I only recently began drinking (and enjoying) beer. I studied abroad in Amsterdam and the beer culture there ~changed~ me. Since moving on from my strictly wine and cocktails days, I've had a lot of catching up to do in order to learn about the beer world.
I've got a pretty good handle on the different types of beer and beer lingo, but there are other questions that I still felt the need to dig into more. For example, does beer go bad? I see that beers have expiration dates, but I'm not sure what those dates mean. It's alcohol, which means it can't expire, right?
Turns out, beer does go bad. Here are some key warning signs that your six pack is a little sickly.
1. It smells like a skunk
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This should be pretty obvious since skunk isn't exactly an appetizing scent, but a skunky beer is often not a good beer. This is actually the root of the term "skunked," which many people use to describe bad beer. Basically a beer gets skunky when it's exposed to the right combo of UV rays and colored glass that doesn't block out the rays.
Some beers, like Heineken, are bottled in colored bottles and therefore often get skunky, which people tend to enjoy. Therefore, skunky beer is sometimes not indicative of a bad beer, which is pretty damn confusing.
2. It tastes stale
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Until you open it, your beer shouldn't have come into contact with any oxygen. Early contact with oxygen is called oxidation and it results in a stale, cardboard-like taste. This is why the Natty Light you drink at frat parties tastes even more bland than usual. A keg left tapped for too long is a surefire way to oxidize your beer.
3. It tastes like popcorn
Unless you're drinking a funky craft brew that's supposed to taste like a movie theater snack, your beer should not taste like popcorn. Diacetyl is a buttery-flavored compound that's produced in almost every beer fermentation.
Exposure to too much diacetyl is actually very dangerous for your lungs, but luckily the amount of the flavoring in beer is not near that level. Still, it's not something you want tons of in your beer.
4. It has a weird taste (like cabbage or sewage)
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Despite the fact that there are tons of weird beer flavors out there, it should be pretty clear if the flavor you're tasting is not intentional. Some common flavors that can indicate a bad beer are cooked cabbage, sewage, sulphur, or just an abnormally sour taste.
Can You Drink Your Bad Beer?
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After drinking a beer at a new local brewery that tasted a little off, I did extensive research to see if this beer would be the reason for my untimely death. (I'm a dramatic hypochondriac, what can I say?)
Although I surprisingly could not find any conclusive, reputable sources about if bad beer is dangerous, I found tons of comments on beer forums and social media sites, like Reddit, that all led to the same conclusion.
Bad beer will not make you sick, it just tastes really bad. The only way beer could make you sick is if the equipment it is brewed in is dirty or used incorrectly. My beer loving dad also confirmed this for me.
How Long Does Beer Last?
So, how long do you really have before you need to look out for all of these qualities? The answer, as with most things in life, is: it depends.
Beer typically lasts for six to nine months past the expiration date on its label. If the beer is refrigerated, it can last up to two years beyond the expiration date. It all depends on what your tolerance for those nasty flavors that come with bad beer is. Cans tend to last longer than bottles since they block out more light.
Does beer go bad? Overall, beer is only as bad as you think. If you are desperate (or already a few beers in), that skunky flavor may not seem so terrible.