At some point I became a fresh beer “nerd”. Too many times I have paid good money for beer that was at or beyond it’s “best by” date, so I check the dates each time. Distributors will sneak some old beer in there from time to time. Perhaps unwitting, grocery stores and bottle shops don’t catch it. They should pay more attention and demand better for their customers. But that’s just me.
How fresh is the beer I am buying? Some of the codes are a bit tricky to figure out. I make a few “educated guesses” for some brands. Some are straight forward. This is my attempt to keep a record of how the various beer best by or expiration dates can be decoded.
These are a guess unless otherwise there is a resource to support it.
Smithwicks Red Ale: Code on bottom of can shows canning date. Example: The first line of print is “L4224GE005”. We are concerned only about the first four digits after the leading “L” which are “4224”. This is in YDDD format. In our example, the beer was canned on the 224 day of 2024, which translates to August 11, 2024. Source: The Beer Emptor
Added on 12/30/24
Guinness Draught Stout: Code on bottom of can show canning date. Example: The first line of print is “L13420J001”. We are concerned only about the first four digits after the leading “L” which are “1342”. This is in YDDD format. In our example, the beer was canned on the 342nd day of 2021, which translates to December 8, 2021. Source: BeerAdvocate forum
Added on 07/01/22
Hacker-Pschorr Oktoberfest: Code on bottom right of rear label shows a best by date above the lot number. Example: “11.21” and “L32805” indicate a best by date of November 2021.
Added on 06/10/21
Ayinger Oktoberfest: Code “L9066” is 2019, 66th day of the year, so early March 2019. From BeerAdvocate forum: in reference to the code L8118, “”thank you for your inquiry and your interest in our Ayinger Beer. The number means that the beer was bottled on the 118th day of 2018, it is a lot number.” Added on 10/13/19
Hofbräu Oktoberfestbier: Code “L 173 Q 09:31”. From BeerAdvocate forum: “hofbrau- there is two sets of numbers/letters on the bottom of back label. look for the first set following the letter “L”, in this case “L 119 E” the 119 is the day in the year it was bottled, the E is the year as in 2001=a, 2002=b, ect. so 119 E= the 119th day of 2005.” Added on 10/16/18
Maisels Weisse Original Hefe-Weissbier: Code “18 H 17 0:08”.
Maisels (didn’t identify the beer): Code “18/08/11”.
Paulaner Oktoberfest Bier: Code on bottom of can: first line “03.22.2022 2”, second line “03.22.2021 X” would indicate that the beer was either brewed or canned on 03/22/2021 and is good until 03/22/2020.Added on 10/30/21
Paulaner Oktoberfest Märzen: Code at bottom right of front label “04.19 n”, second line “L10785 P”. Printed vertically on the label, “Enjoy Before End Of:” would indicate that the “04.19” is the MM/YY. The “L10785 P” might be the lot number.Added on 10/24/18
Weihenstephaner Original Premium: Code “0057”. First digit is day of month, or second digit of the day. The next two digits are the week of the year. The fourth digit is the last digit of the year. The first digit in this example, “0”, is either 10, 20, or 30. Second digit is the 5th week of the year, i.e., last week of January into February. The last digit, “7” is the last digit of the year, or 2017 (we hope it’s not 2007). So looking at the 2017 calendar, the fifth week includes January 29 thru February 4. The only day in that week with a zero in the number is the 30th of January. So, DECODED: January 30, 2017. Here is my source from RealBeer.com. (read the whole thread!)
More as I get to it…Cheers!
