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I left 2 beers in the fridge, Just found them and I'm sure they've been in there for like ... maybe 4 months

Are they okay to consume?

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  • what state are they in? are they open? in bottles? in cans? in polypins?
    – MD-Tech
    Commented Mar 24, 2015 at 10:20
  • Not the same exact question, but the answer should be in the "duplicate."
    – Andrew Cheong
    Commented Mar 25, 2015 at 1:55
  • @AndrewCheong I disagree. Opened containers have a number of different variables in play, compared to closed containers. For closed containers, you're mostly worried about chemical reactions internal to the product - this is the point of the "best by" date referred to in the proposed duplicate. With opened containers, you have to worry about reactions with the air and any contaminants it may carry. Also, as "open" generally implies "partially used", you may have additional bacterial contaminants to be concerned with if the container was drank from directly.
    – user162
    Commented Nov 9, 2015 at 17:47
  • That said, it seems my own answer to the proposed duplicate does address opened containers. Though it doesn't really touch on the issue of bacterial contamination.
    – user162
    Commented Nov 9, 2015 at 17:50
  • @user162 - You're right. Not sure what I was thinking. I probably somehow missed "(opened)" in the title, and read MD-Tech's comment about it being ambiguous.
    – Andrew Cheong
    Commented Nov 9, 2015 at 21:29

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Your question says they were opened? I'm going to venture probably not. You tagged this 3.2-beer, does that mean these are low alcohol session beers somewhere around 3.2% ABV?

If the beers aren't moldy, best case scenario is you now have two bottles of home made malt vinegar. Make a balsamic, have some steaks with side salads.

If they were closed or sealed in any way, they're probably fine, though depending on the style they probably won't taste great. Low alcohol and hoppy beers don't age gracefully. Higher alcohol or darker beers often do better with some time on them. But either way you have to keep them away from air, namely other microbes and oxygen or else things go downhill real fast.

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  • @BryceH, please cite a source. I've never heard anyone say beer doesn't age in bottles and it goes against all cellaring literature and practices.
    – Sloloem
    Commented Apr 18, 2017 at 22:36
  • Yeah... So sorry. My brain TOTALLY got stuck in bourbon aging mode. Where, the age comes from time in cask so taking it out and putting it in a bottle stops the aging process. So sorry.
    – BryceH
    Commented Apr 19, 2017 at 16:19
  • @BryceH No worries, mate. Just curious if there was new research or something I had missed.
    – Sloloem
    Commented Apr 19, 2017 at 18:40

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