Does Beer Expire? Here's What an Expert Says

Fuzzy mold spots on bread, spoiled milk stinking up your fridge—some rotten food is easier to identify than others. But when it comes to beer, how can you tell if it's past its prime?

To answer these questions, we turned to Neil Witte. One of only 22 Master Cicerones (the highest level of certification in the Cicerone Certification Program) in the world, he has vast knowledge of the world of beer. He also owns Craft Quality Solutions, a specialized draft beer company based in Kansas City, Missouri. With over two decades in the beer business, Witte knows what to look for in beer. So we asked him: can beer go bad?

His short answer is yes—kind of. "Beer expires, but beer doesn't expire in the same way that a lot of people think of when they think of food in particular," he explains. Other things you eat and drink run the risk of pathogenic bacterial growth that can cause humans to get sick. "Because of the alcohol content in beer, and the presence of hops—which have antimicrobial characteristics—there's not really any pathogen growth," Witte shares. "The worst thing that's going to happen to beer when it gets old is that it's going to taste bad."

What's the Shelf Life of Beer?

However, Witte explains, different beers can have different shelf lives. Certain high-alcohol, malt-forward styles are sometimes brewed with aging in mind. "Barleywines and imperial stouts, particularly, a lot of brewers brew those with the intent that people are going to sit on those beers for a couple of years," he says, adding that those are an exception to his general recommendation: drink beer as fresh as you can.

If it's not a beer you plan to age, Witte says, "You should always drink beer as fresh as possible." This is especially true for hop-heavy styles, like India pale ales (IPAs). Witte points out that although the antimicrobial properties of hops are what keep beer from pathogenic growth, they're also one of the more delicate characteristics of beer—and one that shows signs of aging first.

"One of the defining features of an IPA is that really wonderful hoppy aroma, but one of the first things that happens with beer as it ages is volatile aromas—specifically, those from hops—tend to dissipate," says Witte. "An IPA, when it's really fresh, is going to exhibit those great hop characteristics, but an IPA that's three or four months old might not show very much of those at all."

How to Identify Expired Beer

How can a consumer tell how old a beer is, or if there's an expiration date? It's not always easy. Beer labels are required to display certain pieces of information—alcohol volume and brand name, to name a few—but one thing that's not required? The packaging date.

"There's no obligation for brewers to provide to consumers the packaging date for the expiration date," says Witte. Some brewers include hints, such as "Best By" dates or even the date it was brewed, but they're not required to. Witte, for one, says that brewers providing age transparency on their products indicates a higher level of quality compared to those who do not.

"Personally, I tend to not buy beer that doesn't have a clearly marked expiration date on it," he says. But the good news is even if you drink an old or expired beer, "the worst thing that's going to happen is that you're going to have beer that doesn't taste good," says Witte. "There's no health risk in drinking old beer."

Beer Storage Tips to Maintain Freshness

To keep beer from diminishing in quality, there are a few easy things to do. First, check the expiration date (if it's on the packaging). If you aren't planning on drinking it right away, it's best to store it in the fridge until you're ready to drink it. If you don't have space for that, keep it in the coolest part of your house, like a cool basement or cellar. Finally, try to make sure your storage area is as dark as possible.

While light doesn't "age" beer, Witte notes it does have a negative effect on it. When ultraviolet light comes in contact with certain hop compounds—yes, the same hops that keep microbes out of your beer—it triggers a chemical reaction. The result? "It turns into a compound that smells almost identical to that of a skunk," he says.

This phenomenon, called lightstruck, can happen in any beer. However, Witte advises, the best way to avoid this is simple. Just keep beer out of sunlight and look for certain packaging that keeps light out as well.

"One of the biggest things that brewers do is use different colored glass in the bottles, because different colors of glass have different levels of protection against ultraviolet light," says Witte. "Brown glass does the best job of blocking UV light. It doesn't block 100% of it, but it blocks almost all of it. Green glass and clear glass, on the other hand, basically provide no protection."

There are plenty of popular beers that use clear and green glass bottles and lean into lightstruck flavors. When that's the brewer's intent, "there's nothing wrong with that," says Witte. But if you prefer to avoid skunkiness in your beer, keep it cold, keep it in a dark place, and drink it fresh.

Bottom Line

While exposure to light and repeated temperature fluctuations can impart off flavors to beer, the hops and alcohol in beer prevent bacterial growth that can cause sickness. To keep your beer fresher for longer, keep it cold and out of direct sunlight and drink it within a couple of months of purchase.