Expired Beer at Frank's Beverage

Glen Cove, NY-

On my trips out to visit Long Island over the past few years I found Frank's Beverage Center to have the best selection in the Glen Cove area. In fact, the sign out front advertises that this distributor has "the largest selection of beer on Long Island." Unfortunately, I recently found that a large selection may not actually be beneficial.

After the Unibroue event where I tasted Trois Pistoles and Maudite, I was on Long Island and found myself wanting to introduce my family to the brewery that had, for the time being, captivated me. After a five minute drive I found the large but curiously tucked away section of Unibroue. My first look through the section raised some red flags:

1. The bottles were covered in a thick layer of dust.
2. The caps that cover the corked bottles were gold colored and larger than the usual silver color that was sitting in our cap collection.
3. The pricing seemed completely out of the ordinary. For example, bottles of La Fin Du Monde were labelled at $18.

On closer inspection, almost all of the beers were past their "best by" date by over a year. Some dates ranged back to 2008. I returned just recently and found that yet again, the Unibroue selection was expired, most in 2009. Though it saddens me that I can no longer select beer on a whim at Frank's I am glad that I learned to check all the beer I buy closely. Previously, I assumed that my beer stores kept a close eye over the craft beer that they stock. At the same time, they are businesses with large inventories and they could either have little close oversight or just be trying to move some old beer that was sitting in the back. Either way, check the beer before you buy it.

-Giancarlo

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