Dirtwolf Enjoy By Dates

Did he get that one from Bobbi Fleckman?

Some talking, sure, and I said I would buy some beer- just not a full 4-pack.

ETA- and with the way the Total Wine stocks its Singles shelves, that shouldn't take too long to find...

 

My gf brought me home a 4pack of DW a week ago that was a few days past the extremely difficult to find and read ebd...it was still good. It holds up better than many.

 

“Flekman, Bobbi: Perky, chain-smoking, "hostess with the mostess" who worked artist relations for Polymer Records at the time of DiBergi's "This is Spinal Tap." For many fans, her retort to Ian at the industry party in Atlanta-"Money talks and bullshit walks"-served as a mantra for the 1980s.”

Nope, Kit pre-dated Bobbi Flekman. Maybe he should have asked for royalties!?!

Cheers!

 

Jack,

Well then I submit you actually want two dates, a Best by date and a Bottled on date. As you know the Bottled on date doesn't give you certain types of critical information that can be important in making a judgment. Also then, people who are fine with one date or the other will indeed have the information they think they want.

Cheers!

 

So then I have a suggestion. Get a 4 pack as young as you can find it and put one away until it has passed its best by date and open it. That way you control the storage conditions rather than rely on chance. And in fact if you like you can keep two and store one in the fridge and the other in a cool dark place and then do a side by side as well.

While there are many things to dislike about the PA case law it actually does have a few redeeming virtues. One of them for me has been the easy opportunity to find my own personal "sweet spot" when it comes to certain beers. For example some years back I bought a case of DFH 90 min within a few days of its bottling date. I then deliberately spread consumption of the bottles out over 9-10 months. (My review on here of the 90 min was done about 9 mos out from bottling.) Taught me some useful things. One is that there is an important difference between bitterness and hop flavors. Something some folks never do learn. It also gave me a lot of insight into the DFH use of the term "best by" to describe their beers (easily available on their web site). They use it to mean their prediction as to when staling will set in and something like cardboard starts to be part of the flavor profile. Truly at 9 mos the 90 min was quite different from what it had been at 5 days, but still quite an enjoyable beer.

Similarly over the years I have gotten my annual case of Nugget Nectar within days of bottling. As a result I've learned that the sweet spot for me is actually a plateau not a peak. Within the first two weeks the beer has a certain harshness to it that for me detracts a bit from the flavor profile. Then from about 2 weeks to about 6 weeks it remains pretty consistent, flavorwise, and that is my sweet "spot" with that beer. After about 6 weeks I begin to notice a decline but the case is usually gone withing 2 months anyway.

 

That's exactly what I was thinking.... and if you want to up the ante, when you do the cold storage vs room temperature storage taste test, find another fresh 4-pack or single so you can compare the aged versions to a fresh. Report back your results please! (...because I'm too lazy to do it myself! )

 

I can tell you 3-4 months tastes mighty fine. Better than 95% of other DIPAS available to me anyway.

 

Tom,

What I posted previously in this thread: "I have posted numerous times on BA threads: if breweries want to provide a best by date they should also include a bottled on date as well."

Cheers!

 

Michael (@TongoRad ),

It appears that you have been given a homework assignment!?!

FWIW, I previously posted in this thread the 'experiment' that I conducted concerning DirtWolf:

“I bought a case of Dirtwolf very fresh in February (less than 2 weeks from the bottling date). Over the next 2-3 months I drank that case. That beer noticeably tailed off at 2 months from bottling and by 3 months the hop aroma was greatly diminished.”

In my 'experiment' my beers were stored cool in my basement.

Cheers!

 

That's my experience as well. I think some brewers do a better job of purging O2 than others. I also feel like certain hop flavors degrade faster than others. Whatever hops Victory is using seem to hold up quite well.

As for bottled on and best by: For BAs, bottled on is better information. But I know a lot of people who drink craft beer and have no idea that IPAs should be drunk ASAP. So for the bulk of the folks buying these beers, a drink by date is more valuable.

 

Yes, you did say that.

However you then said something along the lines of "if they are going to use best by dates they should also use bottled on dates as well."

And my point is that if they use either of those dates they should use both. No "if" simply "both" or "and."

 

If your point is that both dates should appear on the bottle, I am in violent agreement with you!

Cheers!

Edit: My apologies if I should have used a pronoun vs. a conjunction in my writings; I am as far away from being an English major as can be.

 

Amen to that! I have noticed in a few places in Madison that Dirt Wold has been discounted $1 to $2

 

Yes, then we are in agreement.

BTW no need to apologize for not having been an English major, etc., but do keep in mind that when we have only the written word as a form of communication people can not read your intent, only the words you use can convey that. :-)

 

This thread forced to go buy a 2.5 month old 4 pack today (EBD NOV 30 kept in 76 degree store). If its a drainpour, I'll let ya'll know.

 

That's a very good suggestion. A similar thought had occurred to me, in that I would just buy the single no matter the date and hold on to it for a few months, but having a few extra stored in different conditions could be interesting.

My gut feeling is that it will hold up about as well as Lagunitas Maximus does (at 4-5 months it still has some orange/pineapple to it, although the balance does skew towards the caramel malt). I see your experience was different, Jack, so it'll be interesting to see how I feel about it in the end.

Initially I was hesitant about buying more beer than is absolutely necessary these days because I'm sitting on 3+ cases of a backlog (and will also be getting some Sixpoint Sensi when it comes out), but I guess I could make an exception for this. I'll let you know what I wind up with.

 

Lets remember Hop Wallop used to have a best by date of 1 year... I used to buy that as long as it was 6 months are younger and, Victory must have a good line because there hoppy beers hold up as well as anyones out there.

 

Thank you BA experts. Thanks to your expertise I found some 2 week old DW (dated enjoy by feb 5). Without you guys I may have passed up an IPA that still has 5 months to go worrying that the bottled on date may have been Feb 05 2014.

 

@JackHorzempa @drtth

I finally got my hands on some reasonably fresh Dirtwolf- the best by date is 5-1-15.

Aroma is nice and fruity, although not as strong as it's been in the past. I am getting pineapple, papaya, orange and a touch of pine. The palate if moderately full and tropical (mostly papaya), with a very slight pale malt undercurrent, and the bitterness is present but unobtrusive.

Hopefully that's a good enough baseline. I will put two in the fridge and one in the beer cellar. See you in a couple of months! Thanks again for the idea.

 

@JackHorzempa @drtth
Here we are about three months later. My next two bottles were stored in different conditions; one was in the fridge, one at room temp. All I really want to do here is see how obvious it is which is which. They both were marked on the bottom and mixed up shell-game style earlier in the week, then they were put into the dedicated beer fridge to acclimate to serving temperature.



#1 is mildly fruity (citrus, tropical) with a touch of pine and some malt showing in the background. #2 is bready with light caramel and slight glimpses of fruit underneath. #1 is enjoyable and tasty, while #2 is mostly blah.

Yes- it is very obvious which is which


This is very convincing evidence to me of how a hoppy beer's life can be extended by storing it in the proper conditions.

The last bottle will be the one that instigated this whole experiment- a 5 month old bottle stored in proper conditions. See you in May. Cheers!