Question 1

How does the camera scanner work?

Accepted Answer

When you snap a photo, we send the image to a vision AI that extracts visible text — including the brewery name (from the label) and the date code (typically printed on the bottom of cans or laser-etched on bottle necks). The extracted code is then run through our format database to compute the actual date. Photos are processed in real time and not stored.

Question 2

Why does freshness matter so much for IPAs?

Accepted Answer

Hop aroma compounds — myrcene, linalool, and various thiols — are highly volatile. They start oxidizing the moment the beer is packaged. A NEIPA at four weeks old can taste fundamentally different from the same beer at four days. West Coast IPAs hold up slightly longer due to higher bitterness, but still lose their best aromatics quickly.

Question 3

What's the difference between a "best by" and "canned on" date?

Accepted Answer

A best by (or "enjoy by") date is the brewery's recommended drink-by deadline — drink before this date. A canned on or bottled on date tells you when the beer was packaged — drink within a window after this date based on style. Stone famously pioneered explicit "Enjoy By" dating; most other breweries use packaging dates.

Question 4

What's a Julian date code?

Accepted Answer

A Julian date encodes the day of the year as a number from 1 to 365 (or 366). January 1 is 001, December 31 is 365. Sierra Nevada and Deschutes use Julian formats, often combined with year and facility codes. 12325M1 means day 123 of 2025, brewed at facility M1 — May 3, 2025.

Question 5

Where do I find the date code on a can?

Accepted Answer

Most breweries print it on the bottom of the can (look upside-down) or stamped along the bottom rim. Bottles typically have it on the neck label, the back label, or laser-etched on the shoulder of the bottle. The camera scanner works best when you point it directly at the code at close range with good lighting.

Question 6

Are these freshness windows scientific?

Accepted Answer

The shelf-life curves are based on industry-published guidance from the Brewers Association, brewer interviews, and consensus from craft beer professionals. They're guidelines, not laws. A well-stored hoppy beer at 60 days can outshine a heat-abused one at 14 days. Storage temperature matters as much as age for hop-forward beers.

Question 7

Why isn't [Stone / Founders / Lagunitas / etc.] in your list?

Accepted Answer

Freshie tracks independent American craft breweries as defined by the Brewers Association: less than 25% owned or controlled by a beverage alcohol industry member that isn't itself a craft brewer, and producing under 6 million barrels per year. When a brewery sells to a macro conglomerate (AB-InBev, Heineken, Constellation, Lion/Kirin, Sapporo, Mahou San Miguel, etc.) or merges with one, they leave our list. We're built for the craft scene, not corporate brands.

Question 8

My brewery isn't in your database. How do I add it?

Accepted Answer

If they're an independent craft brewer per the Brewers Association definition, submit a pull request or open an issue on our GitHub repository with a photo of the date code and any documentation from the brewery. The scanner also has an "Other brewery (specify format)" path that works without your brewery being in the database — just pick the date format manually.

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