Date codes??

Any general ’how to’s’ of Date..Expire...Reading...?

Each brewery does it their own way. Bells has a batch number you can look up on their website. Anchor has a pretty cryptic format that is explained here: http://www.ratebeer.com/Reference/BottlingCodes.asp. Most of the Trappists had a ’best by’ date that I think was 5 years out from bottling.

Any beer in particular you are looking for help with?

Originally posted by captwacko1
Any general ’how to’s’ of Date..Expire...Reading...?

Well..Thank You and other stuff I found...I quess I should have looked 1st!
January: J July: L
February: F August: G
March: M September: S
April: A October: 0
May: Y November: N
June: U December: D

The third character in the code is either alpha or numeric and tells the day of the month. The first 26 days are represented by the alphabet with the remaining days listed as:
27th through 29th = 7 through 9
30th = 3
31st = 1
Anchor Brewing uses a complex coded three-character bottling date. The first number is the last digit of the year. The next letter is the month and the last character is the day. The months are coded:
J = Jan, F = Feb, M = Mar, A = Apr, Y = May, U = Jun L = Jul, G = Aug, S = Sep, O = Oct, N = Nov, D = Dec
The days 1-26 are coded A-Z while days 27-31 are coded with the last digit of the day. Thus 9AJ was bottled on April 10, 1999
Bass uses a four-character bottling code. The first two digits are the day of the month, a letter is the month, and a digit is the year.
Blue Moon uses a six-character expiration date. The four-character month, two-character day, and one-character year gives SEPT159 for September 15, 1999
Pete’s uses an eight-digit code. The last four-digits are the bottling date. The first of these three digits are the day of the year and the fourth digit is the year. For example, 0639 is the 63rd day of 1999
Samual Adams clearly shows the expiration date. The month is notched and the year is printed except for seasonal beers like Double Bock and Octoberfest when no year is given.
Sierra Nevada uses a coded nine-character bottling date. The first digit is the year and the next three are the day of the year. For example, 9063 is the 63rd day of 1999. Unfortunately, the date is in black ink on a brown bottle. It’s nearly impossible to read for the porter