Here's How Long It'll Take Your Beer To Go Flat In The Fridge

As microbreweries become less of a novelty and more of a regular part of beer drinkers' lives all across the country, buying individually canned or bottled beer isn't always the move. Now, there's a plethora of fresh beer offerings from breweries big and small, including corked 750 milliliter bottles of high ABV sours, crowlers of your favorites canned to go, and glass growlers typically filled with 64 ounces of tasty suds. Drinking beer this fresh is so incredibly delicious that it's hard to go back to macro brews that are shipped from hundreds of miles away and are months old by the time they reach you. So, when you get some brew and open it up, how long will it take for your beer to go flat in the fridge? Well, as with most things in life, it depends.

It takes about three days for an opened beer to go flat due to oxidation and potential spoilage. Some beer aficionados believe an open beer is done and spoiled after 24 hours, while others think you can reseal a container and the beer should last about a week. The thing to consistently keep in mind is that, if you have a growler/crowler filled, once you unwrap the tape around the cap and open it for the first (satisfying) time, that beer has limited life left. Honestly, it should probably be consumed immediately.

Now, let's say you have a proper growler (made of dark glass to keep the sun's UV rays from skunking the beer) and you want to hold your craft beer for a special occasion. Fresh beer will stay fresh in a refrigerated, unopened growler for one or two weeks. It's possible, under perfect circumstances, to have beer remain fresh in a growler for three weeks. Granted, this is if the growler was stored appropriately, sealed tightly, and kept upright in the fridge (experts say this is the best way to store beer). Your miles may vary, depending on your degree of beer snobbiness (tasty cheap beer brands are always dependable). 

If you're wondering how long some traditionally canned beers last, keep the 3-30-300 rule in mind. This rule was developed based on the principles of UV rays, heat, and oxygenation that spoil beer. At 90 degrees Fahrenheit, a beer has a shelf life of three days. At 75 degrees Fahrenheit, it has a shelf life of 30 days, and at 38 degrees Fahrenheit, it will remain fresh for 300 days. So keep that in mind when you're organically chilling your brews in your basement or your garage.