We’re all aware that beer also has an expiration date, right? But when it’s to honor the wishes of your late husband, by all means do as you will.

Speaking with their local KCAU News, Diane Nesselhuf and her son explained the incredible journey their 8-ounce can of beer had been through. Nesselhuf married her husband Ed on February 14, 1971, but since some of Ed’s family wasn’t able to attend the ceremony, they traveled to his home state of Colorado soon after. Back then, Coors was still a local brand, unavailable in other parts of the U.S. and clearly Ed was a huge fan of the brewer.

“I just remember Ed pulling it out and saying, ‘We’ll drink this at our 50th Anniversary,'” Nesselhuf said.

As the family moved around, the small anniversary beer came with them.

“It went from Wisconsin, to Minneapolis, to British Columbia, to Rapid City, to Chamberlain, to Maryland, and back to Vermillion,” which is where the family eventually settled in South Dakota, Diane continued.

But sadly, after battling an aggressive form of lung cancer, Ed passed away in 2016, five years short of their anniversary and leaving the beer from Golden, Colorado, unopened.

But his son, Ben, promised his dad the beer’s travels wouldn’t be in vain. “The last few weeks of his life it was clear he wasn’t going to make it to another anniversary,” Ben told KCAU. “I did tell him that on the 50th, I’d split the beer with mom.”

So on February 14, 2021, Ben and Diane opened the 50-year-old Coors, enjoyed alongside a fresh can of Coors Light to compare the two. The can was so old, it required an actual can opener, but the five-decade-old beer was still carbonated.

As for the flavor: It certainly hadn’t gone completely off in all that time.

“I thought it was very tasty. I was surprised. I thought it would be full of crap, and it wasn’t,” Nesselhuf told the news station. “It was really good.”

The mother and son recorded their experience, which captured Ben’s initial reaction. “It tastes sweet,” he said. Later, Ben told KCAU, “Any other day it would just be a beer but on that day, it was a very special beer.”

Happy to share this week’s “Siouxland Story” a
heartwarming tale of a local family and a 50 year old
can of Coors Banquet beer. @kcautv, #kcau9news, @CoorsBanquet, @locatesiouxcity https://t.co/oGMSpQvk1u pic.twitter.com/E6DsJbDDZA

— Tim Seaman (@TimSeamanABC9) July 22, 2021

Photo| iStock