MickeyDavis wrote:Question for the beer guys. If a place has 50-75 beers on tap do you think they go through them all fast enough that they stay fresh? Do you think they'll ditch stuff that's old and eat the loss or just keep it on tap until someone eventually drinks it? That's always my concern when I'm at a place that has a ton of beers on tap (or even bottles). Just how fresh is the stuff...
It takes a long time for non-hoppy beer to go bad (especially in kegs), so there isn't much you should worry about. If you are getting a hoppy beer, it's best to know when the beer is released if it is a seasonal beer. For instance, wet hop beers were recently released at the end of the harvest season. You want to drink these asap since what gives hoppy beer their bitterness, isomerized alpha acids, break down relatively quickly and the beer looses flavor. This is delayed by storing in the dark and in the cold.
Most other beers have no problems sitting, and in fact some get better with age like barleywines and stouts (but most won't age long enough or fast enough sitting in a cooler). I have over 100 bottles of beer ranging from stouts to barleywines to sours in my basement waiting to be traded or drank.
Bars and restaurants have only so much space though so they'll ditch beers if it is needed. They make an absolute killing on beer though. They may make up to $5 per glass of beer sold so getting everything out of the keg isn't that big of a deal.
The big, big problem though is with maintenance of their lines. I'll leave a bar/restaurant if they give me a funky/soapy/vinegary tasting beer when I damn know it's not supposed to taste that way. Luckily, I think most beer places know the importance of this.
