As with many other items, beer’s best when it’s fresh

Freshness matters for so many things we buy at the supermarket. We want fresh eggs, produce and baked bread. Fresh simply tastes better, and it is no different for beer. But how many of us actually check on the freshness of the beer we’re buying?

While there are a handful of beer styles that can be aged for many years and, under the proper conditions, improve with age just as a fine wine does, the overwhelming majority of beers are meant to be consumed fresh. 

Historically, most beers were consumed within a few days of being tapped because spoilage (souring) would occur soon after. With improvements in sanitation, packaging and a greater understanding of microbiology, the shelf life of beer has increased considerably. However, once beer is packaged, it has a limited life of peak freshness. As beer ages, temperature, oxygen and light can cause flavors and aromas to change, first becoming more subtle and eventually going stale.

The standard shelf life for beer stored under ideal conditions (cold, in a dark place) is 90 to 180 days, depending on the style. Hoppy, lightly colored and wheat beers tend to have shorter shelf lives.

Big breweries such as Anheuser-Busch and smaller craft breweries like Sierra Nevada post dates on their products. These tell consumers when the beer was either brewed, packaged or when it will expire. While it can take a bit of searching, check the neck and bottle labels for dates, or find it printed directly on the bottle or can. 

Some breweries still use Julian dates on their beers. These include 4 digits (3020), where the first digit stands for the last digit of the year (2013) and the following digits represent the day of the year out of 365 days (Jan. 20). Admittedly, this is not the most consumer-friendly format.  

Additionally, you may find numbers and letters that indicate either the batch number, bottling line or fermentor from which the beer originated. 

Perfectly timed for this month’s column is Deschutes Brewing’s release of Fresh Squeezed IPA. This is a beer that you want to buy as fresh as possible and drink right away. Fresh Squeezed IPA is brewed with generous amounts of incredibly juicy and citrus-packed hops that are most vibrant when the beer is fresh. The citrus, berry and melon flavors are so vibrant, you won’t even notice the assertive bitterness and light, lingering, bready sweetness. 

Be sure to pour this beer into a glass, or you’ll miss out on the pungent aromas of tangerine, ripe melon, pineapple and orange. 

Hop aromas and flavors dissipate and fade as a beer ages, so it is best to drink styles such as IPAs as fresh as possible. If you’ve never tried an IPA , this one is the perfect beer to try out. 

Deschutes includes a "best by" date on each bottle so you’ll know the exact shelf life of your beer.

Tim Golden shares his obsession with all things craft beer monthly in the Star-Advertiser food section. See his blog, “Beer in Hawaii,” at beerinhawaii.com.