Acceptably Fresh?

I don't remember suggesting someone could learn from experience without investing some money so if you got that impression it wasn't my intent. The point of guidelines is that they give you a starting place from which to begin your exploration and allow you to guide it in ways that don't rely on semi-random trial and error. If one is new to the world of IPAs, not buying an IPA older than about 2 months is a starting place.

For example, a few years ago I already knew that I enjoyed DFH 90 min with less than two months on it but wondered what the effects of aging were on that beer. So I invested in a case that I acquired within 5 days of bottling and then spread consumption out over close to 9 months. In the process I learned some useful lessons (e.g., being able to distinguish between bitterness and hop flavors as the one became less prominent and the others played a strong role). But I already knew I prefered the 90 min DIPA relatively fresh.

As for each person's tastes being different, the individual differences and amount of individual variability are greatly over-estimated by many folks. I have no trouble at all finding reviewers on this stie whose reviews provide information that is consistent with my tastes when we've both tried the same beer and that I can use to help me decide which beers to try, etc. when they've had something I haven't tried yet. Something that would not happen if we were all different.

 

Non-issue solved. I am doing a similar test with a bottle of Flower Power marked best by June, 2013 which I purchased in April 2013. Come September or so, I plan to buy as fresh a bottle as I can find and do a side-by-side. I also opened a can of Heady yesterday and was bowled over by the grapefruit aroma, which I hadn't picked up in such strength before. It's amazing how your perceptions can change daily, weekly, etc. based on your mood, what you've just ate or drank, your surroundings or just about anything it seems.