Acceptably Fresh?

You mean it's ON the shelf?

Too late already.

 

pitch a tent outside your local bottle shop, wait for the truck to arrive and get some ipa's, if it makes it into the store you're too late and its not gonna be fresh at all !

 

I feel that beer can be enjoyed anytime. Enjoying a beer too early is akin to sucking milk out of a cow's udder....It's fresh, but damn if it doesn't seem unnecessary.

 

Depends in part on the IPA and depends in part on the bottling line in use at the brewery depends in part on how long it will sit at home before you drink it. Most IPAs are given a shelf life of 3 mos by the brewery but some are given a 5 mos shelf life if they brewery has a more modern bottling line that allows less oxygen remaining in the bottle after filling. Finally it depends in part on your tastes. Some folks prefer any and all IPAs as fresh as possible. Others are quite happy with something a couple of mos old.

But as a rule of thumb if you don't know the IPA and don't know anything about the bottling line in use, don't buy an IPA more than about 8 to 10 weeks old, especially if its going to sit around for a couple of weeks before you finish the last bottle.

 

Practically, isn't this the only thing that matters?

 

Sure, but until you know what they are for each individual beer it helps to have some general guidelines, unless you want to make a lot of errors and spend a lot of money learning the hard way for each beer out there to try.

 

It depends so much on the beer too. Some IPA's hold up far better than others. I generally figure < 3 months is safe, but I shoot for a month and a half or less when possible.


Worst is companies like Sixpoint with an absurd 9 month "best by" date. Im sorry, but thats a completely different beer at 9 months than it is fresh off the line.

 

Sure it can, but in some cases the brewer thinks that it best represents what they want you to have within a certain timeframe.

I've had weeks old Heady and year old Heady (I aged one for a year to see what happened) - both had alcohol and both were drinkable but the year old stuff was a completely different beer aside from the level of bitterness.

 

Good point. I suppose beginners need something to start with. I'd just prefer people sample beers without other opinions to discover what they really like.

 

Hi and welcome!

For me (pretty much an IPA and stout fan), if an IPA has more than 90 days on it I'm hesitant to buy it, unless it's a fairly malty IPA (DFH 60 Minute for me.) I've found that the less malty a beer is (Stone Ruination, for example) the more age-tolerant I am (I'll buy a four month old Ruination, knowing that it won't be as aromatic as the stuff that shows up with less than a month of age.) For beers with a bigger malt backbone (like Double Jack) my tolerance is a bit less since the malts can completely take over the hops. I found a bottle of Double Jack yesterday bottled on 5/31 and I was happy to see it so fresh (rare around here), but if it had been 4/31 I'd have taken a pass.

If you took a pass on the 2012 DJ you probably made a good call!

 

Well there's nothing says the OP (or you) *must* listen or even pay any attention at all to anyone's opinions. My personal bias, however, is that the opinions of some folks can be a useful bit of information to take into account in learning for myself. In particular I like to learn from the mistakes of others. I don't have time to make them all myself.

 

Try some Sierra Nevada Torpedo. With Sierra Nevada you also don't need to keep as big of an eye on the date. All their beers hold up extremely well over time. As winter approaches keep an eye out for their Celebration Ale.

You might still be able to get your hands on some Stone Ruin Ten right now. Stone Enjoy By IPA series is another no brainer. Plus, you really don't have to guess on the best by date on that bottle.

 

1 month>3 months>6 months

 

Funny you ask that question. I perused the craft beer section at a liquor store (Brookline, MA--the culprits shall remain nameless) and discovered that a number of beers have been sitting on the shelf for quite some time. The first guy (a peon, apparently) was nice. But then a manager stepped in and started getting snotty (I can get snotty with the best of them, so it hardly mattered--besides, I was the customer and he, well, was not). So I pointed to the last 4-pack of Harpoon Leviathan Rye (hope they are reading this!) The bottle date was clearly visible (as if I did not already know when it was made, as Harpoon rotates Leviathan offerings). It was "2011". Normally, for an Imperial Ale it would be OK, which is what this manager started to tell me--it's at its best after 2 years, so, right now! The problem is, the store is nowhere near cellar conditions. It was a warm day (90+) so AC was working, but the setting was in mid-to-high 60s. I'm sure they keep the same "comfortable" temperature in winter. I don't understand how they can sell wine in those conditions. But the Leviathan was sitting on the shelf, in the heat and with halogen lamps beaming directly at it, which I pointed out. I'm sure they think it's great beer. But the last thing I want to do is get it home and discover it's completely skunked. What are they going to do? Take it back? This is totally opposite attitude I got from staff at two other stores today. I'm not asking for deference to the customer, but respect would be nice. The trouble is, it was not the only beer on those shelves that was old. Some, like some Stone non-IPA bottles, are supposed to be aged, but this does not apply to brown ales and IPAs, in general. When those "age", all you taste is weak malt and alcohol. But they are not supposed to age on store shelves!

The other giveaway at this particular store was that they did not have a single new release from the past two months (they might have had beer bottled in the last two months, but not new lines).

 

Most people feel that anything older than 3 months on a beer that is hop forward will be detrimental enough to not be the beer it was set out to be. This does not mean that these styles will be bad, they just won't be as hoppy as they would be fresh which is what they were brewed to be, hoppy. Some breweries even have best by dates which can extend well beyond the norm for IPAs. I believe Victory's Hop Wallop has an 8-12 month expiration date.

In the end 99% of beer is best enjoyed fresh. Fresh is an objective term, but for me, I try not to buy any beer that is older than 3 months and the max of 6 months unless I know it is well known age able beer. I refuse to pay full price for old beer that I know will not taste nearly as good as fresh.

 

Find out what you like best about IPA and you will answer your own question. If you like complex aroma of hops, and lots of bright and complex hop flavors to go along with the bitter, you probably want it under a month. If you are happy with a clean bitter, and light amounts of hop aroma and flavor, up to three months is good. If you like the malt and bitter to be front and center it makes little difference how old most of them are.

 

My opinion is less than 2-3 months from bottling date is "fresh". Anything else it getting on a bit. The zing of a brewery fresh beer (most styles) is something to behold and worth more than any other flavour characteristic (to me).