It should smell like -- nothing... no strong odors.
Doesn't lard have a particular smell to it though? When I smell it, it smells like...lard? Hahahaha I don't know... I just remember when I was baking it while doing the initial seasoning it smelled interesting. When I smelled it out of the fridge it smelled similar to how I recall it smelling but it's been so long too. Maybe I should just toss it to be safe.
I've got no idea, but I'd imagine it's gone bad by now.
As an aside, I love this post - seems like the type of post a reporter would pick up on to support a narrative about the community here: "Mustachians, as Pete calls his loyal band of followers, are incredibly active on the site's forum where they share their frugality wisdom on topics ranging from passive investing to whether 8 year old lard is still edible."
Hey, I'm just trying to stretch my dollar (or cent) on this thing... "8 years and still running strong!" :D
Okay =, I just went to smell my fats... as I had no idea what it should smell like.
Lard, Butter, Crisco Shortening, Margarine, Canola Oil, Olive Oil, Coconut Oil.
The lard had the least smell of all of these, (Although, not fair to canola oil, because I was probably just smelling onion hands residue on the outside of the bottle). Butter and olive oil had the strongest smells, by far.
I keep lard at room temperature for over a year and it is always fine. I would guess, if sealed in the fridge, it would last a very long time indeed.