Freshness with big DIPAs

Bought a 4-pack of Victory Dirtwolf a couple weeks ago and it was a delicious grapefruit bomb. Decided to save a couple bottles for my friend to try this weekend. While still delicious, most of the grapefruit flavor was gone from sitting in the fridge for just those two weeks. I was surprised. I think it varies from IPA to IPA though.

 

If you don't drink it within three days, you might as well drain pour it, IMO.

 

2-3 weeks? No. 2-3 months? Eh, probably.

 

How would anyone ever trade cross-country if this practice was adhered to? Even if you got picked one up right off the bottling line, you'd need overnight shipping to make it in under 3 days.

Might as well play the drowning theme from Sonic The Hedgehog through the entire process just to give the whole thing that real "OMG OMG OMG! ALMOST OUT OF TIME!" anxiety.

 

It seems to depend a lot on the brewery or beer, I feel like Heady Topper holds up quite well a month and a half old (and I've never kept any around longer than that so can't say how it does but I'd be surprised if it fell off the cliff).

 

Whoooooooooooshhh......

 

Hey, after reading something about beer rituals and how one user selects the perfect glass, rinses it, specifically insists on cloth towel drying (because paper towels are too pedestrian or something) and examines for spots before pouring beer, I don't put any level of snobbery past anyone around here.

 

A BIG +1 to: “It seems to depend a lot on the brewery or beer.”

Hoppy beers that seem to lose their hop flavor/aroma quickly (a few weeks as in 4-5 weeks) are Flower Power, Pliny the Elder, Sculpin, ….

It has been my experience that Sierra Nevada brewed beers of SNPA and Celebration do not fall off quickly. I do not have much experience with Torpedo in this regard.

I have opined in past threads on this topic that beers that heavily rely on dry hop aromas as part of their flavor profile are more sensitive to having quick hop fade.

Cheers!

 

One of the main reasons hops is an ingredient in beer is that it's a natural preservative - could it be that the intended taste doesn't come around until after our beloved hoppy freshness has faded? Obviously that's not the case with contemporary DIPA hype factory beers, but we're riding the new wave...

 

It will be a better day for the American beer scene when consumers tire of this charade. The hops that characterize Americanized versions of styles are typically heavy on the aroma-forward hop characteristics--often to the point that there is not an even passably acceptable beer behind them--and those characteristics fade very quickly.
Yes, the beer that you had a little over a month after canning probably doesn't taste like the one from the brewery lines. It's because American consumers have created this fragile, expensive monster. Doesn't that make you mad?
Stop buying that type of crap and taking that gamble, and insist that your brewery make a more stable product.

 

My personal rule is i dont drink an ipa older than 2 months...it does depend on the beer as i think stone ipa ages better than most though...for example i bought a case of heady on nov 6...had one yesterday and i already taste a difference between that day and now

 

Cracked one open this weekend that was 6 months old and it was delicious...

 

but they're so delicious.

 

yeah, to a point... I've never had pliny or head - the highest rated IPA I've had was Abrasive. First swig was AWESOME. The rest of my first glass was GREAT. First swig of the second glass was pretty good... by the time I finished my second pint though, it was like juice with flowers in it. Too sweet and syrupy. Didn't even taste like beer. One every now and then seems somewhat appealing, but it's just a little overwhelming for me personally.

 

yup. it seems to set several BAs on idiot RAGE, but really 1 week and below is usually ideal, 2 weeks can even be pushing it depending on the beer or whether or not it was refrigerated.

p.s. to anyone reading this who thinks what i wrote makes me a snob, fuck you. hop oils don't stick around very long, and some people only like fresh IPAs. get over it and buy whatever you want.

p.p.s. to anyone reading this who's like "how in the world do you find IPAs so fresh???" find a good store, buy local, etc. if you don't have any good local breweries or stores, setup a good trading relationship for a staple like gandhi bot, pliny, the MA and VT IPAs, maine beer stuff if you have $$$$, numerous CA / OR / WA locals.

this is only if you need MAX HOPS or whatever (i do; i barely like IPAs as it is). if not, again, buy whatever you want.

 

heady topper, imo, falls off the shelf in about three weeks.