Pic Old Yeast next to Fresh Yeast

Hey guys, I had a vial of WLP 830 German Lager Yeast that was a month out of date and a new vial of the same yeast. Was going to make a big starter and as I am about to pitch into my flask I decided to compare the smell of the two vials. The old out of date yeast smelled rotten compared to the new yeast. I know lager yeast can smell like rotten eggs but it just smelled bad. When I shook the two side by side there was a lot more CO2 bubbles in the newer vial. Anyway, I didn't pitch the old vial because of its smell and color and discarded it. What would you have done? Old yeast on the right and newer yeast on the left.

I think I would have done the same. Lager yeast seems very delicate anyways. Don't take chances if you can avoid them with a batch.
Would have been interesting to see how the smell changed or disipated when a starter was made. How much longer it took to get going if at all. For reaserch sake. Not to pitch.
If this was in a smack pack you would have not been able to detect it till it was going into a starter.

I'll have a cup of the breakfast blend please!

I constantly take expired yeast off of the LHBS's hands. I usually do a 2 l starter with 2-4 vials of yeast, depending on what they had. From there, for ales, I will do a low gravity beer, under 1.045. For lagers, I will usually step it up again before doing the same process. Ive only had a problem once with expired yeast, and that is a current one. My stir plate was being occupied and I couldn't make a starter, so I added 6 vials of expired yeast into a 1.045 beer. That was Sunday, and I still see no signs of fermentation. But, thats my fault for not doing a starter.

The way I look at it is...will the yeast make the best beer possible? My answer was most likely not so I didn't use it