Clearly the beer is 7 stars and Full-Lion old.

Dan over at TheFullPint.com calls out the non-dating breweries.

What really bothers me, more than breweries that flat out don’t label, are breweries that make it difficult to find out the beer’s freshness information.  Some breweries put the freshness information on the case box, but not the six pack or individual bottle.

…

If you have a machine/means of printing data onto your product, why wouldn’t you make it clear, and put it on the single unit/piece?

The man makes a fine point here.  This is one of my favorite reasons to hit local brewpubs–the freshness is usually fantastic compared with regional/national craft operation bottles in the super markets.

One tactic I’ve used in the past is checking with store managers about what types (and especially specific brands) get a lot of turnover in the store–or better yet, contact the distributors in your area and ask what stock might be the freshest around town.