They say the artificial stuff breaks down after a certain amount of time - Pepsi and Coke tend to put a date about three months out on their Diet cans, but on the other hand those are probably extremely conservative estimates. (I can personally attest, however, that you don't want to drink really old Pepsi One, 'cause it will turn you on Pepsi One FOREVER.)
Most of the Jones holiday sodas are calorie-free and probably fall into this category. The 2004 ones will probably taste pretty "off" (if you can figure out just what it's supposed to taste like when it's "on") but the 2005 ones MIGHT be okay. Since they all come with turkey, you can compare and contrast and report back to us. ;-)
A Coke rep once told me that the dates on the cans were put there as a fad because of Budweiser's Born on Dating. So basically, it's not really bad after the date of experation much like a Twinkie. However, I've have found that Twinkies might not go *bad* like milk, but they do taste like shit over time. It's a very risky proposition you are about to take and like Zed said I'd love to hear how it works out for you.
Diet Sodas do go bad. Cadbury Schweppes (the makers of Dr Pepper and 7up) put some fancy code on their sodas so that the general public don't know what the date is, but they say that diet sodas (or anything in plastic bottles) have a shelf life of 3 months, whereas regular sodas in aluminum or in glass bottles have a shelf life of 9 months.
The Wikipedia article on aspartame says this: "Like many other peptides, aspartame may hydrolyze (break down) into its constituent amino acids under conditions of elevated temperature or high pH." High pH includes soft drinks. I'm going to guess that the other artificial sweeteners are similar.
Bottom line: I'd say that they put the 3 month date because the flavor starts to be off. The sweeteners might not be very sweet anymore. But I'd be very much surprised if it made you sick.
Postscript: Here's a sample code from a 12pk of Dr Pepper I have laying around the house: K6282 OT3B IA. The first group tells the day and year the product was bottled. This one says it was bottled on the 282nd day of the year, in 2006. To simplify it, they give the letter which represents the month. A=January, B=February, and so on, except that they skip I. So H=August, J=September, through M=December. The rest of the code tells which plant it was made at.
I did some research and it seems I have the National and Regional 2005 packs. (I wasn't aware they did 2 last year and assumed I simply had the 2004 and 2005 editions)
So, no, I won't be able to report on things like Green Bean Casserole or Mashed Potato and Butter that came in 2004.
Originally posted by BigDaddyLocoA Coke rep once told me that the dates on the cans were put there as a fad because of Budweiser's Born on Dating. So basically, it's not really bad after the date of experation much like a Twinkie. However, I've have found that Twinkies might not go *bad* like milk, but they do taste like shit over time. It's a very risky proposition you are about to take and like Zed said I'd love to hear how it works out for you.
All the Twinkie legends are completely false. Twinkies have a shelf life of twenty-five days. Which is probably good for a snack cake but not close to what the legends say.
When I was 7 my family visited the Coca Cola factory and I got a bottled Coke. I kept it and didn't drink it, I don't know why, I was 7 and thought it was a cool souvenir I guess. Anyway, I still have it 20 years later and I was just wondering the other day what it would taste like.
I'd have to agree that old soda tastes a little "off". We managed to acquire about 25 cases of plastic bottles of expired Pepsi and Sierra Mist from people who work in the concessions industry who were going to throw them away. While still drinkable, there was a bit of a funny taste to them, and as they got older, the taste got more and more funny.
The sodas we got were about 3-6 months out of date. I found they worked well when mixed with large quantities of alcohol (what doesn't?), but there was an aftertaste when the soda was drank alone. Didn't kill us, though.
I dunno, but after I graduated from High School, I hung out with some buddies at a friend's house where they had some 1992 Washington Redskins Superbowl Champions commemorative Coca-Cola cans. I hit one with a battle axe and it sprayed everywhere.
Hold nothing sacred and you'll never be dissapointed. Especially not this statement.
Just the other day I saw (for the second time) CRZLGY here in 'sconsin. While *I* think it's someone who is studying our Zed, somebody *else* thinks it's a fan of Elroy Hirsch.