P310 BBB 310 Fri 23 Oct 08:04:12
▐🬂🬧▐🬂🬧▐🬂🬧 Best Before Beer
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🬁🬂🬀🬁🬂🬀🬁🬂🬀 Last minute deals
Can you drink beer
past its best before?
Yes, nearly always. Beer carries a
best before date, not a use by date,
and they mean different things.
"After the best before date, the food
is usually safe to eat but may not be
of the same quality."
Use by is the one about safety. Best
before is about quality: the day the
brewery reckons the beer starts to
taste less than its best.
What fades first
Hop aroma. Pale and hazy beers are at
their best fresh, so they get short
dates: Thornbridge give their hazy
beers 6 months and their big dark
beers up to 5 years. Dark and strong
keeps.
"Does it smell like beer? Does it
taste like beer? If so, it's probably
perfectly fine to drink."
Keep it cold and dark
Warmth and light are what age a beer,
not the calendar. Thornbridge store
theirs at 2 to 7 degrees and say beer
should never sit above room
temperature. A fridge slows all of
this down.
So why is it cheap?
A brewery would rather sell a beer
near its date than pour it away. The
ones below are past their best before
and still on sale from the brewery's
own shop. Our view: buy the dark ones
without a second thought, drink the
pale ones soon.
Past its date, this week
Cloudwater: Protosynthesis
£12.60 was £21.60 42% off
Spring Ale, 3.4%
Best before 15th Oct
Buy at Cloudwater >
Crafty: Oxfordshire Blue
£12 was £30 60% off
Golden Ale, 4.8%
Best before 2nd Oct
Buy at Crafty >
Hepworth: Reindeer Droppings
£24 was £42 43% off
4.7%
Best before 2nd Oct
Buy at Hepworth >
Cloudwater: The Ritual Continues
£13.20 was £27 51% off
DDH Pale, 5%
Best before 1st Oct
Buy at Cloudwater >
Harbwr: Rocky Bottom
£16 was £40 60% off
Welsh Premium Lager, 4.6%
Best before end Sep 2026
Buy at Harbwr >
Lymestone: Flag Stone
£18 was £32.50 45% off
Hoppy ale, 4.2%
Best before Sep 2026
Buy at Lymestone >
Cloudwater: Bell Rock x Fyne Ales
£13.20 was £26.75 51% off
Pale Ale, 5.5%
Best before 23rd Sep
Buy at Cloudwater >
Lymestone: Pounamu
£18 was £32.50 45% off
Pale ale, 4.2%
Best before July 2026
Buy at Lymestone >
Cloudwater: Several Rituals I Can't
Explai
£13.20 was £26 49% off
Bright Pale, 5%
Best before 30th Jul
Buy at Cloudwater >
Hambleton: Green Star
£31.20 was £39 20% off
Light Pale Ale
Best before June 2026
Buy at Hambleton >
Checked 22nd Oct. Deals sell out.
18+ only.