How long do IPAs stay "Fresh"?

How long do IPAs stay "fresh"? As long as it takes to finish one.

 

That worked for me for a while also. Then my wife looked it up herself. End of excuse.

 

When an IPA falls off, and you paid for it, you feel ripped off. That probably makes it taste even worse.

 

The mindset of what is a fresh IPA has gone overboard...

 

Matter of taste, I guess. I'm looking forward to an IPA brewed the Bass way: a year in the wood before bottling.

 

Ron, British IPAs of the 1800’s were aged (stored) in barrels made from slow-growth oak from Northern Europe. Are these types of barrels readily available today? Could a brewery easily obtain this type of barrel to age an IPA for a year?

Cheers!

 

IMO this is completely over blown. A good beer is a good beer - Give me a 6 month old Heady over a 2 hour old crap IPA any day. The only thing that kills any beer is if it gets really hot or in the case of bottles if its in the sun.

 

Good question. You could take a barrel that had been filled many times with beer and then thoroughly steam cleaned. To get the wood as neutral as possible.

 

Survey says!! three months

 

Generally, I'll be cautious with my purchase when an IPA is approaching three months old. If it's one that readily available, I'll wait until I can get it as fresh as possible or under 2 months; if it's difficult to find and I don't mind the slight aging then I'll give it a go.

 

Have you tried the revival of Ballantine IPA yet?

Here's a bit about it, if you haven't seen this before:
http://allaboutbeer.com/ballantine-ipa/

Anyway, it just might be right up your street the next time you're over here.

 

I only shotgun my IPAs out of the fermenter. Gotta drink local.

 

I just eat a bunch of 2 row and mosaic and citra and ferment that shit in my stomach. Always hella fresh.

 

Simply put, a good rule of thumb is 90 days give or take. The sooner the better though.

 

It's all about what beer it is. Obviously, higher abvs will last longer. I, ideally, like to have IPAs that are fresh, like no more than 30 days old, but I will drink them from 60-90 days old also. It just seems that IPAS lose some of the great citrusy, hop flavors the older they get..Be careful and drink as fresh as you can get..........Cheers !

 

Had it back in the 1980's and it was a decent enough beer. I'll have to look out for it next time I'm over.

 

This is a total revamp, nothing like the way it was brewed in the 80s. I think you'd really appreciate it.

 

In my experience, IPA's tend to go downhill after two weeks. Anything after two months is usually unpleasant to drink. I don't think you can get sick from a really old IPA though. Alpine was serving 3 year vintage exponential hoppiness one night, which is a triple ipa, and I felt fine afterwards although it had a weird syrupy taste with pretty much no hop flavor.