Am I Crazy? OLD IPAs...

So much ignorant elitism in this thread

 

But in a way, you do. Phrases like "abrasive (in-yo-face!) hop overload" and "tongue-curling" are somewhat negative descriptions (depending on how you look at it) of what a lot of people love most about IPAs. By describing them negatively, is it much of a stretch to suggest you're judging the people who like them that way negatively too?

I tried to be fair in my responses (to each his own etc.) but I really think that if you object to powerful hop bitterness in American IPAs, the style might just not be for you. Why try to turn them into something they're not?

Then again, if you like 6-month-old Hopslam, it's not like that is hurting any of us either.

Cheers!

 

i don't see the point of buying a hop-forward beer and waiting for the hops to fade. i guess if you're in love with that particular beer and want to see how it changes... but still, it doesn't make much sense to me (you know how it's going to change; it's going to get less hoppy).

 

It's your money. Buy the beers you want and drink them when you want.

To answer your questions, yes, there are people out there that enjoy buying hoppy beers and letting them age. However, most of the people on here clearly don't. Then again, most of the people on here aren't earning or spending your money, so once again, do whatever the hell you want.

 

i think some of the confusion about aging IPAs ("why not? why can't i want a less hoppy beer???") stems from the fact that 'hoppy' means 2 very distinct things, but the word is thrown around as if it meant only 1 thing. everyone seems to know that "hops fade" nowadays, but that's only meant to emphasize 1 kind of hoppiness.

hops contribute 2 things to beer:

1) flavor/aroma, e.g. "floral, grassy, citrusy, tropical fruity, etc"

2) bitterness

while both of these fade with time, the flavor/aroma element fades significantly faster. (you get each from adding hops at different times in the boil--or after, ie dryhopping--and the flavor/aroma comes from volatile oils that do not stick around very long)

it would make perfect sense if people were aging their IPAs to make them less bitter (if that worked). while maximum IBU beers are often fine with me, i've had IPAs that were unbalanced and i felt should have been less bitter (and of course, maybe you just never like things to be that bitter).

i've never, ever, over hundreds of (D)IPAs and pale ales, thought "i wish this beer had less hop aroma/flavor." i've thought that once or twice about barleywines and imperial stouts, but never about IPAs.

to most of us, it's sort of mindboggling to think about opening up a big citrusy american IPA and think "it's good, but i wish it weren't so luscious and pungently citrusy."

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what do you all think? could this be part of why so many people think aging IPAs is a good idea? i know another part is just "i age everything; want to see what happens," which strikes me as a little silly but i don't think it's foolish or anything (you "know" what will happen by aging an IPA--it gets less hoppy--but you don't necessarily know exactly what that would taste like). but maybe people think bitterness is going to be reduced quickly (and perhaps even placebo-experiencing that to be the case)?

 

Hi guys. Been a while since I've been on here. Although people seem to criticize aging this beer, I purposely set aside a 6 pack at moms house for family functions. Now, that being said, every time I've gone back to revisit it I found it to be more welcoming than first given. Yes the pungent hops might fade a little over time, but where can the hops go? There is a big word that is missing in this which is how the hops "meld" together in making this a more fantastic beer than it already is. The first time I had this(2010) I thought "holy sh-t this beer is hoppy" but, after it mellowed a touch, more honey came out, which made it a greater beer than ever was, imho. To each his own in respect to this beer or IIPA'S in general. I'm personally sitting on a case of DFH Burton Baton and drinking them little by little to see how things work. This beer is FANTASTIC fresh, but from others, they said it holds up very well. What works for some doesn't always for others. If you have 2, drink 1 and store the other for a rainy day to see how it shines.

 

I like them fresh and faded. Aging a very hoppy barleywine is fine, say bigfoot for example. But it is taboo to drink an old ipa? Well what is the difference between bigfoot and a dipa? Not much. And some are different than others. Majaraja and unearthly are super rich and sweet fresh, and as the hops fade they become more so. But i like them both ways. The first hopslam i had was a year old and very enjoyable. Different than fresh? Sure. Bad? No way.

 

Some enjoy very young but, I enjoy older. I honestly haven't gone longer than 9 mons with this beer in all seriousness. 9 mons was still a great beer. If you like this beer, relative of hop forwardness, you will like it 9 mons later. Smooth...

 

I thought HopSlam was better after about a month when it lost some of that "green" edge, but it' the only IPA I've tried that was like this. It was also quite hot when it was fresh.

 

I hated HopSlam '10 and ended up with one in the back of the fridge for about 9 months. Decided to crack it open to make room in the fridge. Expected to dump it. Actually really liked it. Cat piss flavors faded and it was super smooth and tasty for 10%.

 

I don't think the OP is being negative. Is Abrasive abrasive? Is Ruination ruinous? Perhaps you should be scolding Stone and Surly for their negative descriptions. I often use terms like "tongue scalding" when describing hop forward beers that I enjoy drinking. What's the difference between "hop overload" and Hopslam? Relax a little on the OP and let him speak his mind. Peace Out!

 

Nothing worse than a Hop ****.

 

Point taken, and well said. But Abrasive is supposed to be abrasive. And Ruination ruinous. So I don't get the point of buying a deliberately über-hoppy beer and then aging that characteristic out of it. Again as I've said above, to each his own. Do watcha want. But I don't think the OP should have been all that surprised by some of the responses he got.

 

Oh, right. I forgot that there's nothing in between.

 

The reason some people like this beer after the hops have died down is because it has something going for it in the grain bill as well as honey. It's not much different than people aging barleywines. If the beer has nothing going for it other than hops than obviously it should be drank fresh but if it has more going for it than just hops then it's interesting to see how the balance between hops vs grain bill changes over time. Homebrew clones show that hopslam most like has a pretty good amount of Munich malt as well as aromatic malt and honey.

So many people like to jump on the bandwagon around here and slam peoples opinions that go against the grain. I'm personally guilty of being very opinionated about beer and putting my foot in my mouth so I'm no high & mighty. Seriously though people should learn to think for themselves and really learn new things about the beers we drink. I'm happy to see people expressing opinions that go against the grain and am glad to see that they're still open minded about beer.