What's the difference between "best before" and "use by" on beer?

"Use by" applies to foods that can become unsafe to eat, like fresh meat or dairy. "Best before" applies to food and drink that stays safe well past the date but gradually loses quality. Beer, like most alcoholic drinks, almost always carries a best before date, because alcohol content and the brewing process make it inhospitable to the harmful bacteria that cause food poisoning.

Do all beer styles age the same way?

No. Hoppy, low-ABV beers like pale ales, IPAs and lagers fade fastest and are best drunk fresh, ideally within a few months of packaging. Higher-ABV, malt-forward or barrel-aged styles such as stouts, barleywines and some sours can improve or hold their character for a year or more, and some are brewed specifically to be cellared.

Is flat or "skunked" beer safe to drink?

Yes, flat or light-struck (skunked) beer is safe, just unpleasant. Flatness comes from lost carbon dioxide, and the skunky smell comes from a light-triggered reaction in hop compounds, usually in clear or green glass bottles left in sunlight. Neither indicates a food safety risk, but neither tastes like what the brewer intended, so we'd say tip it away and grab a fresher one.

How should I store beer to keep it fresh?

Keep it cold, keep it dark and keep it upright. A fridge is ideal for anything you plan to drink within a few weeks; a cool, dark cupboard works for short-term storage of stronger or cellarable styles. Avoid direct sunlight, warm rooms and long-term storage of hop-forward beers, all of which accelerate staling.

Can You Drink Out-of-Date Beer? Best Before Explained

Q: Can you drink out-of-date beer?

In most cases, yes. Beer carries a "best before" date rather than a "use by" date, which means it's a quality marker, not a safety cut-off. Beer past its best before date is very unlikely to make you ill; it may simply taste flatter, staler or less hoppy than the brewery intended.

Q: Does beer actually go off?

Beer doesn't spoil the way milk or meat does, but it does change. Oxidation, light exposure and time gradually dull hop aroma, flatten carbonation and can introduce cardboard, sherry-like or papery off-flavours. It becomes less pleasant to drink long before it becomes unsafe.

Illustration: Can You Drink Out-of-Date Beer? Best Before Explained

We get asked this a lot — usually by someone who's just found a lone can at the back of the fridge, or a case left over from a party months ago. Is it safe to drink beer past its date, and will it still taste any good? The short answer is that beer almost never becomes dangerous once its date has passed; what changes is quality, not safety. Here's how "best before" actually works on beer, how different styles age, and how to tell when a can or bottle really has had its day.

The short answer

Yes, in the vast majority of cases you can safely drink beer after its date has passed. Beer is carried on shop shelves with a "best before" date, not a "use by" date, and that distinction matters more than most people realise. It's very unlikely to make you unwell; it's far more likely to simply taste worse — flatter, staler, less hoppy or slightly cardboard-like compared with how the brewer intended it. As with anything, use common sense: if a can is bulging, leaking or smells actively foul when opened, don't drink it, and if in doubt, don't.

"Best before" vs "use by" — what's actually printed on the label

UK food labelling uses two very different phrases, and beer virtually always carries the more forgiving one. "Use by" dates appear on food that can become genuinely unsafe after a certain point, like fresh meat, fish or dairy, where harmful bacteria can grow. "Best before" dates, by contrast, are a quality marker: the food or drink stays safe to consume well beyond the date, but gradually loses its peak flavour, texture or appearance. Beer sits firmly in the second category. Its alcohol content, low pH and the brewing process itself make it a genuinely hostile environment for the kind of bacteria that cause food poisoning, so breweries print best before dates rather than use by dates as standard.

Does beer actually go off?

Not in the sense that milk or meat "goes off" — but it does change, sometimes quite noticeably. Three things drive that change: oxidation (oxygen slowly reacting with compounds in the beer), light exposure (particularly through clear or green glass) and simple time. Combined, they gradually flatten carbonation, dull hop aroma and can introduce off-flavours that brewers describe as papery, cardboard-like or sherry-ish. None of that is dangerous. It's the same idea as a bag of crisps gone stale rather than a carton of milk gone sour — unpleasant, not unsafe. If you want the fuller picture of what's actually happening chemically during brewing and fermentation, our how is beer made guide is a good primer on the process that shapes how a beer ages afterwards.

Not all beer ages the same way

This is the part that trips people up, because "how old is too old" genuinely depends on the style in your hand.

Hoppy, low-to-mid ABV beers — pale ales, session IPAs, most lagers and modern hazy IPAs — fade fastest. The volatile hop aromatics that make them exciting are the first thing to disappear, often within weeks rather than months. These are brewed to be drunk fresh, ideally close to the packaging date printed on the can. See our guide to IPA for why hop character is so central, and so perishable, in that style.
Standard everyday lagers and ales hold up reasonably well for several months past their best before date if stored properly, though the crispness and freshness that define a good lager do soften over time.
Higher-ABV, malt-forward styles — stouts, porters, barleywines, strong Belgian ales and some barrel-aged beers — are far more forgiving. Alcohol and rich malt character act as a kind of buffer, and some of these styles are deliberately brewed to be cellared for a year or more, developing sherry-like, vinous or dried-fruit notes that are considered a feature rather than a fault.
Sours and wild ales vary hugely by recipe, but many are stable or even improve with age thanks to their acidity and the way they're fermented.

The general rule of thumb: the hoppier and lighter the beer, the sooner you should drink it. The stronger and maltier it is, the more slack you can cut it.

Flat or "skunked" beer — is it safe?

Both are common, both are harmless, and neither is anything to worry about beyond the taste. Flatness simply means the beer has lost carbon dioxide over time, usually through a slightly imperfect seal or very long storage; it'll taste dull and lifeless rather than dangerous. "Skunking" is a specific reaction where light — particularly sunlight or fluorescent light — hits certain hop compounds through clear or green glass and produces a smell genuinely reminiscent of a skunk. It's why many breweries package in brown glass or cans, which block far more light. Again, a skunked beer is unpleasant, not unsafe. Our honest advice if you hit either: don't force it down, just treat yourself to a fresher one instead.

How to tell if a beer really is past its best

Check the date, then check the style. A hazy IPA six months past its date is probably tired. A barleywine six months past its date might be just getting interesting.
Look before you pour. Persistent cloudiness in a beer that should be clear, or visible mould, are signs to skip it — genuinely rare, but worth a glance.
Smell it. Cardboard, wet paper or sherry notes in a beer that shouldn't have them suggest oxidation; a skunky, rubbery whiff suggests light-strike.
Trust a bulging can or gushing pour as a sign to stop, not continue — rare, but the one genuine warning sign worth respecting.
When it's genuinely unclear, don't drink it. You'll lose a couple of pounds, not a memorable evening.

How to store beer so it stays fresher for longer

Good storage buys you real time, especially with hop-forward styles that fade fastest.

Keep it cold. A fridge dramatically slows the chemical reactions behind staling — ideal for anything you plan to drink within a few weeks.
Keep it dark. Store bottles away from sunlight and bright kitchen lighting to avoid light-strike, especially in clear or green glass.
Keep it upright. This reduces the surface area of beer in contact with the cap or crown, minimising oxidation through the seal over time.
Drink hoppy beer first. If you've got a mixed stash, work through pale ales and IPAs promptly and let stronger, maltier bottles sit if you like.
Avoid temperature swings. Repeatedly warming and re-chilling beer accelerates staling more than steady storage at either temperature.

Why freshness matters so much on a taproom crawl

This is exactly why we're fairly evangelical about drinking beer close to source. On our Bermondsey Beer Tasting Tour (£49pp, 2–3.5 hours, tastings included), you're tasting hoppy, unfiltered beer straight from the tank at four independent taprooms — often only days old, sometimes literally brewed that week. That's about as far from a forgotten can at the back of the fridge as it gets, and it's a genuinely different experience: the hop aroma is louder, the carbonation livelier, and the flavours the brewer intended are all still fully present. We've been running tours since 2014, and freshness like that is honestly one of the best arguments for drinking on a working brewery's own turf rather than relying on beer that's travelled and sat for months.

Make a full day of it

Pair a Beer Mile afternoon with our free self-guided heritage walk through Southwark's brewing history, or gift the whole experience with one of our gift vouchers — delivered instantly by email and never expire, so whoever receives it can pick a date and taste London's freshest independent beer for themselves. We also run private tours for groups of 6 up to 60+, from birthdays to work socials.

See our London brewery tour →