Free tool
Beer freshness calculator
Pick the style, enter the date on the can and see how much of its flavour window is left. The window is the one a brewery typically starts from for that style; if the can carries a best-by date, that date wins.
Enter the date on the can to see how much of its flavour window is left.
How it is calculated
1. A printed date wins.
If the brewery printed a best-by date, that is where the window ends. Nothing we compute overrides a date you can read off the can.
2. Then the brewery's own window.
On QR Beers a brewery can set a window for each of its beers, and its batch pages use it. The calculator cannot know it, so it goes straight to the style.
3. Then the style default.
How many days a brewery typically gives that style, counted from packaging (table below). If you do not know the style, pick Other: 180 days.
4. The verdict.
“Peak fresh” for most of the window; “Drink soon” for the last 20% of it, never more than 30 days; “Past its best-by” once the date is behind it. Past the date, the beer has moved on from what the brewery intended.
Freshness is about flavour at its best, not safety. The window is the brewery's own.
Freshness windows by style
Days from packaging. This is the window a brewery starts from; it can set its own, and a date printed on the can always wins.
| Style | Days | Roughly |
|---|---|---|
| IPAs | ||
| Hazy IPA | 90 | 3 months |
| West Coast IPA | 120 | 4 months |
| Double IPA | 90 | 3 months |
| Session IPA | 90 | 3 months |
| Cold IPA | 120 | 4 months |
| Pale, amber and brown ales | ||
| Pale Ale | 120 | 4 months |
| Amber Ale | 180 | 6 months |
| Red Ale | 180 | 6 months |
| Brown Ale | 180 | 6 months |
| Lagers | ||
| Pilsner | 120 | 4 months |
| Helles | 120 | 4 months |
| Vienna Lager | 150 | 5 months |
| Marzen | 180 | 6 months |
| Schwarzbier | 180 | 6 months |
| Bock | 365 | 1 year |
| Doppelbock | 365 | 1 year |
| Kolsch | 120 | 4 months |
| Cream Ale | 150 | 5 months |
| Wheat beers | ||
| Hefeweizen | 90 | 3 months |
| Witbier | 120 | 4 months |
| Weizenbock | 365 | 1 year |
| Porters and stouts | ||
| Porter | 270 | 9 months |
| Dry Stout | 180 | 6 months |
| Oatmeal Stout | 270 | 9 months |
| Milk Stout | 270 | 9 months |
| Imperial Stout | 730 | 2 years |
| Sours and wild ales | ||
| Gose | 180 | 6 months |
| Berliner Weisse | 180 | 6 months |
| Fruited Sour | 180 | 6 months |
| Wild Ale | 730 | 2 years |
| Lambic | 1,825 | 5 years |
| Belgian styles | ||
| Saison | 365 | 1 year |
| Belgian Blonde | 365 | 1 year |
| Dubbel | 730 | 2 years |
| Tripel | 730 | 2 years |
| Quadrupel | 1,095 | 3 years |
| Barrel-aged and barleywine | ||
| Barrel-Aged | 1,095 | 3 years |
| Barleywine | 1,095 | 3 years |
| Other | ||
| Non-Alcoholic | 120 | 4 months |
| Other | 180 | 6 months |
Can't find the date, or want the why?
Cans, bottles, kegs and growlers, fridge or shelf, and what the date on a beer actually means:
How long does craft beer last? →Run a brewery? Put this verdict on every can.
With a batch code, every canning run gets its own page with the canned-on date and this same verdict, one scan away from the person holding it.