Double IPA freshness

Maybe, FW's IPA's tend to last longer than your average IPA, but it will surely have lost some punch. I'd try finding some with a bottle date limit of max 3 months old.

 

I once tried a Union Jack that was around 6-7 months old and it still tasted fairly hoppy. I was impressed, surely a fresh bottle is a very good IPA.

 

That's my specific limit on Double Jack personally. Especially since there's no telling how long it was i a warehouse before it made it to a cooler. If it's been on a shelf for 3 months definitely a no. If it's been a cooler for 3 it really does hold up well but loses (to me) some of those bright citrus notes.

 

Standards for "freshness" typically aren't so high for me where I live, so I've tried a number of IPAs and IIPAs that are a year "expired." Most of them were still fantastic to me.

There are very few IIPAs I've tried that taste noticeably worse after only six months. Example: RuinTen.

 

Agreed, my IPA general limit is max 3 months old. I think I would rarely be able to drink IPAs from the US if I had a very narrow limit (2-4 weeks) like lots of people have here.

 

I'd drink it and enjoy it for what it is - knowing that if you ever get your hands on a fresher example, it will likely be more enjoyable.

 

Since I am in Delaware I often get older FW Double Jack. It tastes great every time. I have had it less than a month old before and it's not a huge difference.

 

Will it be a tasty beer? Yes.
Would it be even better if it was less than 90 days old? Yes.
Buy it and enjoy it then next time be pickier about the date so you try it fresher.

 

Just got 4 cases of Founders DT in the store I frequent, for the first time. I was pretty bummed when I saw they were all bottled in June. I bought a 4 pack anyway, who knows when I'll see it again. Not ever having a fresh one I have nothing to compare it to except other DIPAs. It was real mellow, didn't taste bad, but no hop punch to the nuts. We live and learn.

 

The dry hop aromas are the first thing to fade, so if aroma is a big factor in your enjoyment of a DIPA, or SIPA for that matter, 8-12 weeks is the cutoff.

I check everything for dates nowadays and with IPA's I tend to treat them similar to milk, in terms of bottling dates.

Brewers like Victory make it more difficult because they only print the enjoy by date.

No bottle date (Lagunitas), I don't buy.

 

Bottled in July? Well, no, pretty simple. Love fresh Double Jack, but it IMO doesn't age all that well. And 4 months old is far from fresh.

 

it will still be good. one of the reasons i hate on BP/sculpin is that while i like it more than almost any other IPA, it goes south after like 3 weeks. meanwhile california hop factories like FW, SN, stone, lagunitas, bear republic, and port make IPAs that are good for several months. once you get into obsessing over bottle dates there is no going back, so take everyone's word for it who is saying don't expect a double jack from july to be bad. mongo is one of if not my favorite IPA/DIPAs and i almost never see it here within 3 months old. of course it's not the same, but people, myself included, tend to blow the whole freshness thing out of proportion.

 

No.

 

Beers with higher alpha acid content are prone to take on cardboard qualities when they oxidize. Larger craft breweries such as Sierra Nevada are capable of removing most dissolved oxygen so that they can slow this process. Most double IPAs have an enormous alpha acid content, and since hops are central to the flavour profile, I would guess that the cardboard flavours would be most pronounced in this style.

That is just my speculation. I bought a bomber of Stone IPA that was around 3 months old, and it was much better than my usual local options. I guess that's what you call quality control. Firestone Walker is a pretty big brewery.

PS. LOL at this guys answer ^

 

It will not be as good as fresh. So, it really depends on how badly you want to try it. Buy a single and give it a shot, but not the 4 pk, would be my decision.

 

Even in CA it can be difficult to find Double Jack fresher than a month or two. So on a recent central coast trip I stopped by the FW brewery store and grabbed a 5 day old DJ just to see if there's a noticeable difference in flavor. IMO, there was little difference between 5 day and month plus. And any perceived difference could very well be in my head.