2014 Hopslam Shelf Life

well shoot, as someone who also missed the train this year, Ill be glad to take a few off your hands for you! And its a good question. Id say with their recommendation of 6 months, one more month will not make or break you. I just had a year old Double Trouble, and although it was WAY far away from the beer it is supposed to be, wasnt horribly undrinkable. A 7 month old IPA will not have that POP freshness to it, but at 10% with honey, imho I'd say you'll be just fine. But drink them quick

 

I still have one bottle in the fridge. I had one a week ago it did loose a little bit but it was still really good.

 

I doubt its undrinkable, but it definitely won't be as good as it was 6 months ago. I'd say drink it. Also most craft beer has a shelf life, only some get better with time.

 

Your Hopslam may or may not still be good, it probably depends on its storage temperature. As far as that quote though... well, if someone at a local store told me that, I would probably not go back to that store. Some beers do improve and evolve with age, but the overwhelming majority don't. Hops going stale and developing oxidation (think wet cardboard) isn't exactly a positive form of evolution.

 

It's not really hopslam anymore... more like maltslam, but you can drink it for sure. It's just tastes a bit more "barleywine-ish" IMO. I have had year old hopslam, and it is definitely drinkable.

 

like many others are saying, i'm sure its drinkable, but for a beer that expensive i wouldn't bother, the quality will definitely have dropped, the hops will have broken down and the complexity will be gone, the only hop flavors will be bitterness.

 

I bought 2 cases in Feb. (packaged in late Jan.) and have been enjoying it for several months (think I have a six pack left). It is definitely better fresh, but still very good now, although I do plan to finish it off in the next month.

 

The guys at your bottle shop sound like morons.

 

More importantly, you better get your parents straightened out. They can't be sitting on IPAs for months at a time.
Let them know that next time this type of irresponsible behavior will result in consequences.

 

And you need to find a new place to shop

 

Typically around here the shelf life is about 30minutes to an hour...


It was too easy.

 

I think never having it before will weigh in your favor. You really can't be disappointed , right?

Cheers!

 

What sammy said. I mean you can believe a person who says to you - "beer never goes bad it just changes" . . but then you are not really drawn to his opinion right?

 

A few years back I invested in a case of fresh (5 days after bottling) Dogfish Head 90 min IPA and deliberately spread drinking the bottles out over about 9 mos. so I could track for myself how the beer changed with time. It was still quite drinkable but had none of the bitterness associated with hops.

With your Hopslam I'd expect much the same thing. So if you insist on there being hop bitterness in your DIPA you won't care much for it but it doesn't "spoil" and I suspect you can find friends, etc. who'll be willing to help you finish it off. If you are willing to explore the other flavors a bit you'll find that you can find and enjoy some interesting hop flavors in the beer. Just don't expect bitterness. You may well find that there hop flavors you can enjoy and that can help you find out that there's more to the hop flavor profile than just bitterness.

 

I just had a 2013 to see what would happen and that it looses all the honey and the fresh hops and turns to more of a lightly sweet barleywine. Still good but much better fresh.

 

This is true as far as it goes but is also misleading. Both beverages undergo changes with bottle age. Neither spoils with age as does milk. But if left to age long enough between bottling and drinking the evolution of the beverages can lead to unwanted changes of flavors, etc. A good barleywine line J.W. Lees can sit in the cellar for 25 years and come out just fine and, for some people, much improved over fresh. Some wines left a year or so between bottling and consumption can become unpleasant to drink. In other words, it depends on the (wine)(beer) and the tastes of the drinker. I once met someone who liked the cardboard flavor that develops in beer left too long in the bottle. But your beer won't be "bad" in the sense of being spoiled and a health risk to drink.

 

Amen - it's still alcoholic, and will be cold and refreshing after refrigeration - besides, it's already purchased, what's the alternative, throw it away? Just drink it, and know that next year you're going to get fresh slam, and it will blow you away.

 

It won't be as amazing as it was when fresh, but they certainly won't be ruined and should still be very enjoyable beer.

I have just had my next to last Hopslam, from this year's batch, a couple weeks ago and it was still damn tasty.

 

I've always felt this is one of the fastest dying beers made. I thought it was about half what it was just after 3-4 weeks. At 6+ weeks it didn't even taste like the same beer. I would hope it would stay about the same from 6 week to 6 months since (to me at least) it seems like it has to be very fresh to get the hopSLAM. Now its probably more malty with strong ETOH which doesn't sound great to me.