Old IPAs - What to do about this problem?

I had a Stone IPA two nights ago that was really good. As soon as I cracked the bomber I told the GF that it must be a freshie. when I looked at the date on the bottle of the unopened one it said April 15 and what I assumed was 16 which made no sense. So, I finished the first bomber and drank the second, which wasn't as good, while watching the walking dead on VuDu. In the morning I realized the first bottle had a different dating scheme that was from 10/02/2015. The second was 04/15/2015. I totally noticed the difference thinking that both bottles were the same. The second one just wasn't as good. Still good, just not as good. I would totally take an April bottled Stone IPA over a totally fresh Lagunitas anything, but still it wasn't as hoppy and dank as the October brewed one from the same bottle shop. Just my two bits. Drinking Lagunitas IPA tonight, wish I had a Stone instead...

 

With my experience that I have amassed buying beers at different places, I have come to the conclusion that most retailers could give a crap about bottling and drink by dates when it comes to the bottom line. They want to make money, and they, along with a lot of distributors just want to unload the beer that they have and could care less about dates or freshness. Gonna call a few people out on this one,...........Total Wine in Newport News, VA lets the distributors stock their shelves (bad Move) and they constantly have old beers on the shelf(Stone, Foothills, etc.) Maybe good for the beer buyer that does not have a clue, but for the craft beer drinker that has at least some knowledge, this sucks. Beers sitting on shelves with dust on them, nearing or past expiration, unorganized and a complete utter mess. Why don't more retailers take the time to ensure they are getting fresh beers instead of letting some money hungry distributor decide what is best for the shelf. There are a few
local and smaller bottle shops they seem to care a bit, but for the most part, its all about unloading old beers to unsuspecting beer drinkers to make every penny they can. It sucks that this happens and I tend to go elsewhere when I see it(Hint, Hint, Total Wine, Farm Fresh, etc., you hear me??). It sucks that beer retailers do not spend more time, or care to spend more time on delivering a fresh product to the consumer, or even giving the distributors a hard time about unloading crap beers. Anyone else agree/???

 

Money is all that matters (unfortunately)

Edit- I should note, that sometimes old beer on the shelves really can be ignorance on the part of the establishment. Before I got into craft beer, I seriously just thought beer lasted basically forever (or very long) like many spirits. I would assume, and maybe it's not the norm, that there are plenty working at some of these places that know absolutely nothing about beer (including freshness).

 

I agree. I am sure everyone here does. But I am sure that, through experience, retailers realized that someone will eventually buy the beer because, despite what we may think of ourselves here on BA, beer geeks are not the majority of the beer buying public. I agree with your sentiment concerning disorganization and dusty bottles. No matter what one chooses to do for a living one should do it orderly and with the appearance of professionalism. However, if it came between making sure you got the freshest beer and maybe losing profit or sending my kid to college I would choose the later. (No, I am not in retail nor do I have kids. I was using a hypothetical.)

 

If I'm at the grocery store and I see dust on the bottle, unless it's something I know ages well I usually head elsewhere.

 

That's just no way to do business, it's sad that's still how it works. What they don't get is that if there's a stock of old product like an IPA, some might indeed accidentally buy it, but they wont buy it again. Either they won't realize it isn't good due to it being old and never touch it again or worse, perhaps even the brewery (which is completely unfair to the brewery), or they will stop buying anything they aren't certain is fresh. There are plenty of stores here in NH (including the store I think you work at) that have great IPAs that I WANT to buy, but are ALWAYS super old. That old crap is losing my business and I'm not alone. Plenty of my friends have completely given up on stores due to freshness issues.

I think a happy compromise is to do a discount section. Cut the price of any old beer (that isn't meant to be aged) in half and be totally transparent. It will move. I know of several stores that have expired Enjoy By IPAs that have just been sitting there. Nobody is going to touch it at full price. Worse, there's a store that is trying to push it.... while still wanting full price! Again, no one is touching it.

I want fresh Hop Stoopid in NH. It's never on tap and every bottle I've ever seen on a shelf is covered in dust. I guarantee that if there was a push to make this beer available fresh again and it was a suggested item, it would sell great. But I think a lot of people, like me, never even look at it anymore because they've been burned too many times. I'd buy the crap out of fresh Hop Stoopid.

 

SMASH 'EM!

 

"..fresh....IPAs...one of the best things about our country today". I love that.

 

had one of those recently, it was delicious.

 

Isn't half the point of an IPA that it keeps well? I recently had a friend give me 4 bombers of Stone Enjoy By because it was way past 4/20.... It was still really good! I have had Spaten Optimator on tap that was divine but I have tried bottles of it that sucked. I think doppelbocks don't store well.

 

Just went to a local spot known for their abundance of taps, and they were selling "Enjoy By 12/24" for full price...wtf? I mean come on, the date is in the name of the beer!

 

I will say, for me anyway, that it taste better now then it did before the Enjoy By date

 

It was happy hour, so it was half off...I still bought it, but I was a annoyed none the less. (it tasted great, but I didn't let them know I enjoyed it)

 

My favorite is the retailers who won't put out the fresh IPA stock until the old eventually sells, which means they never have an IPA on the shelf less than 6 months old (and it perpetually sells slowly due to enough people noticing). My solution to that problem is not to buy IPAs from such stores, or less commonly to ask if there is anything fresher in back and make them at realize some people care.

 

My store has a normal display fridge but keeps all new delivered cases and the bombers in the "beer cave" type fridge. I go inside there and crack open new cases more often then not, and grab stuff that was just delivered. He always sells the old too, so, guess that's what other people get for not paying attention.

 

I just don't buy them.

I do have some old IPAs in my fridge right now. What I do with those is drink them right out of the bottle. The hop resins usually remain in the bottle so it drinks a bit more bitter than if I pour it in the glass.

Actually, it drinks significantly more bitter out of the bottle than in the glass.

 

The brewery that produces the product is a factor for me. I'm far more likely to buy a 90 day old IPA from Sierra Nevada than from a local brewery. Big breweries such as SN have far better equipment for packaging their product, thus remaining "fresh" longer. I would not hesitate to buy SNPA at 90 days (refrigerated), but a local canned IPA I will not. They simply do not have the equipment necessary to ensure a longer freshness window.

 

Hops are a preservative, so yes, it won't go stale/terrible as quickly... but that doesn't mean it's the same or what the brewer intended. It's like the difference between eating at a really great restaurant and then eat the leftovers that have been in the fridge for a couple days. Worlds apart.

Some big DIPAs do still taste alright after age (I've had some 1-3 year big DIPAs), but it's not a taste I prefer. I buy an IPA because I want fresh, bright hops. I don't want faded hops that have completely lost the fresh citrus, 'pop', etc and have just become a one-note spicy mess. As for an aged IPA, if I want a barleywine... I'll buy a barleywine.

 

Does anyone else have an issue with hard to get breweries' beers being less fresh when not bought at the source? I bought pseudosue last year over 2 mo old because they didn't have any at the brewery when I was there, and the fresh Golden Nugget from the brewery ended up being better than the 2 mo old pseudosue. I also found the Zombie Dust I had several months before had been miles better than Pseudosue but I'd chalk that one up to ZD being fresh (within a day of bottling when I picked it up). Man I wish I had no.life so I could just pick up awesome iPas and pale ales at their sources all day long.

Has anyone ordered Toppling Goliath from John's Grocery? Experiences?

 

Send them to @WesMantooth as extras.
Take to an event w non BA's who still don't know old IPA's from freshies
Use for cooking
Apparently beer is good for your hair, so shampoo