Fresh IPAs...Does it really matter?

Nope, pretty much all bad.

 

It's called oxidation. It happens to all beer over time. It is inevitable. It is most noticeable in hoppy beers, hence why IPA's are better fresh.

 

I hate to sound like I really know what I'm talking about but I've had boatloads (60+) of Pliny the Elder in a bottle and IMO I do not think it tastes "right" after one month. We've done side by side (1 week old vs 1 month old) tastes tests and several of us noticed a freshness difference. I will add though that 2 people did not so perhaps we need a larger sample size. Because I didn't like the taste after a month I ended up saving a few old bottles to try after 6, 9 and 12 months to see what happens then. My buddy or I read somewhere that it takes on a whole new character after 6 or 9 mos so we'll see. Also, I've had a 5-6 Enjoy Bys that were fresh and of course they were great. I bought a bottle that was 3 mod after the enjoy by date and it also didn't taste right. I don't wanna overstate the obvious but it really was meant to be enjoyed by the date on the bottle. FYI, these 30 day old beers were all refrigerated the entire time. I did have some other really nice IPAs that I kept out of light but at room temp for 2-4 weeks before drinking and they tasted really damn good so who the hell knows.

 

Yes, ask Stone Brewing! Everyone should do the 90 day rule.

 

I skipped all the replies previous to this. I just wanted to say YES, it does matter. It matters a lot!

 

I will go further and say that almost all beer should be consumed as fresh as possible with a handful of delicious exceptions.

 

Hell yes it matters. In my opinion, most beer should be drank fresh. With the exceptions of some imperial stouts, Barleywines, and beers made with Brett. I will say like others have said, some IPA beers hold up better than others. However it always better to have an IPA fresh even if some hold up better.

 

I can absolutely tell the difference in IPA freshness especially when drinking the same beer side by side. If I start with the older one and move to the fresh, I am usually okay. If I start out fresh, I end up dumping the old one because my palate is ruined. I know this sounds really terrible, but I avoid buying any hop-forward beers that are more than a month old.

 

I just did a Permanent Funeral "vertical" with three bottles, 2 weeks old, 6 weeks old and 11 weeks old. I was pretty astonished by how much the three varied. Granted, I didn't keep the older two refrigerated. I tasted in order of freshness and when I sipped the eldest, it was almost undrinkable. My British roommate, however (an avid hop-hater), said he preferred the 11 week old and drank the whole thing. I'll try this again using the fridge and report back in, um, three months.

 

my rule of thumb is generally three months, like most I believe.
I myelf did an experiment with union jacks I bought from wegmens
I purchased union jack sixes every other week early this year when wegmens had a particular
fresh batch.
And my conclusion was that about three months I noticed a difference in the hop taste thus I came up with and validated other opinions that fresh IPA's are good for roughtly three months.
Sometimes they last longer especially with the bigger, and better known breweries.

 

Freshness matters with all beers in my opinion. My definition of when a beer, specifically an IPA, is no longer fresh seems to differ from some of the more vocal members of the BA forums.

 

That is SO true. I try new beers to find things I like, and once I find them I always go back for more.

 

Maybe my love for canned beer fooled me or presented some sort of placebo effect, but it seemed like they were just plain crisper, longer.

 

Ideally, I would like to try the same beer with different bottling / canned dates on them. For example, the only Heady I've had was about 4 weeks old. Tried it and it was ok. But since I've never had FRESH Heady, I don't have a solid basis for comparison, really, in my mind. At 4 weeks old I can say it hit my palate in a solid way but I couldn't say it was world-class. I might change my tune entirely if I tried it as fresh as possible. My personal example is Heady but this can be applied to any IPA / DIPA or really any beer for that matter. All of this is IMHO.

 

The answer is so yes it hurts

 

I'm game - I'll grab another case and hold a few for 3 months. At $22/case even if I no longer enjoy it, I'm not out by much. Thanks for the heads up.

 

My in laws spend half hte year in florida. I asked them to find some Jai Alai down there and bring it back when they returned. Well. They bought it the next day, and brought me 12 cans of 6 month old jai alai Half a year later >< I felt bad and struggled one down in front of them. Had to drain pour the rest. And as far as freshness mattering, It absolutely matters. If an ipa is more than a month or two old I can immediately tell. Even if I've never had it before. It just tastes so different / bad to me. IDK.

 

Post your findings good or bad if you do it. And, yeah ... I wouldn't hold back more than 1-2 bottles.

I'd like to do a blind tasting of the same IPA about 2-3 weeks old, 3 months old and 6 months old. I'll have to enlist a friend to set it up, but I think it would be fun and worth the trouble just to find out if I really can tell the difference. Like most, I think I can, but until you do it blind, how do you know your biases aren't getting in the way?

 

Yes

 

Head brewer's suggestion....I would make my own