Rail Paul Posted January 28, 2006 Share Posted January 28, 2006 The Wall Street Journal has an article about the mysterious codes on beer bottles. If you can decipher them, they'll give you the expiration date. Boston Beer's labels are simple "Best when consumed by June 30, 2006" while many others have something like 6SJ7QN. Not esp helpful. Labatt's formula looks like this M06M5-50525, where the first M = the month, with A=January, and M = December. "I" is skipped. The "06" is the day, and the five following the second M is the last digit of 2005 Anchor Steam uses a simple formula. 5 F 8, with 5 = 2005, F= month of February. Others include Y = May, U = June, L = July, and G = August. The 8 equals the day Tecate has a longer formula, of which only a few characters refer to the freshness. K1909 F 09 12 5 where 09 is the day, 12 is the month, and 5 is the final digit of the year. Other beers deciphered include Bass Coona Coors Asahi Fosters Heinekin Miller Molson and Pabst Quote Link to post Share on other sites
lovelynugget Posted January 28, 2006 Share Posted January 28, 2006 I'm sticking this in here cuz I can't be bothered with starting a new thread. Black Table beer roundup Scarily comprehensive. Some people really do have a lot of time on their hands. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rail Paul Posted January 28, 2006 Author Share Posted January 28, 2006 I'm sticking this in here cuz I can't be bothered with starting a new thread. Black Table beer roundup Scarily comprehensive. Some people really do have a lot of time on their hands. Dos Equis is a confused comingling of cultures rendering the same result you got when you tried to mix all the paint together as a kid: bilgewater. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bloviatrix Posted January 29, 2006 Share Posted January 29, 2006 That Journal piece is something I'm cutting out and saving in my files. As a result, I learned the Guinness I bought the other week was brewed in early 2005. I'm not pleased. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mongo_jones Posted January 29, 2006 Share Posted January 29, 2006 i like dos equis. well, one of them anyway. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rail Paul Posted January 29, 2006 Author Share Posted January 29, 2006 i like dos equis. well, one of them anyway. Rolling Rock beer has a horse's head on its label, mongo. If you like dos, maybe the rock will appeal to your tastes. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mongo_jones Posted January 29, 2006 Share Posted January 29, 2006 i like dos equis. well, one of them anyway. Rolling Rock beer has a horse's head on its label, mongo. If you like dos, maybe the rock will appeal to your tastes. well, the horse's head doesn't have much to do with it. i just think it is a decent enough beer--not worthy of fulsome praise or dismissal. i'd drink it over corona and many other popular beers anyday. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bill Miller Posted January 31, 2006 Share Posted January 31, 2006 Bud actually prints the birthdate on the lable ---of course their turnover is pretty good. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
flyfish Posted January 31, 2006 Share Posted January 31, 2006 I know this is not on topic, but does your country or state require the alcohol content of beer to be listed on the label? Just wondering, since I don't recall it being on beer labels I've seen in NY state, and that seemed odd to me given that the US is such a leader in consumer product label legislation (alcohol content is required on labels here in Canada). Fly Quote Link to post Share on other sites
g.johnson Posted January 31, 2006 Share Posted January 31, 2006 I believe the major brewers oppose listing alcohol content nominally because it will encourage competitive boozing. The real reason is probably because the major brands will come out looking pretty weedy compared to the microbrews. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tanabutler Posted January 31, 2006 Share Posted January 31, 2006 Also too lazy to start a new topic, but check out BeerMapping.com. Pretty cool, if you like beer, that is. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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