IPA freshness

You will get some hop fade but it will still be mighty fine.
you are setting yourself up for a disappointment though.
I love Furious, but Heady or Pliny it ain't.
Just enjoy it for what it is.

 

Try it first and go from there. If you hate it, you know why. But if you like it, all this preconceived thoughts for nothin

I've seen IPAs lose a lot within 3 weeks and some still viable after 6 weeks. In general it seems breweries set a 3-4 month best by date on their beers

 

6 months seem to be the norm out here in San Diego. Except Green Flash. They still seem to have some trouble with their best buy dates.

 

IPA's don't age well if hop presence is what you're after. The real answer for how long IPA's last is different from beer to beer but less than 6 months is my general rule (cans can probably go as much as 8 depending on the beer) and it's served me well for the past 4 years or so.

It does depend though, for example O'so Lupulin Maximus IMO can't hold up for even 3 months while I've had year old Torpedo that was still delicious. Ba's tend to exaggerate the effects of hop fade because it makes you seem special if you can tell the difference between an IPA month to month. However, most cannot and you are short changing yourself by believing it. Fresher is better, don't get me wrong, but IMO most IPA's hold up longer than the generally population on here would have you believe.

 

Just drain pour it...or better yet, send it to me and I'll do it for you

 

If your in a ship to state you can order Furious on line from france44. Then you can get it fresh and delivered to your door, I like Furious it's $9.99 /4 PK and it's worth the trouble.

 

As @jRocco2021 astutely pointed out it depends on the brand.

I have noticed that some IPAs 'fall off a cliff' wrt hop aroma/flavor quickly (5-6 weeks). IMO this happens to beers that havily rely of dry hop aroma in their flavor profile. Some examples of these sort of beers: Ithaca Flower Power, Ballast Point Sculpin, Russian River Pliny the Elder.

Other IPAs seem to be more resilient wrt age. Sierra Nevada hoppy beers for example (SNPA, Torpedo, Celebration, ...)

It is also a factor of your palate/preference. Some folks are intolerant to hop aroma/flavor fade while others are more forgiving in this regard.

Cheers!

P.S. One way to mitigate hop aroma/flavor is to continuously store the IPA cold; buy it cold from the retailer and immediately place it in your refrigerator. Cold storage slows down hop aroma/flavor fade.

 

I think less of the date (within reason) than many on these boards. I've has months old ipa's that are just as good as the same ones whilst "fresh". For me, canned stuff seems to fare better (Heady, etc.) than bottled stuff. Then again, maybe it's all in my head. Regardless of what it is, it allows me to not fret so much about born on dating.
I also store all hoppy beers in the fridge as @JackHorzempa said, which I believe helps a lot.
Pat

 

Pat, it really does help. Even with cold storage the hop aroma/flavor will fade with time but you significantly delay the process.

Unfortunately I do not have a dedicated beer refrigerator so the majority of my beers just sit on the basement floor; my beer storage is less than ideal.

Cheers!

Jack

 

Celebration even holds up well with months of age on it. It won't taste the same, but it doesn't taste "flat" in terms of hop profile.

 

Every IPA is different, but I try to consume them within 2 months of bottling/canning. Some IPAs really shit the bed after a few months *cough* Flower Power *cough*

 

Surly furious better than Pliny? Ugtbfsm I do not get that beer -- on the scale of hop aroma and flavor it can't hold Plinys jock strap -- fresh or not.

 

IMO IPA's should only be drunk at the brewpub, brewery tap, and the like. Beer is getting over-distributed.

 

What r your favorite IPAs in Australia ?? Curious about craft scene there. Huge hoppy beers exploding like in the states?

 

Yeah, Flower Power and Jai Alai really drop off quickly. I've had Heady and Abrasive that were easily 2-3 months old and were still amazing. Every beer is different, and as prefaced, cold storage is key...

 

What's quickly. I have jai alai that just hit the 5 week mark. Tasted great to me..so just curious how much longer I have before I cant get a good trade on it.

 

It is also dependent on how you are storing your beer. Have you kept the beer cold (refrigerator) since your purchase date? Was the beer refrigerated at the retailer? Was the beer ever at warmer than refrigerator temperature (on the retailer's floor prior to being refrigerated)?

Cheers!