In my experience, the diet soda "best by" date is 100% accurate. My guess is there's a very tight window of time where aspartame can remain sweet, after which it will degrade into Moxie flavoring (which tastes like... Soda water mixed with dirt).
this post was submitted on 03 Jan 2026
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oh yeah. regular soda can go a long time but the fake sugar you can't leave sitting around for to long. Its like brown rice vs white rice.
Brown rice has more nutrients which makes it ideal for fungi and bacteria growth, if anyone was wondering. (I start developing mycelium in brown rice for just that reason.)
I cannot convince my wife that the whole "best by" crap is largely an attempt to increase purchases.
She also goes by the "best by" date on sealed bottled water.
I'm like, smell it, if it doesn't smell bad, taste it. If you feel the urge to ask someone else if it smells/tastes bad, it needs to go. If it's not so full of death that you can't sense it, your stomach acid will take care of it.