Hi,
I bought yesterday some Becks beers from Dan Murphy, and when I was drinking one of them I notified the expiry date is 06/2015.
a/ Is it legal to sell without telling the customer that the expiry date is this month?
b/ Is it "Expired" or "to expire at the end of the month" ?
The beer was tasting as usual, just curious about the story with the expiry date.
Not looking to complain, just wondering about the situation.
Thanks !
I have heard beers are still ok 4-6 months after expiry date as far as they are stored fresh.
We will see, if I don't reply tomorrow, maybe something was wrong with my beer.
With beer, you know immediately if it's not good anymore… Basically if it tasted like jock-strap soup or it was so sour that your face puckered up inside out, then it's off.
If it was crisp and refreshing, then great work.
This.
I have had beer outside of its expiry date and it's been fine.
If, however, there's no fizz/it's flat/tastes funny, you KNOW it's junk. Tastes horrible, doesn't sit well in your guts, etc.
Bucks beer. Good for a becks party.
Easy solution is to drink Coopers.
I just looked at a couple of Coopers stubbies, and they have a 'best after' instead of 'best before' :-)
I forgot about a 6 pack of Coopers Stout, and when I found it last week it had a 'best after date' of 2010.
My mates and I reckon that it was nectar.
Sadly, beer is one thing where you generally get what you pay for in the mainstream brands.
Having said that, I have been brewing my own since 1972!
Hey mate, do you do the coopers hoembrew cans? I just put down my last one yesterday and have been looking to restock on the cheap in case you have any ideas? I bought a bunch from dan murphys last year at good prices but they are now gone…Cheers
Sure do.
I have two 23 litre kegs, and one has Thomas Coopers Irish Stout and the other has Thomas Coopers Sparkling Ale.
My recipe is just a can of each plus a Brew Enhancer 2 pack.
I have made up some of the brews at http://store.coopers.com.au/brewing-info/recipes.html and occasionally get the special brews.
I am still drinking the Coopers Belle Saison that I brewed almost two years ago, and it tastes fantastic.
It's worth joining the club, as they sometimes have good specials.
A free delivery offer just popped into my In Box this morning :-)
Life is too short to drink crap beer!
Ive only been brewing for a year - my favorite so far is the APA with 1.25kg BE2 then keg 18L and bottle the remaining 5L. Start drinking keg next day after force carbing. Bottles good after 6 weeks, best at around 4 months. So do you always buy directly from coopers site? Is the free shipping a generic code that anyone can use?
If you check out the links page at www.worthogs.net, you'll find other home brewing information that you might consider useful.
I've been gifted around a case worth of Heineken in the past, which was out of date by a range of dates between two and 18 months. I found the beers were generally ok up until about the 5-6mth past use-by dates, those up to 12mths tasted noticeably worse for wear, while the 18mth ones tasted thin and cardboard-like. As a lager, your Becks would act similarly.
I can verify the coopers stories above - in fact, their 'extra strong vintage ale' recommends cellaring for up to 5 years, while I've had a long-term (20+ years) drinker of coopers sparkling swear on the beer getting better as it ages (up to a 2 year point).
As for the expiry date on your case - next time, pay closer attention to the expiry date(especially to imported beers, which your Beck's may have been - these cases are often ship-freighted to Australia and will generally have a shorter drinking window). I've been lucky a few times at Dan Murphys and 1st Choice to have the case price reduced by over 50% due to the best-before date having passed (by a week or so), just by asking for a discount. Got a case of Budejovicky Budvar for $27, down from $60!
Should of been discounted, ring the manager and try for a replacement carton.
Look again. Is it an EXPIRY date or a USE BY/BEST BEFORE date? Things like milk suddenly go bad (or relatively quickly), and therefore have an EXPIRY or USE BY date. It is illegal to sell beyond that date due to health concerns. It should normally be consumed by then or discarded, but I have had milk in the fridge for days past the expiry date which had not gone off and was still usable. It is an ESTIMATE of when it is expected to "go bad". Other items have a recommended date, known as a BEST BEFORE date. It is a date, estimated and recommended by the manufacturer that the product is expected to last without any change to its flavour or condition. After that date, it is still perfectly safe to consume however it may experience a deterioration in taste or appearance from the fresh product. There are clearance stores like NQR in Victoria that sell products after their BEST BEFORE dates quite cheaply, and it is not illegal. Many products still taste as good as the "fresh" ones, or the texture might be slightly changed indicating it is older, but it is still perfectly edible.
Bottled water has a BEST BEFORE date as well. Why? Does H2O magically turn into something else after an arbitrary date? No, but chemicals might leach from the plastic bottle after time and impart a slight taste which is different to a fresh bottle, but is still fine to consume. It will still be the same water molecules that have existed for millions or billions of years, and you don't worry about drinking something that old!
Too many people these days don't know the difference between these dates, which is a bonus for the manufacturers because they benefit from the fear of consumers. Plenty of perfectly good food is routinely discarded because people think it has "expired".
If its past the date, they can't sell it.
Not true, beer would be 'best before', meaning they can legally sell it.
Products with 'use by' dates cannot legally be sold.
http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/consumer/labelling/dates/Pag…
And no alcohol is 'use by' then? Except perhaps the Milk drinks?
Even stuff like Baileys Irish Cream will be "Best By". The alcohol acts as a preservative. I had a little sample bottle stuck in the back of my drinks cabinet, it must have been 10 years old, but it hadn't gone off. It had curdled a bit and had solids floating in it, but was still drinkable. The taste was noticeably deteriorated though, I'm suspecting from chemicals leached from the plastic bottle. (I only took a sip to see…)
I just bought a 6 pack of German premium imported beer last night and just realised now that it is past its best before date. If so, your claim is such that it’s ok to consume and it's legal, well the fact the beer was flat and now I have had chronic diarrhoea for the last 6 hours would mean it’s not fit for consumption. Do I deserve a refund?
Generally with beer its going to be a "best before" only so ok to sell although i wouldn't pay full price for something that was beyond this. They should have this in their discount bins if selling at all… Guy from my work bought a few after work beers from the pub across the road closing down and got sold beer that was more than 6 months beyond its "best before". He noticed it when it didn't taste right, and was a bit more cloudy then usual… when he took it back and complained the lady there told him it wasn't illegal and they wouldn't give their money back. they would however swap it for something else (equally past its best before…)
Life is too short to drink bad beer!! as my father in law says there is no such thing as a bad beer, just better.. (although not sure if that applies to out of date beer…?)
Further on the Coopers point, when I used to work at a bottle-o, we'd occasionally get customers come back not realising the date was a 'best-after'. I remember one who complained that it was "out of date and had floaties" and was surprised when I guessed they'd never drunk Coopers.
Flat beer isn't the same thing as beer which continues to ferment.
If the beer smells like a skunk and tastes stale, it does go bad.
By the looks of things, ya better hurry up and drink it then.