Fresh IPAs getting harder to find

Let's just say it can be done since it has been done for other aspects of sensory experience, including different aspects of flavors and aromas which are equally subjective. However, I doubt anyone has the motivation and the funds to do it properly for hop fade. But we can hope....

 

True @JackHorzempa Stores tend to look at me like I'm some sort of crazy ass hole (I probably am. No regrets). It gets tiring looking through store when what it seems like 90% of its consumers that I've seen simply grab a sixer and move on. 90% don't even think of looking at a date. They either trust the retailer, don't care, or aren't informed that beer can change taste over time. It's only when those same people taste an old product, and move onto another beer. There aren't many figures for that. But I know a few who tasted a shitty product and moved on. An old product can definitely hurt your bottom line.

I've done some blind samplings and know that fresh fresh is hard to pick out when it's totally blind. One week fresh vs. 4 week old was super hard for me. At the end of the day, instinct kicks in and we want fresh no matter what. At least those informed.I'[ll take a 2 week old product over a month old if I only have $10 to my budget.

Slightly better product is still slightly better than the rest.

 

Exactly.

Taste is subjective and there can be a lot of hype behind the freshness arguments and I think it would be neat to see some actual tests, even something as simple as trying the same IPA handled and stored under the same conditions at 14 days, 30 days, 45 days, 60 days...preferably a blind taste test so no brand bias creeps in either.

Wishful thinking probably, I know, and there are so many factors that come into play with beer but I have a really tough time believing some awesome beers are total garbage after 30+ days. Also, I am sure some beers have a sweet spot too as far as age is concerned and I'd be willing to bet that a beer at 14 days may not be as good as the same beer at 21 days and if that's the case, kind of throws some of the freshness arguments out the window.

 

Except for the brand part of it I know that there are some of the larger breweries that actually do conduct such things as blind-to-age taste tests on their own beers as part of the quality control and setting/re-evaluating "best by" dates. Some even go so far as to employ a panel of professional tasters to help ensure that their current batch of a particular beer falls within the acceptable range for the flavor profile of the beer and then dump a batch when the beer fails its taste test. Most just don't advertise it. (Probably because so many of their customers would think less of them upon finding out the brewery dumped (drain poured ) what was considered to be sub-standard beer.)