New England IPA - Release Only When "Ready?"

I think it’s pretty tricky waiting to release them with their relatively short shelf life. I think it’s fair to expect the consumer to be somewhat knowledgeable about the style. That the sweet spot for many NEIPAs is 2-3 weeks after canning date.

 

Why not just wait till it's ready to drink to can it?

In my opinion, it should be ready to drink when the brewer sells it.

 

That is a tough question. If the beer is solely sold at the brewery with the expectation that their customers will drink the beer when they get home then perhaps storing the beer for a period of time before selling it would be wise.

I would like to think they care.

As a consumer I can report that I care.

I personally have never seen this happen.

I think this is a reasonable discussion topic but needless to say as a consumer you have the final say on when to drink the beers you buy.

Maybe Weedy (@honkey) will share his thoughts here since he brews beers of the so called 'NEIPA' style and he cans his beers.

Cheers!

 

Deschutes has a “best after” date on Abyss.

 

My guess is for these NEIPA styles it is a big "depends." Seems some are good right off the bat but some better waiting with more the former than the latter. Same with some traditional IPAs. PtE a day or two after bottling is MAGIC. Some other West Coast style beers are clearly "hot" and better a few days later which has/was a frequent topic here 3-4 yrs ago.

 

To me, this reeks of a brewery trying to get beer out of the tanks too fast just to pay the bills. I understand it's a business, and quicker turnover means increased revenue, but at some point integrity has to come into play. In my opinion, the beer you bought shows poor brewing technique and that brewery probably wouldn't be getting my business again. If a beer is packaged and sold to the public it should be ready to drink, regardless of style.

 

Enough people like the beer "green" that it's of more benefit to release early. The people who like it drink the people who don't wait.

 

- when a brewer packages a product, it is ready to drink right away. However, they may put on the label "best enjoyed in w amount of months" like the abyss.

- this whole thing about every other NE ipa being "too green" upon release is getting ridiculous. Maybe... just maybe, the beer just isn't all that good.

- actual "green" beer just finished with primary fermentation in the tank is a bit different than a beer that was hopped to high-heaven and is a bit rough around the edges.

 

They used to, I think they stopped after the 2015 bottles. Now it's just "bottled on"

 

Yea I wasn’t a fan when they went away with it. I thought it was pretty cool. And I think you are right with 2015 being the last year they did that.

 

Most NEIPA are brewed at breweries that don't have enough space to hold beer in storage for a week.

 

How dare you criticize NEIPA!

 

And that's the catch-22. Release it too early, it's too "green". The consumer may not like it if they consume it immediately after purchasing it.

So wait to release it...but then what if the consumer sits on it for a few weeks? Now it's past its prime and doesn't taste optimal either.

Maybe put a "best between 2 - 3 weeks after canning" date on it?

I think you're giving the average consumer (people not on Beeradvocate) way too much credit. I know if I was a brewer, given the widespread popularity of this style, I'm not assuming they would know this.

Agreed.

Sales are through the roof for this style. And many of these consumers buy the beer by the case. They may not be drinking every beer they purchase the day of canning. In reality, they consume the beers over the course of a month or two, maybe longer.

And my experience is that these beers taste far worse with two months on them, as opposed to the day of canning. So there's more risk holding on to the beers at the brewery, than releasing them too early.

 

Now we are going to complain about IPAs being too fresh? This is getting too hard to keep up with.

 

I personally think that would be a good idea. It would provide information to the consumer.

I very much doubt that any brewery would actually do something like this.

Cheers!

 

Don't blink, you might miss something!!

Cheers!

 

And therein lies the question, "What IS ready?"

Personally, I think these beers benefit from at least 2 weeks of conditioning time, but that's simply my personal preference. I'm not alone in this thought process, as John Kimmich has said that he does not prefer Heady Topper fresh.

 

Of course, they are the ultimate authority on when their product is ready for consumption. So with that said they should only release to the end user when it's ready to drink.

They can tap early and the beer may not be ready but that will only result in negative feedback in my mind and this is not what a brewery wants.

@honkey, what would your advice be to other brewers and the end user since you deal with this issue?

 

I want to disagree with this statement for some reason, but I think that it's just semantics.

I'd say that, "When a brewer releases a product, it is ready to drink right away." is more accurate, as bottle conditioned beer isn't ready to drink right after packaging.

/pedantry