’s Live Oak Brewing took home a silver in the South German-Style Weizenbock category. Shiner based Spoetzel Brewery Brought home a silver for their flagship beer ‘Shiner Bock’ in the American Style-Dark Lager category

With all of the competition in the World Beer Cup, the odds were stacked against the breweries of Texas, a state long known for being the second largest in overall beer consumption and only 48th in craft beer. Clearly the rest of the world is seeing what we in Texas already know: Texas is on the rise, the rest of the world beware. It was incredible to witness my first World Beer Cup. To hear the judges talk of all the great beers submitted and to see the increased participation was phenomenal.

Alas, there’s one result that that caught my eye. Seasonal favorite Bigfoot, from Sierra Nevada Brewing, took home a silver in the Imperial Red Ale category. Bigfoot has long been known as a Barelywine both by Sierra Nevada and the rest of us. Past medals for Bigfoot in the California State Fair, Great American Beer Festival and Great Alaska Beer & Barleywine Festival, were all in the Barleywine category. But the judging at the World Beer Cup works a little different “…Judging is blind, with no brand knowledge of any kind provided to judges. Beer entries are judged solely on their merits.” said the Brewers Association. Barleywine’s can have some similarities to an imperial version of an Irish Red, showing that being smart about what category your beer is entered in can make a difference.

For a complete listing of winners, visit the World Beer Cup page.

A great World Beer Cup it was this year. See you in two years in Denver!

Essentially the Federal court states that breweries in Texas can now: label a beer a ‘beer’ and an ale, an ‘ale’, regardless of the ABV; advertise where their beers are sold; as well as describe the alcohol content of their beers with words like ‘strong’. “In a remarkable (though logically dubious) demonstration of circular reasoning” Judge Sparks states in his ruling filed yesterday, the “TABC attempts to defend the constitutional legitimacy of the Code through an appeal to the statutory authority of the Code itself.” Referring to the required use of the terms “beer”, “ale”, and “malt liquor”, he writes “TABC’s argument, combined with artful legislative drafting, could be used to justify any restrictions on commercial speech. For instance, Texas would likely face no (legal) obstacle if it wished to pass a law defining the word ‘milk’ to mean ‘a nocturnal flying mammal that eats insects and employs echolocation.’ Under TABC’s logic, Texas would then be authorized to prohibit use of the word ‘milk’ by producers of a certain liquid dairy product, but also to require Austin promoters to advertise the famous annual ‘Milk Festival’ on the Congress Avenue Bridge.’”

The lawsuit contended that several beer laws in the State of Texas were unconstitutional and violated the first amendment, as well as equal protection clause. Under the current system mandated by TABC Code, everything brewed over 4% alcohol by weight must be labeled an “Ale” or “malt liquor” and everything brewed at or below 4% A “beer”. This can cause what is brewed to be labeled something different than the style itself is called. It’s like calling an pale ale below 4% a pale beer. Stone Brewing Co in Escondido, California has not brought their ‘Levitation Ale’ into Texas for this reason.

State law also prevents breweries from using words that accurately reference alcoholic strength like “strong” or “low alcohol”. If you like a Belgian Dark Strong Ale and wanted one from let’s say Ranger Creek Brewing and Distilling in San Antonio, you’d almost have to ask if they had it, as it wouldn’t be mentioned on the bottle. This goes for advertising as well.

Other inequities named in the suit, but not overturned: breweries are not allowed to sell on site, while wineries are; brew pubs can not bottle and distribute off premises; and prohibition against overseas breweries selling to distributors in Texas, who already have a license and instead require them to obtain a separate license. Although these issues fall under the Equal Protection clause and are considered tougher to fight, Judge Sparks reasoning for not ruling overturning them is less clear to me, however in his ruling he does go on to say that the State of Texas is fortunate that the burden of proof rested with the plaintiffs, or they may have come out worse in the suit.

Reaction from the brewing community all over the United States has been swift and emphatic towards the ruling. I spoke to Dean Brundage, brewer and co-founder at New Republic Brewing in College Station, Texas, who said he’s please with the ruling, but would have been ecstatic if the judge had ruled favorably on the points related equal protection clause. On twitter Greg Koch, Stone Brewing Co’s enigmatic co-founder and CEO, said “Hooray to @jesterkingbeer & their noble efforts in Texas. Well done guys, well done! Thx for fighting for all brewers’.

Although not everything was overturned, it’s at least a start in changing laws that do not reflect the current times, do not provide equal protection and commerce to breweries that wineries enjoy and sends a message that laws dating back to prohibition and before need to be changed.

Although the wine industry still has some issues with state law in Texas, they enjoy a far better climate in Texas than breweries. It’s a money issue only for malt beverages in Texas and that’s not equitable. I’d like to walk into my local store an pick up,a six-pack of beer from a brewpub like Freetail Brewing in San Antonio, Texas. I’d like to be able to visit Avery Brewing in Boulder, Colorado or Ranger Creek in San Antonio, Texas, and pick up a bottle of a special release I can’t get in the store. The time has finally come for Texas craft beer.

If the Federal government can see the inequality in the laws, it gives us some hope that the state government will soon as well. I don’t see that they have much of a choice in the matter. In fact, Judge Sparks states in his ruling the TABC defense counsel admitted that the state did not submit much in the way of summary judgement and thus didn’t meet their burden of proof. It’s only a matter of time before it all changes in Texas. Laws might be slower to change here, but when it’s right, it’s right. The State of Texas can’t truly argue the moral, legal or economics of this forever and expect it not to change. There’s no logic or real support for their position to laws passed generations ago. The economy and the world have changed, it’s time to pony up.

While Herz kicked off the luncheon, attendees were treated to a wonderful Belgian white from Taps Fish House and Brewery in Brea, California. Soon after the first course arrived, Roasted Beet Salad with fennel, green apples, goat cheese and bacon with vinaigrette. Paired with this was a Vienna style lager from Chuckanut Brewery and Kitchen in Bellingham, Washington, as well as a Belgian Saison from Mckenzie Brewhouse in Malvern, Pennsylvania.

Dogfish Head Craft Brewery founder Sam Calagione, spoke briefly at the luncheon about his brewery’s start as a brew pub and that although they have grown tremendously since their humble beginnings in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, the brewpub remains the heart and soul of Dogfish Head.

It’s Sam!

While attendees were still enjoying Roasted Beet Salad, Colorado Governor John Hinkenlooper stopped by to discuss the current state of brewpubs in the United States. Gov. Hinkenlooper has a history with brewpubs in Colorado. He started the Wynkoop Brewing Co in the LoDo (Lower Downtown) area of Denver back in 1988 when the area was undergoing a revitalization. He was able to obtain the property the brewery currently calls home for $1 per square foot as a result of the recession at that time.

Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper

Herz advised the BA defines Brewpubs as a restaurant/brewery that sells at least 25% of its beer on site, with the beer being brewed primarily for the restaurant and bar. Beer is often available in to go containers, such as Growlers, and distributed offsite where allowed by law. With their beer being brewed primarily for their restaurants, Herz went on to say that brew pubs are truly experts in house beers and that brewpubs helped kick start the craft beer and food pairing movement.

2010 saw a 6.9% increase in brewpubs from 1,015 in 2009 to 1,033 in 2010. What’s amazing is that there were 1,759 total breweries in the U.S. in 2010. That’s means brewpubs accounted for more than 59% of all breweries in the U.S. and were producing an average of 728 barrels. By August of this year, there were 1,829 total breweries, with 760 more known to be in the planning stages.

Bob Pease, BA Chief Operating Officer, discussed current legislation affecting small brewers. Two bills are currently in both the Senate and the house, HR 1236 and S 534. The bills seek to stimulate job growth in the industry and recall rate the current tax structure that has been in place since 1976. Pease advised that originally the Federal Excise Tax was enacted to help pay for the civil war and although it has been revised over the years, it does not accurately reflect the impacts to the small and independent brewer or the large gap between them and the large breweries. The bills seek to increase the current definition of a small brewer from 2 million barrels per year, to 6 million, thus closing the gap with large brewers whos annual production has increased to 105 million barrels per year since 1976. By lowering the excise tax and increasing the barrels per years, revenue for small and independent brewers would increase 153 million in the first year and 865 million over 5 years, with Federal revenue decreasing only 81.9 million over 5 years. All this would increase jobs in the industry by 5,600 over that 5-year period.

Surrounding the great updates on the industry were presentations from each of the breweries whos beers were featured during the luncheon, along with some absolutely incredible foods, truly highlighting Herz’s earlier point that brewpubs know what they’re doing when it comes to beer and food.

Freetail Brewing Co owner Scott Metzger

Other pairing highlights for me were: Grains of Paradise seared lamb loin, ginger forbidden rice with apricots and raspberries paired with Melange A Trois a Wood aged Belgian Strong Ale from Nebraska Brewing Co; A wonderful pairing of Freetail Brewing Co’s Bandito, a Flanders Red Ale aged in wine barrels with several American Artisan cheeses presented by the American Cheese society, who also gave a state of the union address on the cheese industry in the United States. However, the blst pairing by far was the Pumpkin Bread pudding with Ska Ten Pin Porter caramel and Left Hand Brewing ESB ice cream paired with Turmoil, an American Black Ale from Barley Brown’s Brewpub in Baker City, Oregon and Twilight, a Robust Porter from the La Jolla Rock Bottom. If I could have gotten my hands on seconds and thirds of this pairing, I assure you I would have.

Pumpkin Bread pudding with Ska Ten Pin Porter caramel and Left Hand Brewing ESB ice cream

I confess, I probably brewed at least 4-5 all-grain batches before I finally felt ready to try my hand at creating my own recipes. I was scared to death. Trying someone else’s proven recipe is safe and if you make a mistake or two, it’s likely to be close enough. Working on your own recipe puts the added stress of not getting the recipe right. That can make or break your beer, even if your brew day is perfect.

There are dozens of books out there that will assist with recipe formulation and getting to know everything that needs to be considered, however there are a few in particular that I keep close at hand: Ray Daniel’s ‘Designing Great Beers’; Randy Mosher’s ‘Radical Brewing’; and the recently published ‘Brewing better Beer’ from Gordon Strong. I suggest looking at these and any others as your resources.

Ok, so where to begin? You first have to decide what you want your beer to be, starting with the style. From there, you need to decide what character your beer will have. If it’s a Porter, will it have more chocolate flavors, or do you desire more roast character? How hoppy do you want your beer? Does the malt character you’re looking for fit the style or do you plan to deviate a bit?

The next step is to determine your grain bill, as well as your mash technique.  This is the basis for the character of your beer and determines your total fermentables. These days most malts are heavily modified, so you will be able to use a single infusion mash at a temperature usually between 148 – 154 depending on style. I say this, because each grain produces a different amount of fermentables and the temperature used affects the body of your beer and how much sugar you get from it, which also can affect your yeast attenuation down the road.  As such, you will need to consider the fermentables produced by each malt and how they work together to help you decide what base malt you will use, what specialty malts are needed.

Almost as important is your water profile and the amount of water needed. The minerals in the water can add a very distinct flavor to your beer. You’ll want to find out the profile of you local water, what the minerals are in the style your brewing and what will be needed to treat your water. I’ve gone back and forth on this issue and I know many brewers who have as well. If you’re wanting to brew an exact clone of your favorite beer, or match the water to the style, then duplicating the brewing conditions, to include water profile of the area where that beer is brewed, will be important. Although I have treated my water a couple of times, most often I used the local water untreated for my brewing. Using the untreated water in my area, is what helps make my beer…mine.

You’ve decided what you want to brew, selected your grains and thought about your water. Now comes the time to decide what flavor and aromas you want in your beer and the IBU’s (International Bitterness Units). You have a couple of choices. You can set your IBU’s to style or set them based on what you are looking for. Ask yourself if you want more aroma, more bitterness or a balance between the bitterness and the aroma. Take into account your grain bill as well and make sure the hops don’t overpower your malt (unless you’re brewing a double IPA, then it’s game on).

It’s been said, often by me, by many that the yeast chosen is what truly defines your beers identity. You can brew two batches with the same grain bill, water and hops, but if you use different yeast for each batch, you’ll get two similar but very different beers. I’ve brewed a Black Saison and a Rye IPA several times with different yeasts and have turned out great, but different beers. Choosing yeast for the style you’re brewing and what flavors you’re looking for is important. You’ll need to take into account the OG (original gravity) of your beer and estimate what your target FG (final gravity) will be, to ensure the yeast chosen has an attenuation that suits this.

After your yeast has been chosen, take into consideration what you’ll use as a fermentation vessel. Will you use an airlock or blowoff tube? What’s the temperature you’ll need to keep the beer at and how will you control it?

Lastly, look at how you’ll clarify and carbonate your beer. To clarify your beer, there are several ways to accomplish this, Irish moss and Worflock tablets being two. Clarifying your beer can be very important if you’re entering your Homebrew in a competition, but just for yourself, that’s up to you.  Personally, I always strive the the best clarification I can get. However, if it’s not quite where it should be once all is done, it still gets consumed. Most often this does not affect flavor.

Once your beer is ready, you have two decisions as to how you want to disperse and carbonate it: kegging or bottling. For many new home brewers, bottling is the easiest and least expensive. You need only to calculate the proper sugar/water mixtures based on your volume of beer and the style, so as to reach the appropriate level of carbonation; a bottling bucket and wand. Another benefit of bottling, is that if you plan to gift some of your Homebrew or send it to a friend, you already have a vessel for this. Bottling can be tedious, often takes several weeks to fully carbonate and often made me dread the process.

Kegging your beer has its pros and cons as well. However in my opinion, the cons appear in the beginning. To keg, you’ll need to buy a keg, CO2 tank, and CO2. The cost can be around $200 to start, but once these are purchased it’s only a matter of refilling your CO2 tank. The cost to refill a standard 5-7.5 gallon tank is around $20 and can last several months. After you’ve purchased these items, simply rack the beer from the fermentor to the keg, shake it around a bit and hook up the CO2. Set your CO2 to about 25psi for a few days and at that point, the beer should have absorbed plenty of the CO2. You can dial it down to about 10psi for everyday serving. This method gets you enjoying your beer sooner.

That’s it in a nutshell. As I was working on a recipe for a pumpkin Porter, I really got to thinking about my approach to formulation and how much I enjoy tinkering with a recipe. This certainly isn’t all encompassing, nor is it meant to be, but can serve as a guide to formulating you own recipes. I want to thank Randy Mosher, Ray Daniels and Gordon Strong for the invaluable information in their books that helps me day to day, as well as with this article.

Strange, I know to even ask much question. Too much craft beer? Isn’t this what we want? It is indeed what we want, however, Austin’ population is only around 800,00 after all. Seems like enough doesn’t it? Texans do have quite a a thirst for this fine malted beverage, but depsite the increase in craft breweries lately, Texas remains mainly a Budweiser, Miller and Coors state. The question becomes, can Austin and its surrounding towns able to over come this and support the craft beer boom?

There are now around thirteen brewpubs and breweries in the Austin area, fourteen if you consider Real Ale in Blanco, with more seemingly opening every few months. Jester King Craft Brewery opened within the last six-months, as well as Black Star CO-OP and Circle Brewing, and many more are slated for sometime this year. This adds to an already extensive list in Austin.

Slightly more veteran breweries in Austin are continuing to grow too. NXNX recently opened their new location in Northwest Austin, Uncle Billy’s has opened a second location and Independence Brewing is looking to build a new brewery, doubling their current production.

The concern is that although many breweries are doing well initially and many are expanding, will craft beer in the Austin area get to the point that the city can not sustain what it has? Will there be more beer available than folks can consume? I hope not, but it needs considering. If it gets to that point, and some breweries have to close, what effect will that have on Austin’s economy and for the  future of craft beer in Texas?

As far as Texas itself is concerned, I think we’re far from The point of saturation. Although Texas ranks 48th in consumption of craft beer, it ranks only second behind California in overall beer consumption. If we can increase the beer palet of the states population, craft beer has so much room to grow.

Austin isn’t quite the size that Houston, San Antonio and Dallas are and yet is almost as many breweries and brew pubs than those cities combined, so is there a point where despite the college crowd, Austin could see brewery closings? Eric Braun, who writes the beer column in the San Antonio Express-News, said that in regards to Austin area craft breweries and brew pubs that ” they can distribute widely and Texas has a lot of room to grow. When the other cities catch up it could be trouble.”

Although some cities in the U.S., like San Diego, Denver and Portland, could see an issue with saturation, Austin seems to be more than able to support craft beer for the forseable future and if the laws change soon, it’s no holds barred for Texas craft breweries.

A few minutes after my arrival, Charlie came out to the lobby with yes, a beer in his hand and two glasses. We sat down and began what was a great conversation. Ok, so what beer were we sharing? A coffee porter called Demoiselle from the Colorado Brewery in Riberaõ Preto Brazil. Yes, Brazil. Charlie had gone down to Brazil in early 2010 and the porter we were enjoying was one of the fruits of that trip.

Charlie and I

Charlie is a fountain of knowledge about a great many things and I learned much from that conversation. My greatest take away was that craft beer is alive and doing well in South America. Craft brewing in Brazil has been going on for around 15 years and the Colorado Brewery was one of the first there. There are more than 80 independent craft brewers in Brazil alone, including Colorado and Cervejaria MoageM in Campo Grande and from what Charlie stated quite a thirst among the residents of Brazil for these beers.

Homebrewing is huge in Brazil as well. What’s nice, is that the craft brewers help to support the homebrewers. Charlie advised there were no homebrew supply stores in Brazil, so this relationship is even more critical. Many of the homebrew clubs are hosted by the breweries and brew pubs. Though ingredients are hard to find, they muddle through and find away to brew what they love. Craft brewers and homebrewers have a challenge though. Brazil is still a country dominated by the larger, mass marketed beers. Though they have many a craft brew, the ratio of craft brewed beer to that of the mass marketed beer is even greater than the United States and most countries, think the United States 40 years ago.

Photo Courtesy of innatia.com

One thing I was not aware of, is that many beers entering Brazil have additives. The environment in Brazil provides many challenges for beers and refrigeration is almost non-existent, so preservatives become necessary. As a result, consuming beer in Brazil is best done near where it is made, not unlike beer in Europe prior to refrigeration.

This has sparked an interest in Brazilian craft beer for me and I hope to try many more from the Colorado Brewery and others in Brazil, despite not being readily available in the United States. The craft brewers and homebrewers of Brazil seem to have an incredible passion for their drink of choice and dead set on changing Brazil from a country held captive by Anheiser Bush InBev to a culture that knows good beer.

There is not a lot of information out there on this subject, so my thanks to Charlie Papazian and his article “Imprisoned beer – Brazilian craft brewers fight almost insurmountable odds”, for the information needed for this article.

As much as I’d like to keep all the craft beer to myself, the whole point of myself and others writing about and advocating craft beer is to get others to ‘drink out of the box’. Try something different, something that was brewed with love, passion, heart and soul. All praise Dogfish Head and every other craft brewery in the United States, you inspire all of us!

Here’s a link to a recent article I did on Dogfish Head for UpTake.com.

photo courtesy of Freetail Brewing

This year, folks were lined up as early as 9am at the San Antonio area brewpub, to ensure they had a shot when bottles went on sale at 11:30. Last years bottling was around 85 or so and sold out quickly. This year, bottling was increased to around 450 and those clamoring for bottles were limited to 4 each. Despite the increase in bottling this year, La Muerta sold out in about 3 hours, showing again it quite the hot commodity.

This years offering certainly has not disappointed. Filled with strong, yet balanced. notes of smoke and chocolate. Fair warning to the faint of heart, this homage to the dearly departed weighs in at around 10.2% ANV (Alcohol by Volume). Tread lightly, but enjoy. It’ quite the treat and perfect for the cooler fall weather in San Antonio.

The success and popularity of La Muerta seems to mirror that of the brewpub itself. Coming up on its second anniversary, Freetail is actually looking to expand. Numerous reports have abounded in the last couple of weeks regarding Freetail’s Project: Gemini,  with possible site locationo to include San Antonio of course, but sites in Houston, New Braunfels and San Marcos are also being considered. However, don’t expect the new location to be like the current one says Freetail founder and CEO Scott Metzger. “We’ve looked at some historical buildings with unique character in interesting locations,” explained Metzger. “For this one, look for an expanded menu and dynamic ambiance, but one that still embodies the Freetail spirit.”

Selection of a site is expected to six to eight months and create around 50 new jobs. The new location is estimated at around 3 million dollars and could open as early as a year from now. However, Metzger has said that if they find the time is not right or they have not found the right location, the new location may wait, but they are seriously looking at opening another location.

More details to follow on this and Freetail’s Second Anniversary weekend. Also check out Freetail’s website for more information.

pic courtesy of benchfly.com

This is indeed a highly debatable topic with many thoughts on how fresh a beer stays before you have to consume it. It often depends on a few factors, such as the style, how the beer is packaged, how it’s handled by the brewer, what the distributor does with it, as well as the retailer. Does a beer really go bad beyond its ‘freshness date’? I’m not going to be able to put that issue to bed in the article, but maybe I can give a little insight.

What I can tell you is that generally speaking, there are no specific guideline lines out there telling us when to consume our favorite craftbeer that I know of. A pretty good rule of thumb though is to look at the style you are about to buy. Beers such as most Ales (Pale Ales and IPA’s being the big ones) as well as Ambers and most beers with a lower ABV, tend to be best when consumed within 90 days. Consequently, higher ABV and heavily hopped beers such as as Stouts, Barleywines, Imperial beers or let’s say double IPA’s, the higher alcohol and heavy amount of hops act as a preservative allowing you to keep these for a while. Some beers actually benefit from a few years of aging.

Currently, there are no Federal or state guidelines or laws as to what is considered fresh and what is not. Breweries are also not required to put any kind of a date as to when the beer was bottled, brewed or should be consumed by. This is up to each brewer and each has their own thought on when beer is best fresh by and most certainly known when their beer is best consumed. For example, Dogfish Head typically recommends up to 120 days, where as Stone Brewing prefers not to exceed 90 days.

What consumers should also be aware of is where the beer is coming from. If I buy a six-pack of local craftbeer, I would expect that it would be pretty fresh. However that six-pack from Colorado is not going to be as fresh. Are either bad though? Hardly. Very often these self imposed dates can be pushed a little. That can of Dale’s Pale Ale bottled two weeks ago will taste just as fresh as the local craftbeer bottled yesterday.

Never fear though training is here! “Now, a big part of the Cicerone program is knowing how to identify off characters and how they are caused so that beer may be served properly in the market. Beer gets handled by the brewer, distributor, and then retailer before it gets into our hands as consumers. It’s important for people in every link of that chain to know how to handle it and store it properly. Temperature, light, movement… there’s alot of factors that affect it. We want to make certain that beer stays at 50ºF or lower (down to 32º), that it doesn’t come into contact with fluorescent or ultraviolet light, and that it doesn’t get too jostled along the way.” says Rob Landerman,  Ranger Creek Brewing and Distilling’s Head Brewer and resident Certified Cicerone.

Does that mean you shouldn’t have a beer that does not have a freshness or born on date? Absolutely not. Just make sure to remember some signs of a beer to stay clear of are rusty caps, dust on the bottles or shelves and beer in clear bottles. These are often signs that at some point, the beer has not been handled as it should. This all brings us back to the question: Should I drink a beer that is past its recommended date? Again, look at styles, Ales, hoppy beers and those low in ABV you will want to have sooner, but your higher gravity beers and darker beers you push the edge if you wish.