Fresh IPAs...Does it really matter?

No idea how it replied to yours, must have been attention lapse.

Intended to reply to @JackHorzempa

 

Cans vs. Bottles...completely different story IMO. I've had 3 month old IPAs in a bottle that were shelved warm which ended up being MALT bombs. I've had 3 month old canned beer that was refrigerated and it tasted pretty darn good...probably couldn't even guess it was over a few weeks old.

 

Missed it in the article, my mistake...I'm at work and 'multitasking.' On one hand, I think everyone just needs to relax about freshness, yet I continually find myself buying an older bottle of Union Jack as just not enjoying it as much as when its 2 weeks old. Whereas to your point on Heady, I find I can keep them in the fridge for quite a while and still love it.

I know there's a significant psychological element to all of this, and am willing to concede its all in my head, but I would actually prefer to be on the "freshness is overblown" side of this.


Somewhere in here John reveals how old he likes Heady (confirming what you said, basically).

 

Jack,

Its very noble of you to step up and take that hit for the team. (Especially with a beer like Nugget Nectar.)

 

How bad is it to transport from, say, northern Vermont to Boston in the back of a car at non-iced temperature? Or to ship from NoCal to Boston? I've found my own experiences to be hit-or-miss... Night Shift's stuff is fantastic fresh, but I drank it all too fast to see if it drops off. Heady - again, in my limited experience - seems to age OK, but Pliny holds up really well (need to drink my last bottle, about a month and a half after I got it... will do so tonight and see how it's done).

Two-Hearted, I don't know if it's because it came from St. Louis to MA in my dad's car, I've had some hold up and some not.

...

I need a cooler and some ice packs, I suppose.

 

FWIW, there is no doubt in my mind that this would be a benefit.

Cheers!

 

Here's the thing with anything John Kimmich says.....he's canning his product and releasing it to the public. It behooves him to say he not only "prefers it from the can" and doesn't need a glass (which both representatives from Sixpoint and Firestone have refuted on these forums) but also to say he "prefers Heady at 10 weeks".

Whether or not a specific IPA is to your liking on day 1, day 14 or day 60 is up to you. But from what I've read from Sixpoint here, it certainly appears changes do occur after one week. Beyond that, if the beer is refrigerated (especially in a can), minimal changes occur. One example, is that Shaun Hill refuses to bottle his hoppy beers. Growler only, and the best by date is a week after filling. Personally, Hill Farmstead's Double Citra was overwhelming on day 1 from the brewery, but at day 7 it was lovely from my growler. My other data point is from @Sixpoint on this website, quoted below.


"This product will "expire" 180 days after the packaging date. That being said, let's provide a little insight on how these "code dates" actually work. We've tested all of our beers, ran many experiments on the aging of our products and how different beers hold up over time, including Resin, and determined how long it will last in the can after packaging. Some starting results:

1) We tasted the Resin 30, 90, 180, 270, and 365 days after packaging. In all instances the beer held up with noticeable hop flavor and even adequate hop aroma after 1+ year IF it was held at 55F or below.

2) We then tasted the Resin 30, 90, 180, 270, and 365 days after packaging WITHOUT keeping it at cellar temperatures or below. Although the beer held up fine (no infection, no stability issues) it simply did not have sufficient vibrancy of flavor after about 190-200 days from packaging.

3) Here is the best part of our follow up experiment: beer actually loses its "freshness" within just a week of packaging! After that it maintains a "baseline" for flavor ONLY IF its kept at proper storage temperatures. Otherwise, if you have beer that had been sitting out on a shelf for months on end, it most likely has an irreparably impaired flavor because the heat will accelerate its demise.

The bottom line is that cold, consistent temperatures slow down the aging process. This is evident across nature - when you are working in a laboratory, if you want to increase the reproductive rate of bacteria, you raise the temperature. Nearly all chemical processes during decomposition, including cell growth and oxidation of organic compounds, are accelerated (sometimes exponentially) by a rise in temperature.

Want to keep beer fresh? Keep it cold.

Want super fresh beer? Drink it within a week from packaging."

 

Probably case by case basis and also how well beer was taken care of from distributor to store. I found Two Hearted holds up stupendously, but I always keep all my IPA's refrigerated. Always, always, always.

 

Only thing about that last part - super fresh beer does not always mean best. I tend to prefer my IPA's with a couple weeks on them. Everyone is different and to each their own, but I'd encourage the fresh fanatics to do a couple blind tastings and be honest with themselves on what they truly prefer.

 

If you have to sacrifice freshness to try an IPA that you really want, then does it matter? If you have never tried the beer before, then you have no clue what it tastes like fresh. A good beer should still be good a month after creation, but, with that said, trying a fresh IPA is always preferred to that over an older one. However, I am not about to turn my nose up at something for it not being within that 1-2 week prime.

 

I agree 100%. It has been my consistent experience that hoppy beers need a few weeks to 'mature' before reaching their peak of flavor. I had a recent experience with a 6-pack of Union Jack IPA in cans. I purchased that 6-pack fresh (couple of weeks after canning). I placed that 6-pack into my refrigerator and started drinking one within a day of purchase. I was really disappointed in the first 3 cans from that 6-pack. 'Evil' thoughts like "they must have changed the recipe" popped into my mind. About a month later I drank the 4th can that beer was wonderful. It took about 6 weeks after canning (and cold storage) for that beer to reach its peak. A very strange experience indeed.

Cheers!


Edit: David Walker of Firestone Walker seems to agree with me:

“Walker, upon taking his first sip of Union Jack in a can, noted that despite the “freshness craze” going around, he thought the beer was “a little young,” and when pressed noted that he likes his Union Jack, “aged about 45 days. It let’s the malt catch up a bit.”

http://www.cabrewmasters.com/news/firestone-walkers-lion-visits-new-venice-beach-den-cans/

 

Hypothetically speaking of course. All locations chosen at random.

 

I agree, but the last part only said if you want "super fresh beer" not if you want "the best beer". Which is what I think you're getting at, so we're probably in agreement.

I think most hoppy beers would benefit from being consumed this fresh. This is just a hunch, but I don't think it's a coincidence many of the highest rated IPAs are obtained directly from breweries.

Then again, the highest rated one is canned and distributed, and you cannot obtain it directly from the brewery, so what do I know?

 

It matters, but nowhere to the extent that many readers here would like to believe it does. What really matters is that once it leaves the brewery is that it is kept and stored properly.
I agree with what others have stated. I prefer my ipa's, and most beers for that matter with a few weeks to a month of age on them. Too close to packaging day, they still taste rough around the edges.

 

Hmm, interesting. I wonder if this would contribute to having a beer taste differently on draft at different times?

 

I figure if you keep it cold, an IPA should hold up in your fridge for 4-5 months, especially if it is canned.

Me personally, IPAs usually serve as session type beer and I dont cellar them for any particular occasion, and thus I pretty much never drink old IPA. I also live in an IPA-loving market and at most of the beer stores, they are flying off of the shelves and usually pretty fresh.

I will also concede that certain IPAs actually need a little time to mellow out the hops if they are over the top Hoppy

 

Draft beer can be ‘tricky’ at times. It seems to me that lots of folks equate draft beer as meaning non-old beer but that is not assured. There was a BA who worked for a beer retailer who posted that at his business it was not unusual for the draft beer at his store to be older than the packaged beer (cans/bottles).

The other variable for draft beer is how clean are the draft lines. Some beer bars are thorough and conscientious about cleaning their lines and others aren’t.

One aspect of kegged beer is that most kegs are stored cold throughout their distribution: stored cold at the wholesale distributor, stored cold at the bar, etc.

I can report that when it comes to canned/bottled beer sold for retail in my area most of those beers are stored at room temperature; and room temperature at the retail Beer Distributors is hot right now.

Cheers!

 

Naturally!

 

"Fresh food...Does it really matter?"

 

The Jai Alai on my shop's shelf currently was canned yesterday!