Fresh is Best - What Makes Beer Lose Its Freshness?

Fresh is Best - What Makes Beer Lose Its Freshness?

31 Mar 2021

by Mick Wust

Do you want your beer to taste the best it can? Then you need to care about beer freshness.

As a general rule, we know craft beer from independent breweries costs more than beer from the big corporations. But we’re willing to pay it, because it’s what we want to drink.

Local brewers making high quality beer that’s full of flavour? Worth it!

So it makes sense that we drink our beer the way the brewer intended it - as fresh as possible.

If you’ve never thought about beer freshness before, it might sound strange to you. But we all know food tastes better when it’s fresh, right?

Think fresh bread warm from the oven versus stale bread that’s been sitting on the bench for days.

In the same way, beer is at its best when it’s fresh. Zingy hop aromas, lively on your tongue, full of flavour… fresh beer is everything you want it to be.

What makes beer lose its freshness?

There are four main things that affect beer freshness.

Oxygen - Our friend is beer’s enemy.

As hard as brewers work to keep it oxygen out of their beer, small amounts will always get in. And even a tiny amount will slowly affect the beer—hop aroma and flavour will degrade, malt characters can become stale or overly sweet, and beer can take on a flavour like wet cardboard.

Light - Certain compounds in hops break down when UV light hits them, and can give off a sulphury smell and taste. A little bit of light can do this over a long time (for example, if a beer bottle is under halogen lights for months) or harsh light can do this quickly (like direct sunlight for half an hour). This is one of the reason cans have become so popular among brewers - they keep our precious beer safe from light! 

Heat - If you remember your high school science, you’ll know that heat speeds up chemical reactions. Oxygen and UV light can both do their damage more quickly when beer is warm or hot.

Time - Since both alcohol and hops are natural preservatives, beer doesn’t go bad and become unsafe to drink in the way that some other foods and drinks do. But even small amounts of oxygen, light and heat will affect beer’s freshness over time. Some beers will keep their flavours for longer, or can even benefit from cellaring (think higher-alcohol beers, and beers with malty flavours like stouts and porters), while hoppy beers (such as pale ales, XPAs and IPAs) will deteriorate more quickly.

So how do I drink beer at its best? 

At the end of the day, if you’ve spent your hard-earned money on beer, don’t you want to make sure you’re getting the best version of it? 

Here are a few basic tips.

Buy it fresh

Of course, if the beer you buy isn’t fresh even when you buy it, you have no chance of enjoying it at its best! For hoppy beers in particular (like pale ales, XPAs or IPAs), the first four months is when a beer will show off its best flavours. By the time a beer is approaching 12 months, it can taste quite different.

To find out when a beer was packaged, check the bottom of the can - many will have a ‘Packaged’ date stamped on it, while others will have a ‘Best Before’ date (often 12 months from date of packaging).

It’s important to Only Craft Beer that you get your beer as fresh as possible. When you order beer from Only Craft Beer, it’s delivered directly from the brewery to your house. No extra transit time, extra handling, or extra warehouses.

Keep it fresh

Once you’ve received the beer, it’s up to you to treat it well - particularly to protect it from heat and light.

Keep it in a cool, dark place. In the fridge is best, but if you don’t have the space, a cool cupboard that stays a steady temperature is the next best thing.

There’s no excuse for it being in direct sunlight unless you’re in the middle of drinking it outdoors!

Drink it fresh

If beer is at it’s best when it’s closest to the time of packaging, then don’t wait!

Beer isn’t something to hang on to for a special occasion a long time away. (There are a kinds of beer that age well, like barleywines and imperial stouts, but they’re the exception, not the rule.)


If you want to drink your beer the way the brewer intended, then drink it sooner rather than later. Share it with your friends, and remember that there’s always more beer available from Only Craft Beer.

 

Buy it fresh; keep it fresh; drink it fresh!