How do you educate people about hops?

This is as good a reason as any not to discount the beer. Those who care enough to check the dates won't buy it anyway and those who don't check dates won't even care or notice.

 

If it was your business you would too, he stands to lose money on a paid for product that doesn't move. Maybe he buys foolishly who knows, but that's why I go to a fanatical beer shop who has high turnover and watches his beers. Can't blame a guy who doesn't want to go Red, but just don't buy.

 

How do you educate someone on hops? There is a lot to be learned. One could go to brewing school, or the hop school out at Hopunion.

 

Ideally they wouldn't wait till it was too late to start the discounting process.

 

Just bought a 24 oz bomber of Southern Hemisphere. I know it had to be ~ 6 months old, but I took a chance (they keep theirs in the cooler) at $2.99 and was glad I did... and even went back and picked up another. Drank surprisingly well.

 

The OP can buy the book that will be published by the Brewers Association within the next year, Hops by Stan Heironymus, and loan it out to one that need education.

 

Sam Adams Latitude 48 Deconstructed Pack.

 

The typical US beer drinker would *probably* prefer an older IPA than a fresh one. All I ever hear from "mainstream" drinkers when they take the punt and try a hoppy brew that happens to be fresh is, it's too bitter.

 

the best way to do it is to wait until they are receptive. forcing people to learn will just make you look like a douche.

 

This sort of excuse is implicit, and understandable. However, he still is trying to sell a sub-par product to an unsuspecting customer. Is that entirely ethical?

 

Its a long process but here's my take on this.
You have to target one person at a time and slowly begin to lace every thing they drink and eat with a barely noticeable hop addition. Slowly you increase the addition over time to the point where everything they consume eventually has at least 100 IBU whether its Cornflakes or Crepe Suzette. Then they won't know any better and they'll be hooked like a crackhead in Detroit.
Sure its more indoctrination than education but we all have to make sacrifices somewhere.

 

You know that Sam Adams commercial where Jim Koch rubs the hops between his hands? That's what I do to people's faces if they ask about hops.

 

This is Beer Advocate, if it's not super intense, chock full o' hype, and/or barrel aged we don't like it!

 

As long as he's legally selling it the only option is to pass. Big difference between a best by date and an expiration date. I agree, I'd pass on 2 month old IPA's let alone 6, but what's the retailer to do? Does his distributor buy it back? The brewer? Does he just chuck it out? Discount it and move it is the course I'd take, but even discounted I'd pass. I don't think it's disreputable, just a bottle shop stuck with old stock he can't move. Maybe smarter buying is his solution.

 

if you truly want to educate, bring in a side by side comparison of fresh vs old ipa, and warm stored vs cold stored ipa. that seems to be the easiest way to get people to have a hop epiphany

 

i had some jerk the other day looking for an iipa which has been sold out of a while and he let me know he had some in his secret stash. i asked him if he was planning on drinking them within the week since they are days away from being out of code and he told me absolutely not since he was saving them.

he didn't listen to a word i said when explaining why that beer would not be worth trying to cellar, and because im not a man insinuated i have no idea what i was talking about while i tried explaining how our brewery goes out of the way to pull out of code ipas off shelves because of freshness and making sure people drink good product.

maybe you should contact the brewery directly and let them know there is out of code product in a store so they can contact the appropriate rep to replace the product. i bet dfh would appreciate that and actually take action

 

The amount of people that buy IPAs/DIPAs (particularly at non-craft beer shops and particularly non-local IPAs) really boggles my mind when I think about the percentage of times I get them and they are poor tasting due to age and/or handling. I'll take a local IPA that I know is well handled and fresh any day over a highly rated IPA that is either old or doesn't have a freshness date.

There is a reason Shaun Hill and Vinny Cilurzo are so fanatical (or I should say they care appropriately) over the freshness and handling of their hoppy beers, and there is a reason their hoppy beers are so highly rated. This is really the root of the problem. Why should she care if they are old when the vast majority of consumers don't? As soon as consumers start to realize that freshness of IPAs/DIPAs is as important as the actual recipe of the IPA/DIPA, store workers will start to make freshness a priority.