Old Sierra Nevada

[Jake]

Why is it I cannot find fresh Sierra Nevada beer? Everywhere I can find that sell S.N the bottled date is 110-140 days ago. I still take my chances and buy the stuff anyway and have been lucky not to have gotten a skunky batch. I really like S.N. and been wondering what a fresh batch would taste like. Everytime I see that my store is sold out I think to myself good I will see some fresh next time, but the next delivery has a bottle date only 20 days newer that the old stuff. Does it take that long for that beer to get from California to Michigan?

[hopjack13]

sierra nevada is bottle conditioned, and although i do agree a fresh bottle would be better, it should hold up to age quite well.
a 6 month old bottle would be fine with me, i don't imagine it it would be bad at all.... as long as it was kept reasonably well, ie.. not on somebodys back porch or something.
cheers

[Jake]

Originally posted by hopjack13
sierra nevada is bottle conditioned, and although i do agree a fresh bottle would be better, it should hold up to age quite well.
a 6 month old bottle would be fine with me, i don't imagine it it would be bad at all.... as long as it was kept reasonably well, ie.. not on somebodys back porch or something.
cheers

Thats good to know. I've heard the phrase "bottle conditioned" but not sure what all is envolved with that. I think I read from another thread someone said because of the high hops in Sierra Navada will help it stay fresh tasting longer than your BMC. If I ever find a 60-80 day old bottle I will be jumping for joy.

[steveh]

Originally posted by Jake
Thats good to know. I've heard the phrase "bottle conditioned" but not sure what all is envolved with that.

Bottle conditioning can be acquaited to the priming a home-brewer does to carbonate his/her beer. A small amount of fresh beer, loaded with fermentable sugars, is added to the aged beer and the remaining live yeast feeds on the sugars to (naturally) carbonate the beer. A little sediment at the bottle bottom results, but that's easily avoided if poured carefully - or fully enjoyed in all of its vitamin B goodness.

Jake, are you reading the dating on the SN bottles/labels correctly? If so, it sounds like the local distributor, not your liquor store, needs to rotate stock better. That said, I've had fresh and older (nothing more than a few months) SNPA and there was only negligible difference.

For anyone interested, from a great PDF via Fret from SN Brewing, here's how to read the SN bottles/labels: On the rounded "collar" of the bottle, where the body forms into the neck, you'll see a series of ink-jet printed figures. If a beer was bottled today at 1:00 PM it could read: 4331A13:00 How this translates is; 4 is the last digit of the year, 2004; 331 is the Julian date - or the 331st day of the year (Jan. 1st would be 001, Dec. 31st 365); A is the SN aging or holding (previous to bottling) tank designation - I've seen A and B; and the bottling time is recorded by the 24 hour clock (military time, here in the U.S.).

On the label of some SN beers, but not all, you'll find a small code printed just below the beer's title. This will show the year and date the same as above without the tank code and bottling time.

S.

[hops99]

On the label of some SN beers, but not all, you'll find a small code printed just below the beer's title. This will show the year and date the same as above without the tank code and bottling time.

Also, the "born-on" date is printed right on the case (no code - it'll just read 11/1/04, for example) - so if your retailer has some cases in the back, you might ask to see one. A responsible retailer shouldn't be accepting delivery on SNPA that's 6+ months old.....

[fretlessman71]

Originally posted by steveh
On the label of some SN beers, but not all, you'll find a small code printed just below the beer's title. This will show the year and date the same as above without the tank code and bottling time.

S. Yep... look for small print numbers toward the lower left corner of their regular fare (PA, Stout, Porter, Wheat, maybe more).

[steveh]

Originally posted by fretlessman71
Yep... look for small print numbers toward the lower left corner of their regular fare (PA, Stout, Porter, Wheat, maybe more).

You know, there's a SN Porter in the fridge here at work (leftover from a Friday evening celeb.) and I just checked its label - no code. And of course, you can't see the code on the bottle because the beer and bottle are both dark! If I wasn't working, I'd cap it and drink it to check the date! ;)

S.

D'oh! It is on the label, just very small and lighter than usual...4128 - :O

S.

[fretlessman71]

Cap it anyway... or at least take it home and do it there! It's obviously been forgotten about and neglected. ;)

[steveh]

Originally posted by fretlessman71
It's obviously been forgotten about and neglected. ;)

Oh no, it was saved from being neglected - the original owner was gonna throw it out and I said not to, I'd drink it. I was there over the Summer when he bought the six-pack on a Friday, the beer tasted a little off, but I told him I'd give it a good evaluation - no previous beers to cloud my perception. It's mine, I just need to take the time to get to it.

S.

[chazwicke]

What are you doing working today anyway?

[Jake]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by steveh

Jake, are you reading the dating on the SN bottles/labels correctly?

100% for sure I'm reading them right. The first time I ever bought SN was back in the first part of October and those bottles were dated 4167. The ones I'm now seeing is dated 4187. The one I'm looking at now reads: 4187AO6:25

[steveh]

Originally posted by chazwicke
What are you doing working today anyway?

Since I haven't landed that job as figurehead yet... ;)

S.

[Jake]

I cannot believe my find today. I was told that our Rite Aid store sold Seirra Nevada Pale Ale. So I took a look see and sure enough it did, but to my astonishment the bottle date was 4313! That means this SN was bottled December 9, 2004. All the previous SN were 110-140 days old. Even though SN holds up to age well I'm sure going to enjoy this fresh 6 pack.

[chazwicke]

Good find Jake.

[BluesHarp]

Originally posted by Jake
I...I'm sure going to enjoy this fresh 6 pack.

Yes, you will! The hops will be very fresh tasting and the beer very crisp overall...mmmmmmmm!! :)

[Jake]

mmmmmmm....... that was good! Looking forward to later on today when the wife and I finish watching the first season of ALIAS on DVD. I'm going to drink the other three then. Its funny back around Thanksgiving I was drinking the snot out of SN and got tired of it. Thats way I can't understand these guys who drink only one brand of their macro stuff. Not only are they drinking inferior beer, but the same crap day in and day out.

[hops99]

Look for the SN Bigfoot Barleywine - my distributor tells me it should be available here in Ohio next week. It'll definitely keep you warm up north!

[eppie]

Here in Belguim almost all the non-pilsner beers are refermented in the bottle. A lot age real well, some not so well. The beer usually won't go bad for a long time, but might not taste as good. Most of my favorites I've tried between fresh off the line and 2 years old (some up to 5 years or more), and have found what I think is the proper age for most (although i'm rarely patient enough to do wait).
From what I've read, I'm no expert, the more hops a beer has the longer it will last. That is why an India Pale Ale is hoppier. It was made to survive the long and warm trip to India. Higher alcohol content also helps preserve beer and apparently for some reason darker beers age better than light.
As for Sierra Nevada, I've tried a Celebration Ale that was a year old next to one that was new. The older one had less of the sharp hop bitterness (one of the things aging does) but had a more prominant and refined malt character. Both were good. I wouldn't be afraid a a SNPA unless it was more than 2 or 3 years old, and even then I'd definatley give it a try.
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[fretlessman71]

You have it exactly right Eppie. Welcome to the board!