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Many breweries use the clock system where a mark in the label correspond to the bottling month, a mark at one hour for january, two hours for february... Some brewery make things more difficult by introducing time zones.
Here is a table of somes codes use by breweries to indicate the bottling or expiration date of their beers.
| Brewery | Information | Exemple | Code |
| Achouffe | Best before Date | 2007 | On the left side of the label or on the back label, best before year is printed, beer must be drank before the end of that year. |
| Alchimiste (L') | Bottling Date | 12 B | On the left side of the label, numbers from 1 to 12 and letters from A to E
are printed. The code seems to be manually darkened with a marker. Numbers represent the bottling month The letter indicate the ? |
| Anchor | Bottling Date | 2JT | On the back label, a 3 characters code indicate the bottling date. The first show the last digit of the year. The second, the first letter of the month. Attention: may = Y, june = U, july = L, august = G The third character in the code is either alpha or numeric and tells the day of the month: A à Z for the 26 first days, 7 to 9 for 27 to 29, 3 for the 30th and 1 for the 31. In the exemple, 2JT is the 2002-01-20. |
| Barberie (La) | Bottling Date | NO 03 | On the rigth side of the label, the two first letters of each months are printed from
JA to DE. Following this, the two last digits of the year from 03 to 06. Marks in the label indicate the month and year of bottling. |
| Blanche de Bruxelle | Best before Date | 14:45 L12042006 |
On the bottom of the back label, the best before date is printed under the format LJJMMAAAA where L is a letter of unknown signification. |
| Carolus (Brouwerij Het Anker) | Best before Date | 14 06 06 | On the bottom left of the label, the best before date is printed using DD MM YY format. |
| Chaudron (Le) | Bottling Date | Clock mark | Attention : January is at 5 o'clock. Probably to indicate a best before date. |
| Daleside Brewery | Best before Date | BBE DEC 05 | On the neck of bottle, the best before date is prited on the class under MMM AA format. |
| De Dolle Dulle Teve 10º | Best before Date | MA06 | On the crown cap, the best before date is printed in a dot patern using MMAA format. |
| Delirium Tremens | Best before Date | M 07 | On the bottom of the back label, the first letter of each month are printed from J to D.
Following are the two last digits of the year from 06 to 11. Marks in the label indicate the month and year of the best before date. |
| Dubuisson | Best before Date | 30/09/2006 | On the bottom left corner of the back label, the best before date is printed. |
| Dupont | Best before Date | 11/2006 | On the bottom left of the label, the best before month and year are printed. |
| Duvel | Best before Date | 09 2007 | On the bottom left of the back label, the best before month and year are printed. |
| Ellezelloise (brasserie) | Best before Date | J 06 | On the left side of the label, letters from J to D and digits from 05 to 08 are printed. Ink marks in the label indicate the month and year of best before Date. |
| Floreffe | Best before Date | 14:45 L09082006 |
On the bottom of the back label, the best before date is printed under the format LJJMMAAAA where L is a letter of unknown signification. |
| Fraoch - Heather Ale | Best before Date | DEC 2004 | On the bottom of the label, the three first letters of every odd month are printed from
FEB to DEC. Following are the four digits of the year from 2003 to 2007. Marks in the label indicate the month and year of the best before date. |
| Hair of the dog | Brewing and bottling date | The label show a batch number and you have to go to their site to know the coresponding dates. | |
| Imperial Extra Double Stout (Harvey & Son (Lewes) Ltd) | Best before Date | 2006 | On the platic film covering the cap, the best before year is printed. The beer should be drank before the end of that year. Note that the bottling date is printed on the front label. |
| Lafleur s.a. | Best before Date | 14:45 L12042006 |
On the bottom of the back label, the best before date is printed under the format LJJMMAAAA where L is a letter of unknown signification. |
| Lost Coast Brewery & Cafe | Bottling Date | J 3 | On the left side of the label, letters from J to D and digits from 1 to 5 are printed. Marks in the label indicate the month and year of bottling. |
| Maredsous | Best before Date | 09 2007 | On the bottom left of the back label, the best before month and year are printed. |
| McAuslan | Bottling Date | M015 08:15 QC |
On the bottom left of the back label, the bottling date is printed. Letter indicate the month A=january, B=February,C=March .... The last digit indicate the year 4=2004, 5=2005, 9=1999 And the 2 digits in the middle indicate the day of the month. Attention: I is skipped to J for September. |
| Okocim | Best before Date | 10.10.06 | On the bottom left of the back label, the best before month, day and year are printed using MM.DD.YY format. |
| Olfabrikken | Best before Date | Mindst holdbar til: Juni 2006 | On the bottom left corner of the label, the best before month and year are printed using MMM AAAA format. |
| Saison de Pipaix | Best before Date | 27.11.06 | On the left side of the label, numbers from 1 to 12 and years from 1997 to 2007 are printed. Marks in the label indicate the month and year of the best before date. |
| Stone Brewing co. | Best before Date | ENJOY BY 8.18.05 |
On the lower part of the bottle, the best before date is printed during the bottling process using MM.DD.YY format. |
| Vapeur cochonne | Best before Date | FEV. 2010 | On the crown cap, the best before date is printed in a dot patern using MMM. AAAA format. |
| Unibroue | Bottling Date | CO34 |
Before november 1998: The date was printed in blue ink on the neck of the bottle Since november 1998: Letter indicate the month A=january, B=February,C=March .... The last digit indicate the year 4=2004, 3=2003, 9=1999 And the 2 digits in the middle indicate the day of the month. Attention: I is skipped to J for September. A few beers like Édition 2005 give the bottling date directly without using a code. |
| Westmalle | Best before Date | 27/01/07 | On the bottom left of the back label, the best before date is printed under DD/MM/YY format. |
| Westvleteren | Best before Date | 27.11.06 | On the crown cap, the best before date is printed in a dot patern using DD.MM.YY format. Note that the bottling date is 3 years before. Information found on White Beer Travels website. |
| Young's | Date de péremtion | 05 OCT 05 | On the bottom left of the back label, the best before date is printed under DD MMM YY format. |
Last update of this page : 01-13-2007