Freshness of double/imperial IPA question

From the brewer's stand point - bottle purchased, bottle consumed..."mission accomplished"!

 

That beer tastes awesome with a few months on it.

 

As soon as they are planted

 

For me, once you have had a specific IPA/DIPA very fresh, it changes your perception of the beer from that point on. Perfect example, when my local Total Wine first got in Troegs Perpetual IPA it was 8 days after the bottling date and was fantastic. I have since had bottles that are 2 or 3 months after bottling date, and its not the same for me. Is it still good? Of course it is, but I still remember what it tasted like super fresh and that will never go away. That's just me though.

 

What about a 120min where they say it is meant to age? I understand the high alcohol helps to age but the hop characteristic are still going to fall off like crazy. Does a high ABV like that cause the hop characteristic to fall off quicker?

 

Hey pdbader what's up bro to tell you the truth this years PTE is not as good as other years I think they're slacking off but that just me and as far fresh vs old I've yet to have any IPA you her than two weeks old and light does ruin them along with 60 degress and above

 

Yesterday I bought Stone Ruination with an enjoy by date of 1/15/2013. While it was not peak freshness, I was ok with it. I had one last night and it was not the Ruination I remember. The floral, piney aromas were not bursting out of the bottle, the hops were rather dull, and overall it tasted stale. Going to have another one tonight and hope this was an aberration.

Was I wrong to assume that < 3 months old Ruination would still be enjoyable?

 

I have had a few of the "holy grail" hop brews past their freshness. While they were still good there is a difference. One single IPA for instance was a Two Hearted. I had one that was 5 months old and one that was a month old. I tasted them side by side. Their was a difference. I've also had Pliny at 4 different release intervals at the same time. There is a difference. No matter what anyone wants to say it does change. It doesn't make the beer bad but it does change.

I love how people instantly jump on to "hate" on people without putting anything remotely relevant to the topic. LOL

 

Could have been a lot of factors besides bottling date. Light, temp, or even handling by distributor/store in transit. Or, could have been you. Did you have anything before to throw the taste off? Have you been overloading your taste buds lately? I find if I take a break from hops (and beer in general) and then come back to an IPA/DIPA I appreciate it more.

In general, if you're consuming by Stone's date it should not be stale.

 

I had a 6 month old Hoptimum and I freaking loved it. It was different from the fresh bottle but a different beast

 

I'm not sure that would be Brynildson's (sp?) take on it. FW now has a "report old beer" page on their site.

 

I think folks need to self examine themselves enough to know if they are:

!. Hopheads who go crazy for the aromas of dry hopping, and the subtle hop flavors of melon, mango, other tropical fruits, and the sweetness of citrus.
2. Beer drinkers with a palate able to distinguish and enjoy these flavors.

If you answered yes to both, or even one, of these, than I guarantee you will notice the difference, and enjoy less, any hoppy IPA that is more than a month old.

For those who answered no to these questions, don't even bother looking at the date on IPA's. All the bitterness and pine that is probably all you taste anyway will still be in there and you will enjoy them just fine.

 

All beer will age differently plain and simple! Can vs bottle. Temp stored. Amount of travel to it's location. Type of bottling facility. Blah blah. All these things can affect "freshness"

The only recommendation I can make is to try them at different stages and see what works best for your palette.

If you have a beer for the first time and have no clue what it taste like fresh you won't have anything to compare it to anyways.

Cheers and happy drinking!

 

I had a pour of a 2 year old Pliny last night and it was still fairly hoppy and surprisingly tasty.

 

To my knowledge alcohol content wont affect how long hop characters last, so in that sense, yes you would want to drink DIPAs soon after bottling. However, many DIPAs are very malt forward, even fresh, so the degree to which they change over time wont be as affected as the hoppy DIPAs or the standard IPAs which generally are less malty.

 

I am currently conducting an experiment with Ballast Point Sculpin bottles. I bought a case of bombers in 2010 and crack one every 3-6 months. The flavors have slowly gone from bright and floral and clean citrus fruits to malty, muddled, and tropical fruits. Not a bad beer now, but not amazing like it was fresh.

 

My biggest thought though was the original purpose of adding more and more hops to a beer which was to preserve the beer for long voyages back in the day. Was a fresh IPA or pale ale back in the day considered to be off or was that what they were trying to preserve by adding and adding hops. Just a thought to provoke thought

 

It depends on the beers hop profile. Some will be good for three months, but for many with "brighter" hop character you are really pushing it after 6 weeks. Some danker resiny IIPAs will transform into very acceptable American style barlywines as even more time passes.

Yes indeed.

 

I had a bottle of NoDa Pacific Reign that was at least two and a half months old that was still mighty tasty.

 

The fresher the better with hop-forward beers. End of story.

Also, PtE IS a radically different beer after 3 weeks. It doesn't become a bad beer, of course, but I'd challenge anyone with tastebuds to deny that 4-day old bottle is different than a 4-week old one.