Store Cold / Best Before / Fresh Beer – What Does It All Mean? Is it OK to buy Duke if its not in a fridge?
There’s some scuttlebutt doing the rounds, suggesting you shouldn’t buy Duke from bottleshops that don’t store Duke cold. Not true! Any beer, no matter who brews it or what’s in it, will stay fresh longer if it’s kept cold from the day it’s brewed to the day you drink it. Unfortunately in the modern world, that doesn’t often happen. (But at BBC, we go close!) Yes, we know our cartons say, “Store Cold”. Don’t tell them this, but that’s mainly to remind our Brewers that newly packaged cartons don’t go in their car – they go straight in the cold room. The truth is, after any beer is packaged, its appearance and flavour can deteriorate – and with certain factors in combination, this can happen rapidly. There are four main ‘enemies’ of fresh beer. They all negatively affect beer’s flavour or appearance. When 2 or more of them team up in combination, the beer is on a premature-aging-fast-track! It is best to minimise the exposure of any beer to: • Light • Oxygen • Age (long time periods betw
