IPA Freshness Hype

I do not doubt the science, I merely doubt people's ability to tell their difference.

What I said, and what I maintain, is that the vast majority of people who turn up their noses at an IPA that is 4 months old and instead grab something that is only 1 month old do not have the palate to tell the difference. Hop characteristics do deteriorate, but within a reasonable time period (say 6-8 months versus 2-3 months post bottling) most people's palate is not sophisticated enough to regularly pick which one is fresher.

It is no different from someone who claims they only drink coors lite and cannot stand bud lite or miller lite. Do a blind taste test with them and see how accurately they can tell the difference between them. People say all sorts of things but when rubber hits the road, the simple fact is that we experience beer through our palates, and many people's palates are simply not that well tuned.

Sure there are cicerones out there and people who truly do have great palates who may be able to regularly discern the differences between 1 month and 4 month old beer but they are the minority. Perhaps you have been gifted with one of these great palates. I do not have this ability and neither does anyone that I know.

 

But what does it mean?

 

I am enjoying 3 Magic Hat Ticket to Rye IPA's tonight. The web site says availiable through March and today is May 8th. These taste just as good as the ones I had in January + I have another 6er of these before I am finished with them. I thought the whole purpose of IPA's was to perserve the beer when the English were making their voyages to India which tells me that the beer should stay good for a longer than normal period of time. All I can really tell you is that the Magic Hat Ticket to Rye IPA that was "probably" brewed in March tastes fabulous. My rule of thumb: if the bottle fizzes over when I open it, it probably is not good. (but I usually drink it anyway) !

 

I prefer to drink IPAs that are fresh, but I'm not going to throw away a case of Heady or Zombie Dust just because it's been in my fridge for more than a month. Sure it tastes better fresh, but it's really not THAT big of a deal.

 

I can honestly say I have noticed a definite fall off of the hoppyness of the beer after several months. One in particular is the Stone Enjoy By Series. I had one from back in February that I saved and compared it to the May 17 Enjoy by and could definitely tell the difference. Much more malt was noted and the Hop bite was much less pronounced. Just my opinion but fresher is better for me. I love hops!

 

Yeah, the hype is getting pretty annoying. Why I remember finding this ad in a Massachusetts paper I found on the train during WWII...

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I mean, geez, give it a rest - after nearly 3/4 of a century, we get it already! (Well, some of us... )

 

Taste 2 week old pliny compared to 2 month old Pliny. Easy enough test.

 

Hmm, interesting, I think every single person with whom I drink could within one minute accurately tell you blind which is the 3 month old Flower Power, which is the 3 week old Flower Power. In fact, I would bet money on it.

That said, you have it backwards. Considering how many many great and "old" IPA's are on shelf, those who can't tell the difference, to whom a fresh Flower Power and a 4 month old Flower Power taste identical, are the gifted ones. Any old IPA will taste just as good to you as it does fresher, you are the lucky ones.

 

Claiming to know everyone's palates is a bit of a stretch. Maybe these people love IPAs because of their fresh hop character? I drink fresh IPAs and Pales all the time on tap, which are rarely more than a few weeks old, and there's really no comparison, imo.

 

I don't have time to go through the whole thread, but I thought I'd throw my $.02 in.
I think that it more depends on the individual beer how it holds up, and to a somewhat lesser degree, how it's stored.
Some IPA's and such (I'm going to throw all the hoppy ale (and occasional lager) that we're talking about into the one term for ease of use) simply age better than others. It might be the specific hops used, it might be any number of things, but I've had Plinny at less than a week old and a month or so, and there is a dramatic difference. I've had Heady Topper at similar time frames with almost no change. Nugget Nectar drops off between 1 and 2 months old, Hoponius Union lasts longer (I'm not sure how long because it rarely lasts that long in my place. However, I had one that I had misplaced for a couple months and it still had plenty of flavor and aroma.)
I homebrewed an IPA a couple summers ago, and found one lonely survivor a year later. The flavor and aroma of the Citra hops I used were still plenty prominent, the Simcoe and Cascade were nowhere to be seen.
Flower Power holds up for a couple months (IMO) but Weyerbacher's Last Chance IPA does not.
The long and short is, IMO, to take each beer as it is. Some as people say need to be right out of the bright tank to be their best (PLiny, Last Chance) others will last some time, (HT, Hop Union, Ruination...)

 

Call it hype if you want. You can assume that no one can tell the difference between a beer that is uber-fresh and a beer that was tapped/bottled 3 months ago. That's fine. You can assume that no one can really tell the difference between a bottled beer and a draft beer. That's fine. Assume your head off.

I for one could tell the difference between a Stone Ruination I bought in Memphis, TN versus one I had on tap at the Stone Brewery. I could tell the difference between a Ballast Point Sculpin I bought in Birmingham, AL and one I had on draft at the Ballast Point Brewery. I could tell the difference between Good People Snake Handler freshly canned and one that had been in a buddy's fridge for a couple of months. I am not a cicerone and I cannot specifically tell the different flavors and aromas between the Tennessee Ruination and the Escondido Ruination, but I could tell that there was a difference and I loved the one on tap. I nevertheless have a fridge full of all 3 beers because they are fabulous beers no matter what. They are better fresh, and that is my opinion. That opinion happens to be backed by science, shared by many people, and sometimes hyped way beyond what is reasonable. I am sure there are some lunatics out there that will snuff a 3 month old Pliny, and they are just that: lunatics.

 

Done that, thought both were overrated.

 

Stop projecting the poor palate of your sample (you) on to the population (all craft beer drinkers). It just makes you look arrogant. Also, the difference is incredibly obvious to anyone with taste buds and a nose.

 

Maybe you don't have the palate to tell the difference, but many do. Sorry, you're wrong.

Cavedave brings up a great example with Flower Power. If you think freshness doesn't matter with that beer... you're wrong.

If you think freshness doesn't matter with Pliny, or the Stone Enjoy By series... you're wrong.

Why does this discussion even keep coming up? The FACT that hops fade is only debated by the ignorant.

If you want to debate how beers change over time, fine. But to suggest that the importance of freshness in IPAs is just some kind of hype is, again, simply ignorant.

 

It's not hype, it's fact that IPA's taste like crap after they age a week. In fact, I'm only drinking IPA's bottled in the future to get maximum hoppy blast upon opening. Like this Stoudts Double IPA I found yesterday.

The hops for this beer haven't even been harvested yet. mmm so fresh, so hoppy

 

I love these bits of history you always turn up. =]


But why isn't this thread over yet?? I can't stop reading it because it keeps growing, but nobody says anything new!

 

I'm still waiting for the person who is gonna chime in that he can tell the difference between fresh IPA and "old" IPA, but prefers them old. Gotta be someone. Bottom line is some folks like things one way, some another.

My friend says he can taste pennies in some beers. I have yet to taste that, doesn't mean he's wrong, or I am.

Haha this debate has had nothing new added to it since I first saw it years ago.

 

I'm wondering if you have ever actually had a very fresh IPA. Homebrewers/Brewers have the advantage of tasting their beers from the start and all along their journey of reaching a peak and then coming back down.

 

Now now, play nice! Resorting to the ad hominem attack already? I know I know, "I'm wrong," but really, just saying that I'm wrong was all you had? You can do better, I believe in you.

Childish responses to my post aside, lets get one thing straight here; IPA freshness is one of the third rails of current beer culture. The dominant opinion is so widely accepted (and so in-frequently questioned) that it makes all those who subscribe to its orthodoxy very, very uncomfortable when their position is challenged.

Again, let me re-emphasis, I have never seen a blind-taste test where the testers were able to correctly identify the freshest beer (again within the 0-8 month time period). I suspect people able to tell the difference exist; however, from my own observation, that gift is much less common than the actual boasting about the ability to tell the difference.

All I am asking for is some degree of reasonableness with this freshness debate. I have seen far too many posters on here and people in local bottle shops turn their nose up at a beer just because it violates this non-nonsensical 3 month rule.

Let me repeat folks, if you see an IPA that you love with a freshness date of 6 months past, buy it! There isn't anything wrong with it.

However, if you have convinced yourself that said bottle is no longer worthy, then by all means pass it by. Your loss is my gain (I can't take credit for that sentiment, I believe it was cavedave who pointed it out).