Aged IPA?

I drank a fresh Founder's Devil Dancer (they call it a Triple IPA) side by side with a 1 year old bottle, I thought the aged was better.

 

I like barleywines but they're usually pretty expensive, so I just buy really big hoppy IPAs/DIPAs and sit on them until they turn into really good barleywines.

 

People age Worthington's White Shield - see here: http://zythophile.wordpress.com/2009/11/06/aged-white-shield/

This might not work with c-hop bombs though.

 

Eh, it's up to individual taste.
Aging an IPA will cause it to lose the hop aroma/flavor/bitteness (in that order).
I had an old 60 minute IPA once, tasted like...bitterness and nothing....gross.
I had a Hop Heathen (well it's an IPA hybrid) that was old, and it was awesome. I think the black IPAs hold up better because of the roastyness....roastiness? ehh because they are roasty!

 

Is Worthington even the same beer any more? Just look what InBev did to Bass...

 

AB-InBev have Bass, but the Worthington's brand (which was part of Bass for a long time) ended up in the hands of Molson Coors.


General consensus is it's rather good. I certainly think so. In fact, it's one of my favourite beers. From what I've heard it's had its ups and downs and many say it's better nowadays when Coors brew it in Burton than in the later years under Bass Charrington when they had it brewed under contract in various parts of the country. Coors have also introduced a cask version and a number of other bottled and cask beers under the Worthington's brand, which I've not had since they seem quite hard to obtain, but apparently they're pretty good.

Confusingly perhaps, the Worthington's brand also includes Worthington's Creamflow - a nitrokeg bitter I would certainly not recommend.

Overall, I think Molson Coors are certainly preferable to AB-InBev, in this country at least.

I'd use White Shield as exhibit A in my "macro beer can be great" argument, with maybe Guinness Foreign Extra as exhibit B.

 

Hopslam fresh to me is nasty. One year old, it's incredible. A lot of other IPAs do great (to me) with time, Maharaja is another one that gets good after sitting a while. Most people get pissed when you talk about aging IPAs but they're the hopheads who can't stand an IPA if it's older than 3 days anyway. Personally, I love letting the hops fall off of a big Double IPA, it makes a much tastier beer (again, to me, don't get all butthurt please).

 

Totally agree. I had a 10 year old 120 minute side by side with a fresh 120 minute. The vintage 10 was astounding.

As most others have said, you're going to lose the hop flavor. If the beer is big enough in maltiness and complex, then aging an IPA can have brilliant results, so long as you don't mind the fact that it won't taste anything remotely like an IPA anymore.